I think I’ve mentioned here before that sometimes on long car trips, I download podcasts from the BBC’s “In Our Time” to listen to. One recent one featured Gore Vidal (it was about 10 years old; he has since died). He made some comments about Lincoln that I thought were interesting, and a little research revealed that he had written an eponymously-named historical novel: “Lincoln.”

I put the book on hold at the library and when it arrived, I was a bit intimidated by its size, which was almost 700 pages full of print. But I dug in. The novel begins as Lincoln is about to be inaugurated for his first term, and ends with his death. One of my worries was that a lot of the book would feature talk about the various Civil War battles. Battle descriptions just don’t interest me at all. Years ago, I taught a summer course on the Civil War at my school corporation. Most of the kids who signed up (no surprise) were boys, and several knew their battle statistics the way some kids know stats on baseball players. It’s definitely a “niche,” but not one that I’m into. This book, though, is based totally in Washington, DC. We view the period through scenes of Lincoln’s life, including much about his cabinet (the famous “team of rivals”), scenes with his wife and family, and some scenes of disaffected others who end up killing him.

In some ways this book’s vibe was similar to that of “Gone With the Wind” — same time period. I was really immersed in the details on 1860s DC, with its muddy roads, unfinished Capitol building, and shabby White House. Yeah it was the Civil War — and yet I was happy to go back to this simpler time as I read. Various cabinet members and other characters made allusions to Bible verses and stories. The women wore dresses and gloves. Lincoln had occasions where, as President, he hopped on a horse and rode somewhere in town. Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase frequently hummed favorite hymns to himself (I’m wondering if Pete Buttigieg does that?).

Reading “Lincoln” will make you feel smart, with its allusions to France and Victor Hugo. Shakespeare plays and quotes make frequent appearances too.

Vidal writes in an afterword that he did four years of reading in preparation for writing this book. He tried very hard to make the dialogue and details accurate. There were many interesting quotes:

* “I often think that if ever this country is destroyed, it will be because of people wanting jobs with the government, people wanting to live without work, a terrible fault …” spoken by Lincoln, yet still applicable today. We often hear of people getting government jobs through nepotism. Of course covid has shown us how many people prefer not working at all.
* Lincoln, when asked why he didn’t drink: “Of course, I tried whiskey, like every other boy. But I could not bear the effect that it has on the mind, which is all I had in this world … but I am entitled to no great credit for abstinence, since I really hate the stuff.” He was pictured always requesting water.
* Such a touching, understated comment when 10-year-old son Willie died during his presidency: “It is hard, hard for him to die.”
* Lincoln is pictured as often visiting wounded soldiers at the DC Soldiers’ Home. One incident is described where he visited Confederate soldiers, telling them that he honored their fight and that he would shake hands as a friend with any of them. One young officer turns his back on Lincoln, and as Lincoln leaves he tells him, “My son, we shall all be the same at the end.”
* Lincoln came across as very folksy, much different than most of the stuffier guys in his cabinet. He had little stories that he often told. When his secretary once asked him whether he prepared the stories ahead of time, he answered, “In my predicament, it is a good thing to know all sorts of stories because the truth of the whole matter is now almost unsayable; and so cruel.”
* Lincoln often seemed to have an eerie presentiment of future events. “Oh, Governor, I don’t matter. I am done for anyway. I was chosen to do a certain work, and I must do it, and then go.” His famous dream just weeks before his assassination — of hearing crying in the White House, seeing a catafalque, asking whose it is, and hearing the President has died — is mentioned too. To his cabinet, as the war ends: “There is nothing left of me. But there is still the President. He must be allowed to finish the work that he was chosen to do. So leave me in peace. Once that is done, you and your better man are welcome to my dangerous place. In fact, you and your better man can come to my funeral, for I have known for some time now that when this conflict is over, I end.” WOW


