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A review by jennie_cole
Lincoln's Lie: A True Civil War Caper Through Fake News, Wall Street, and the White House by Elizabeth Mitchell
3.0
Lincoln's Lie is a story I had never heard of before and was a picture of Lincoln that had never been presented. In May 1864 a hoax was played on some newspapers in New York. Late a night after the last of the news stories had come in and the papers were going to print a proclamation from Lincoln arrived at several newsrooms. Once of the newsrooms printed it. Lincoln was requesting an extra 400K men or a draft would be called. The Battle of the Wilderness had just been fought and this proclamation would lead people to believe that the Union was losing.
Mitchell's book tells the story of this proclamation, who sent it, how Lincoln reacted, etc. The story had parallels to now. The media can be manipulated and should be punished, certain liberties can be withheld, everything that one does not like is a hoax, leaks from the Lincoln administration. I tells a side of Lincoln that is not normally told and is a little said to read. Most of the story is told in chronological order except for the first 4 chapters and the last 2. The story starts with the dissemination of the proclamation and then jumps to the train trip from Illinois to DC after Lincoln was elected. The other off story parts are in regards to Mary Todd Lincoln. She was a very flawed woman and had some confidants that were not the most appropriate. Now I know that these non-related items needed to be told because they are related to the story Mitchell wanted to tell but it made the story disjointed and I just wanted to say give me just the days in 1864 when this hoax occurs.
While I did not find the flow of the book great I will say that the story was won I have never even heard a little bit of so that made it interesting.
Mitchell's book tells the story of this proclamation, who sent it, how Lincoln reacted, etc. The story had parallels to now. The media can be manipulated and should be punished, certain liberties can be withheld, everything that one does not like is a hoax, leaks from the Lincoln administration. I tells a side of Lincoln that is not normally told and is a little said to read. Most of the story is told in chronological order except for the first 4 chapters and the last 2. The story starts with the dissemination of the proclamation and then jumps to the train trip from Illinois to DC after Lincoln was elected. The other off story parts are in regards to Mary Todd Lincoln. She was a very flawed woman and had some confidants that were not the most appropriate. Now I know that these non-related items needed to be told because they are related to the story Mitchell wanted to tell but it made the story disjointed and I just wanted to say give me just the days in 1864 when this hoax occurs.
While I did not find the flow of the book great I will say that the story was won I have never even heard a little bit of so that made it interesting.