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trilobiter 's review for:
Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington
by Ted Widmer
This close examination of president-elect Abraham Lincoln's journey from Springfield to D.C. is highly readable, and stuffed to the gills with anecdotes and observations that are highly entertaining. The story itself is also timely - more timely than perhaps was intended. Although the writing of this book took several years, it was published less than a month before Trump supporters stormed the U.S. capitol building to disrupt the certification of Biden's election. Widmer describes a similar scene around Lincoln's election, to say nothing of the plot to murder him en route. The rise of the Confederate government as the civil war loomed parallels all of Lincoln's steps on the road to inauguration. There are definitely a lot of applicable parallels to consider as the story unfolds.
But I was dissatisfied with a few things. The most frustrating one was the tone of epic grandiosity that Widmer felt compelled to infuse his story with. It's not that the tale lacks drama, but the point is perhaps put on too fine when every chapter begins with a quote from the Odyssey. Lincoln himself can hardly crack a joke on this train ride without the fate of the Union hanging in the balance. At times, it feels like Widmer is really trying to make the case for capital-D Destiny, steering his history a little too close to mythology, and his subject a little to near to sainthood.
I had a few minor quibbles at well. There were enough typographical errors that I noticed, even though I wasn't counting. I also had to roll my eyes at some of the pictures included. It's one thing for a photograph from the 1860s to be blurry and faded, and another thing for it to be presented in such pathetically low resolution. If you have a photo of a speech written in Lincoln's own hand, but the image is so pixelated you can barely tell that it's writing at all, that can only disappoint your readers.
To get back to more substantive points: I don't need any convincing that Abraham Lincoln was an extraordinary man, or for that matter that he was a profoundly good man. But I wish that his character could be appreciated without buying so thoroughly into the myth of American Exceptionalism. When it comes to American history, a capital-D Destiny is never an unalloyed good.
But I was dissatisfied with a few things. The most frustrating one was the tone of epic grandiosity that Widmer felt compelled to infuse his story with. It's not that the tale lacks drama, but the point is perhaps put on too fine when every chapter begins with a quote from the Odyssey. Lincoln himself can hardly crack a joke on this train ride without the fate of the Union hanging in the balance. At times, it feels like Widmer is really trying to make the case for capital-D Destiny, steering his history a little too close to mythology, and his subject a little to near to sainthood.
I had a few minor quibbles at well. There were enough typographical errors that I noticed, even though I wasn't counting. I also had to roll my eyes at some of the pictures included. It's one thing for a photograph from the 1860s to be blurry and faded, and another thing for it to be presented in such pathetically low resolution. If you have a photo of a speech written in Lincoln's own hand, but the image is so pixelated you can barely tell that it's writing at all, that can only disappoint your readers.
To get back to more substantive points: I don't need any convincing that Abraham Lincoln was an extraordinary man, or for that matter that he was a profoundly good man. But I wish that his character could be appreciated without buying so thoroughly into the myth of American Exceptionalism. When it comes to American history, a capital-D Destiny is never an unalloyed good.