I learned several things in this book that I found fascinating. A few —

* At least at first, soldiers fighting in the war could not vote. This was discussed often, since the lack of those votes had a big impact on who won various elections.
* Lincoln’s views on slavery were really interesting. This book goes far beyond the simplistic “Lincoln freed the slaves!” that we hear today. His big goal was preserving the Union, the United States. Lincoln most wanted to send the freed slaves either back to Africa or to colonize them somewhere in central America. Interestingly, I have had the thought (prior to reading this book) that that probably would have been a better solution than what actually happened. “Why would any colored man want to live in this country, where there is so much hatred of him? There are passions too deep for even a millennium to efface.” Lincoln asked. He pondered, when asked if black men should be allowed to vote, that the “very intelligent” ones should (how he would determine that I don’t know, but he mentioned allowing the vote to those why had served in the Civil War). “He was unshaken in his belief that the colored race was inferior to the white … (he) had no great sympathy for those why felt that external circumstances had held them back.” Discussion also happens regarding the observation that Union soldiers “hated all Negroes” while Southerners seemed to get along well with them, having grown up with them. Diplomat Charles Eames says, “The South is not fighting for slavery. The South is fighting for independence. You can buy all their slaves, and they’ll take the money. But they will not come back into the Union except by force.” I love bits of history like this that go against things taken as “common knowledge” today.
* My husband has never bee a fan of Lincoln’s, and reading this book, I can see some reasons why. Early in the war he suspended habeas corpus, meaning that people could be imprisoned for any reason without any recourse. This is a fundamental right we have as Americans, yet Lincoln suspended it due to “war time.” His cabinet also instituted some of the first taxes on incomes, to pay for the war. “Seward understood the nature of Lincoln’s political genius. He had been able to make himself absolute dictator without ever letting anyone suspect that he was anything more than a joking, timid backwoods lawyer given to fits of humility in the presence of all the strutting military and political peacocks that flocked about him.”

I felt for Lincoln in dealing with his wife Mary, who comes across as a big-spender and as very difficult emotionally. She seemed to be universally disliked in Washington. Lincoln seemed very protective of Mary and I had to feel for her, losing her husband and three of her four sons.

I learned a lot from “Lincoln” and really enjoyed the time spent in the era. Gore Vidal did a wonderful job with this book, written in 1984. On YouTube, I found a 1988 TV film of the book. As you might imagine, it didn’t go into nearly the detail that the book did, but I enjoyed it too.

This book wowed me. I love historical fiction, I love Lincoln and the Civil War, and I love Gore Vidal, so it should be no surprise that this book was like a dream I didn't want to wake up from. It's basically the fictionalized story of Lincoln's presidency, mostly told from the third-person points of view of his secretary John Hay and a poor secessionist boy named David who works in the pharmacy closest to the White House and thus is positioned to help the Confederacy by feeding them information about who's sick and needs medicine, who's coming and going from the White House, et cetera. I could go on for pages about why this book was so awesome, but instead of doing that, I will just say that reading it was like stepping into Washington, D.C. in the 1860's. I know that's not very original, but I literally feel like I WAS THERE, observing all of these people how they actually were instead of how history portrays them. Gore Vidal is very, very good at humanizing larger than life figures. (Holy sh*t, what a fantastic job he did with Mary Todd Lincoln, or the Hellcat, as she was referred to by John Hay.) This is one of those books that was so good I didn't want it to end, ever. Thank goodness Gore Vidal was as prolific as he was and I am unlikely to ever run out of books of his to read before my life is over.

This was rollicking good read, and may even contain some historical truths about Abraham Lincoln and his fellow politicos duing the turbulent era of the Civil War. Vidal draws a vivid picture of 19th century Washington - a city built on a swamp, with rudimentary facilities, but with grand aspirations. Lincoln is presented as a man of brilliant lawyerly talents, a pragmatic strategist rather than an idealistic opponent of slavery. Throughout the book, Vidal makes clear that Lincoln (alternately referred to as the Tycoon or the Ancient) was not an abolitionist in any respect, but was opposed to states leaving the union above all (as un-constitutional), which led him to his famous proclamation freeing the slaves (in the South, that is), as a 'military necessity'. His wife is portrayed as a slightly mad shopaholic, massively in debt, and prone to corrupt practices to raise money to do up the ramshackle White House (the Mansion), while his closest advisors are all scheming behind his back (the abolitionist Treasury Secretary Chase wishes to be President instead of Abe, and the Secretary of State Seward is keen on starting a war with Canada or Mexico, to replace the 'lost' secesh states). Washington is full of spies, brothels and disease and the work presents the United States as a young country not hugely unlike Ancient Rome, corrupt yet idealistic, and destined to expand militarily - the Civil War had built the largest military force on earth, and, possibly, hints Vidal, paved the road to eventual Empire.

