Scan barcode
A review by siriuslysirius
The Lincoln Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill America's 16th President—And Why It Failed by Brad Meltzer, Josh Mensch
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!