Recent New Lincoln Book

On Sunday, The Washington Post published a review of the new book by James Swanson, Bloody Crimes: The Chase for Jefferson Davis and the Death Pageant for Lincoln's Corpse. In the review, John Waugh (author of several Lincoln and Civil War era books) attests that Swanson's book is 'riveting, absorbing, and meticulous.'

Given the popularity of Swanson's previous book, the bestselling Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer, it is easy to understand the expectation for this latest book. The two books detail virtually the same period of time (April 1865). Perhaps the unexpected thing is the counterpoint Swanson is attempting between the pursuit of Jefferson Davis as he tried to move the Confederate Government (such as it was at that point) from Richmond further south and the more parade-like journey of Lincoln's body from Washington to Springfield for burial.

I enjoyed reading Swanson's Manhunt. It was fast-paced and very well-written, and Swanson marshaled the facts in a dramatic way, making the book seem more like a novel than a work of nonfiction. Swanson's book didn't add any new details to the story, but certainly told "The Hunt for John Wilkes Booth" in a compelling way. I expect the same from Bloody Crimes.

Vampire Hunter Movie Finds Studio Home

Evidently 20th Century Fox believes that they can make money with the forthcoming film version of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. According to Variety, they put out quite the effort, along with ponying up an undisclosed amount of cash, to win the rights to the Tim Burton-produced movie.

Despite Burton's name, it seems to me that a $69 million film (plus a "who knows how much" amount to spend on advertising) featuring Abraham Lincoln fighting vampires needs more than 3-D gimmickry -- it needs the cast of Twilight too if it's going to make any money. Imagine this juicy tidbit: the most difficult decision Lincoln faced during the war wasn't whether or not to free the slaves; it was deciding between Team Edward and Team Jacob.

Eric Foner Interview about New Lincoln Book

Eric Foner, the well-respected historian who teaches at Columbia University, has recently written a book that focuses on Lincoln's views of slavery. Having focused on broad issues of slavery and emancipation in his recent book Forever Free, he now is focusing on Lincoln's personal views on the subject in a new book: The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery.

There is an interview promoting the new book on Columbia's website, including video clips of Foner explaining some of his thoughts on Lincoln, including why he felt the book was a necessary addition to the Lincoln bookshelf. He also has a pretty good answer on one of the key 'what-if' Lincoln questions: What if Lincoln had lived into Reconstruction?

I don't know how much new ground there is for Foner to till in this topic, though his recent study writ large of Reconstruction might allow insights into some of Lincoln's contradictions on the subject. I have little doubt that the book is well written and worth reading for someone interested in reading about Lincoln and slavery for the first time.

House Where Lincoln('s Stuff) Slept for Sale

According to The LA Times, Louise Taper is selling her large mansion. Taper is well known in Lincoln circles as an avid collector of all things Lincoln, amassing a large and valuable collection over the years. She has been a huge supporter of The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield -- the museum's first temporary exhibit on the assassination was mostly drawn from her vast collection, as well as the Peterson House furniture owned by the Chicago History Museum (or whatever they're calling themselves this month).

Three years ago, she sold (some say at a reduced price) her collection to the museum, including several gems: a Lincoln hat, the gloves Lincoln wore the night he was assassinated, and the famous arithmetic book that has Lincoln's famous scribble: "Abraham Lincoln/ His hand and his pen/ He will be good/ But God knows when."

For years, this collection was housed in this mansion. Andrew Ferguson, in Land of Lincoln (which I've reviewed before), tells of his visit to the Taper residence to view the collection, including the gloves and the book. Now the Lincolniana has moved to Springfield, and evidently Taper is moving on as well.

New Lincoln Book

A new Lincoln-related book was released today, the second recent book focusing on the 1860 presidential election, which was a wild free-for-all, with no fewer than a dozen serious candidates for nominations and four candidates in the November election.

Year of Meteors: Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and the Election that Brought on the Civil War by Douglas R. Egerton (Bloomsbury Press, hardcover, 416 pages)

Doris Kearns Goodwin's prize-winning Team of Rivals revealed to many that Lincoln faced several better known Republicans for the 1860 presidential nomination, before inviting several of them to serve in his cabinet after his election. It should come as no surprise that the Democratic nomination was just as fiercely contested -- so much so that the party actually split into regional factions, each nominating a candidate. Steven Douglas, who had worked tirelessly over the past decade to position himself as the front-runner (including his assertive chairmanship on the Senate committee on territories), had positioned himself as the only Democrat acceptable to both North and South, only to discover that he wasn't acceptable to both regions either.

This book has only gotten a couple of reviews today, but one is in The Wall Street Journal. It seems that Egerton focuses more on Douglas than Lincoln, which certainly is an accurate portrayal of the year 1860 -- Lincoln won the election, but Douglas was the central personality of the year.

John Waugh's Reelecting Lincoln offers an entertaining portrayal of the 1864 election. The 1860 contest was much more action packed, with plenty of tension and lots of big personalities. So Egerton has plenty of material to work with -- here's hoping that he does it justice.

New Blog on Statues and Monuments of Lincoln

While catching up on things Lincoln this evening -- after some time focused on other things, including a vacation -- I was pleased to discover a new Lincoln blog. "Lincolning," by Lincoln enthusiast Dave Wiegers, will focus statues and memorials dedicated to the 16th president.

Having corresponded with Dave occasionally since I began this blog, I know that Lincoln statuary has long been a passion. Currently, he is working on a book filled with photographs and information about Lincoln statues across the country. No doubt his blog will be filled with the insights gleaned from his travels and his photographer's eye.

I wish Dave all the best as he begins his blog and continues working on his book.

More about the New Donner Party-related Lincoln Document

After yesterday's post, I received a friendly email with additional information from Kristin Johnson, a librarian who has studied the Donner Party for almost 20 years. Kristin sent the joint press release of the California State Library and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, which details the story of how this document came to the attention of Lincoln experts who studied the handwriting and other details. Evidently, it was Kristin herself who brought the documents to the attention of The Papers of Abraham Lincoln project, as she writes on her own blog.

In addition, Kristin passed along the newspaper article that caught her eyes a few years ago, alerting her to the possible existence of these materials. Published in The San Francisco Call as part of its special coverage of the Lincoln centennial in 1909, there is even a photograph of one muster roll.

Two thoughts. This is how many discoveries are made in archived materials. Someone researching one topic comes across items which may very much interest someone studying a different topic. The Donner Party and Abraham Lincoln are two largely unrelated focuses within US History -- though clearly we now see they is a relationship between the two. An experienced researcher about the Donner Party realized that it might interest experienced Lincoln researchers, and discovering an online way of sharing these documents, passed it along. I hope that I and other Lincoln students are as sensitive when we conduct our research if we come across material that might interest people studying other, seemingly unrelated, historical subjects.

Second, after reading the newspaper article, I am a bit disturbed that no Lincoln researchers had discovered these materials, or at least pursued them. Given the extensive coverage of Lincoln during the 1909 centennial celebration of his birth, this newspaper article should have been read by at least some Lincoln researchers. Certainly much of the centennial coverage was redundant, and some of it was probably exaggerated; this does not diminish the need to carefully pore over the extant resources when doing research, even recognizing the huge Lincoln bibliography. The obvious sources, such as periodicals published around February 1909, should have come to someone's attention in the Lincoln field -- which hasn't lacked for participants -- in the subsequent years long before the 2009 bicentennial. [Perhaps my frustration over this is heightened by my current reading of a Lincoln-related book -- which I will not name -- that has a very disappointing and limited bibliography.]