Best line of the book: "Hay whistled softly. 'That's what Harvard does to you, Nico. They should've sent him to Brown. He will become more and more intolerable.'" Ra ra Brunonia!

I was really getting into this book big time. I was lugging it around with me everywhere, and at several hundred pages it was like carrying around a baby. No kindle or nook for me! It sparks interesting conversations though. How does that happen if you have a kindle? People don't see what you're reading. Anyway, people would often take notice of the huge book and make good natured remarks. Well, I think it characterized me as an intellectual!

Regarding the book, I felt like I was there, in that place and time, with those people, and it was wonderful. Isn't that the greatest joy of reading? You experience a different time, place, you're there, and you didn't have to travel anywhere or get in a Time Machine!

But in the middle of the book, it became about the battles, not so much about the characters and their stories and relationships and intrigues, etc. It became about the Civil War battles, and that's not what I get into. I need it to be personal, and about the people. So I lost interest, and stopped reading the book.

I like to read about Lincoln. Was very interested in how his cabinet changed over time, or how its members changed their view of him. There was a whole lot of stuff that seemed added in order to novelize the book and that stuff was mostly stupid, like the everpresent Kate Chase and the young pharmacy assistant bent on murdering the President.

An excellent book, yet marred by one glaring flaw. Vidal here perpetuates the ridiculous Lost Cause myth that President Andrew Johnson was simply attempting to carry out Lincoln's plan for an easy peace and was thwarted by the "evil" Radical Republicans. This thoroughly racist Lost Cause drivel had been adequately refuted before Vidal publish his book, and it was simply lazy to use this common yet discredited tale in his otherwise brilliant book. It is a sign of how highly I regard this novel that I gave it five stars despite the unfortunate repeating of Lost Cause lies.

This is the first book I've read by Gore Vidal, and now I want to read more. He really brought this period to life and made it interesting and understandable. It was nothing like what I would have thought, had I thought more about it. The White House was a rat-infested dump with smelly swamps and garbage all around, where people were often sick or died, and inhabited by mostly confederate sympathizers. It was not the best place to be a Yankee.

Lincoln was always interesting. He and his family didn't really fit in well with the existing society. He seemed to be odd and not too bright, and people thought he was not in control. But somehow, he was always able to arrange things to turn out the way he wanted, often without people realizing he was doing it - probably due to his homey way of talking, injecting stories, etc. I thought he was pretty entertaining. His wife, on the other hand, was a handful and somewhat, if not completely, crazy, especially later in the book. Much of the time, she could not stop spending money on both herself and the Capitol, which neither could really afford. She then had to do whatever she could to stave off the debtors, much of which was illegal or immoral.

Even though I of course knew what was going to happen to him, He was assassinated, there was still an air of suspense as the time approached, and a sense of the sadness and anger after the event.

This book took me longer to finish than normal, but I think it was worth it. Fortunately, I had audiobooks to listen to at the same time.

I knocked this out on a plane from NJ to CA, then immediately followed it up with Spielberg's Lincoln on the small screen - the term for this is a "full lincoln." I have a major pro-Vidal bias and thought this novel was great.

The man who divided a nation, who endured a political divided Cabinet, and lived in a divided house yet somehow got them united in some form or another before his death. Lincoln by Gore Vidal looks at Abraham Lincoln’s time in Washington from his secret arrival in late February to his death a little over four years later not from the titular character’s point-of-view by those around him.

Abraham Lincoln is the central character of this historical fiction novel that only has three paragraphs from his perspective in the whole 655 pages of text as Vidal’s cast of characters either interact with or reaction from afar to the man in the White House. Though the many valleys and the peaks of the Union war effort are mentioned, Vidal focuses on the political atmosphere within Washington D.C. from faction ridden Republican Cabinet and Congress to the pro-secessionist inhabitants of the capital. While Vidal pieces together an excellent narrative and interesting characters, he obviously stretches the historical facts or downright makes stuff up including reversing some character’s real-life opinions, so reader beware. The focus on Lincoln the man as told from the perspective of those around him is an intriguing premise and Vidal’s prose make it a good read.

