Lincoln

of Gore Vidal

Series: Narratives of Empire #2

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4.22 (8274 reviews)

$ 10.52

Description

Gore Vidal's Narratives of Empire series spans the history of the United States from the Revolution to the post-World War II years. With their broad canvas and large cast of fictional and historical characters, the novels in this series present a panorama of the American political and imperial experience as interpreted by one of its most worldly, knowing, and ironic observers.To most Americans, Abraham Lincoln is a monolithic figure, the Great Emancipator and Savior of the Union, beloved by all. In Gore Vidal's Lincoln we meet Lincoln the man and Lincoln the political animal, the president who entered a besieged capital where most of the population supported the South and where even those favoring the Union had serious doubts that the man from Illinois could save it. Far from steadfast in his abhorrence of slavery, Lincoln agonizes over the best course of action and comes to his great decision only when all else seems to fail. As the Civil War ravages his nation, Lincoln must face deep personal turmoil, the loss of his dearest son, and the harangues of a wife seen as a traitor for her Southern connections. Brilliantly conceived, masterfully executed, Gore Vidal's Lincoln allows the man to breathe again.

Gender

Fiction Historical Fiction Fiction Civil War Historical Politics American History Literature Presidents American Novels

Main Characters

Abraham Lincoln Walt Whitman William H. Seward John Wilkes Booth Mary Todd Lincoln Rose O'Neal Greenhow James Buchanan David Herold Mary Surratt John Surratt Jr. Richard Lyons James A. Garfield Elizabeth Keckley Salmon P. Chase Robert Todd Lincoln Tad Lincoln Kate Chase William Sprague IV Irvin McDowell Simon Cameron John Hay John George Nicolay Thaddeus Stevens William Howard Russell Allan Pinkerton Ward Hill Lamon Elihu B. Washburne Francis Preston Blair Henry Wikoff William Herndon Daniel Sickles William Wallace Lincoln John Watt John R. Goldsborough John E. Wool Egbert Ludovicus Viele Henry D. Cooke Henry Halleck John Pope Joseph Hooker Adele Cutts Douglas Frederick W. Seward Ambrose Burnside Benjamin Wade George Meade Edmund Spangler Emilie Todd Helm Montgomery Blair William P. Fessenden Ulysses S. Grant John C. Breckinridge Winfield Scott Francis Preston Blair Jr. George McClellan Charles Sumner Edwin Stanton Gideon Welles