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siriuslysirius's review
5.0
This book could easily be titled: The Lincoln Conspiracy: How Allan Pinkerton Prevented an Assassination.
Before this book, I had only a vague recollection of Pinkerton’s name. Probably mentioned in a book here or there about how he established a serious private detective agency. So, although this book is about a secret plot to murder president elect Abraham Lincoln, it’s also about how Allan Pinkerton thwarted this plot.
Also, as dismayed as I am with many US citizens today (racist behavior - even from our president, swaths of selfish people - those denying certain pandemics and blatantly refusing to follow the Golden Rule, trigger happy law enforcement, serious lack of empathy) many people back in Lincoln’s time were embarrassingly outright hateful. Lincoln had a hell of a time dealing with so much - even before he officially took office!
Saying all this, The Lincoln Conspiracy had an unintended consequence on me: reflecting on and contrasting our nation’s current “mood” in 2020 versus the “mood” back in the late 19th century, the failure of adopting a pseudo two-party system, and the chance that one of these days, we can have an honest and legitimately good person become president. It’s possible, right?
Oh! It’s also cool to see how the Secret Service took root. Many of the tactics that Pinkerton used are still used today when the president travels!
Before this book, I had only a vague recollection of Pinkerton’s name. Probably mentioned in a book here or there about how he established a serious private detective agency. So, although this book is about a secret plot to murder president elect Abraham Lincoln, it’s also about how Allan Pinkerton thwarted this plot.
Also, as dismayed as I am with many US citizens today (racist behavior - even from our president, swaths of selfish people - those denying certain pandemics and blatantly refusing to follow the Golden Rule, trigger happy law enforcement, serious lack of empathy) many people back in Lincoln’s time were embarrassingly outright hateful. Lincoln had a hell of a time dealing with so much - even before he officially took office!
Saying all this, The Lincoln Conspiracy had an unintended consequence on me: reflecting on and contrasting our nation’s current “mood” in 2020 versus the “mood” back in the late 19th century, the failure of adopting a pseudo two-party system, and the chance that one of these days, we can have an honest and legitimately good person become president. It’s possible, right?
Oh! It’s also cool to see how the Secret Service took root. Many of the tactics that Pinkerton used are still used today when the president travels!
andrearbooks's review
4.0
I'll be honest that books like this are not normally for me, but y'all, I LOVE these books by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch. They read just like a thriller, and that's what keeps me turning the pages. I also appreciate that they talk about happenings in history that you likely don't know about, but are important to know - both what happened and what could have been. This was fascinating to hear about the realities of this time and to learn even more of Lincoln's story. Obviously, I knew that the country was divided, but to truly understand what that division meant for the president-elect was new to me, and again, it was just such a well-written exploration of this part of history. I hope there are more of these books to come because they're so damn good.
dawnperry57's review
5.0
Outstanding read! I learned a ton about Lincoln, Pinkerton, and the ramp up to the civil war. Could not put this one down.
seandelliot's review
5.0
Another book brought to me thanks to NPR, and another winner. The story was so compelling as summarized on the show I just had to read it, and I couldn't wait for my library to return to lending. I'm not a huge Civil War buff per se, but history is definitely my thing, and little known stories with epic outcomes are great to find. The first plot to assassinate Lincoln, before he was even inaugurated, was not unknown, but it was, thanks to being unsuccessful, a small enough footnote to be left out of most history books. The story brings together the tale of the President-Elect's travel from Illinois to D.C. for his inauguration and the work of many parties, most notably the famous private investigator Allan Pinkerton (honestly, if you hadn't hear of him, look him up), to foil the plot to ambush Lincoln as he transited through Baltimore. Meltzer make a gripping potboiler of a thriller out of the story, bouncing back and forth from the mundane story of Lincoln's political story and preparations to assume the presidency to the secret white supremacists societies of Baltimore to the investigation by the first private investigator. The story of Lincoln is, of course, mostly known and Meltzer does a great job of building the suspense, getting into the weeds of the preparations, while unspooling the plot so compellingly.
mcquaden's review
4.0
The authors are very dramatic, but the narrator leans into it which I really appreciated. It was a very interesting read, and I especially loved learning about Kate Warne (YES GURL FIRST FEMALE DETECTIVE WHO WAS AMAZING AT HER JOB GET IT). I loved learning about this moment in history