Lincoln is a well-written historical fiction novel by Gore Vidal that shows the 16th President in the middle of a political maelstrom inside a civil war.

As a fan of historical fiction and an admirer of Abraham Lincoln, finding this book at my local used bookstore was a real windfall. And after reading it, I was not disappointed.

This book is fantastic. Having never read a Gore Vidal novel, I had no idea what to expect in terms of thoroughness or writing style. I found both to be very satisfying. (However, Gore's habit of switching POV from one paragraph to the next took a little getting used to.) The book begins right before Lincoln is inaugurated in 1861, when the Southern states have already started to secede, and ends with his assassination at Ford's Theater in 1865. In between, we get an inside -- and eye-opening -- look at both Lincoln the man, who is witty and kind but in no way a pushover, and Lincoln the politician, who is deceivingly crafty and clever with a hard, stubborn edge that no one saw until it was too late.

With the exception of a few paragraphs here and there, the story is not told from the perspective of Lincoln himself. Rather, we see the man through the eyes of friends and enemies alike: Secretary of State William H. Seward, who started off hating Lincoln and scheming against him but ended up as one of his most ardent supporters; Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, who despised Lincoln from the start and did his best to undermine Lincoln's presidency in order to feed his own burning ambition to be the First Magistrate; John Hay, Lincoln's young secretary, who grew to know Lincoln nearly better than anyone over four years and to understand the president's moods and gestures; and Mary Todd Lincoln, whose own ambitions and uncontrolled spending nearly undermined the president on more than one occasion and whose deepening madness stretched the president's patience to the breaking point. We also get to see life through the eyes of David Herold, one of the co-conspirators in Lincoln's assassination, who wanted so badly to do something exciting and important with his life that he allowed himself to be taken in by the passion and hatred of a certain actor named John Wilkes Booth.

Through the eyes of these characters, we learn that Lincoln was three men in one: a devoted family man who ached over the death of his son, Willie, and understood and accepted his wife's increasing insanity; a crafty politician who knew how to manipulate the people around him like chess pieces and used other people's low opinions of him to his own advantage, drawing them into his web before they realized they'd been trapped; and a wartime president who stretched his executive powers to their max in order to keep certain factions from undermining a war which he saw as necessary and just -- not for the sake of the slaves, whom he would've been content to leave as such if it meant reuniting the country, but for the sake of the Union, which he saw as forever insoluble.

Depsite the fact that I already knew the outcome -- Lincoln gets reelected, the Confederacy surrenders, and Booth assassinates the president -- I still found myself becoming engrossed in the events as they unfolded. Vidal's masterful use of various historical characters -- the way he brought them to life and seamlessly wove their stories together to form a much bigger picture -- made the book an extraordinary read. I feel as if I got to know President Lincoln just a little better. And I feel strangely saddened by his death, despite the fact that it occurred nearly 145 years ago. It also makes me wonder just how different Reconstruction would have been had he lived. Of course, we'll never know and really, it's academic. Lincoln will forever live in history.

Great, great book. A+.

An entertaining way to learn or review a lot of important American history. Vidal stuck very close to events, inventing only a few minor characters and incidents. Much dialogue quotes published speeches and letters and the rest seems to be inspired by things that characters are known to have said.

The Lincoln you'll meet here is a heroic figure who saved the Union and freed the slaves but also a scheming political operative, an insecure campaigner who worries that he won't get reelected, and a talker who doesn't know when to leave out yet another cornpone prairie anecdote.

You'll also meet major players in the Cabinet, just as in Spielberg's move and in Doris Kearns Goodwin's book that inspired that film. These constitute the famous team of rivals that inspired the title of Kearns's book: Secretary of State Seward, Secretary of Treasure Chase, Secretary of War Stanton, etc. A parallel plotline involving conspirators around John Wilkes Booth builds tension for the climax we know is coming but nonetheless enjoy working up to.