false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165722347m/8716.jpg 8716 18 <I>Lincoln</I> is a masterwork of historical fiction, in which Gore Vidal combines a comprehensive knowledge of Civil War America with 20th-century literary technique, probing the minds and motives of the men surrounding Abraham Lincoln, including personal secretary John Hay and scheming cabinet members William Seward and Salmon P. Chase, as well as his wife, Mary Todd. It is a book monumental in scope that never loses sight of the intimate and personal in its depiction of the power struggles that accompanied Lincoln's efforts to preserve the Union at all costs--efforts in which the eradication of slavery was far from the president's main objective. As usual, there's plenty of room for Vidal's wickedly humorous deflation of American icons, including a comic interlude in a Washington bordello in which Lincoln's former law partner informs Hay that Lincoln had contracted syphilis as a young man and had, just before marrying Mary Todd, suffered what can only be described as a nervous breakdown. (Protestors should note that Vidal is only passing along what that former partner had written in his own biography of Lincoln.) Don't be intimidated by the size of <I>Lincoln</I>; if you like historical fiction, you should read this book at the first opportunity. <I>--Ron Hogan</I> 658163 1984 Lincoln: A Novel total:977|5:372|4:394|3:166|2:35|1:10| 977 4014 1481 102 5 2 false false Sun Sep 02 12:08:41 -0700 2007 Tue Sep 04 20:38:16 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 2 false false Mon May 26 09:21:17 -0700 2008 Mon May 26 18:55:50 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 12 10:27:12 -0700 2007 Sat Aug 18 19:50:59 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue May 20 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Feb 08 14:32:20 -0800 2008 Tue May 20 14:22:45 -0700 2008 Once again, I am amazed by the breadth and depth of Vidal's knowledge. His seemingly encyclopedic grasp of the era is matched in equal parts by caustic wit and empathy. Vidal's Lincoln is at once human and monolithic, and the pages are imbued with his curious melancholy. (On a side note, one g...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Mar 30 00:00:00 -0800 1989 Mon Mar 30 10:38:00 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 30 11:20:04 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Mar 18 21:21:49 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 18 21:28:48 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 26 07:08:24 -0700 2008 Wed Dec 10 17:49:01 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 true false Fri Nov 09 15:56:28 -0800 2007 Fri Nov 09 15:56:28 -0800 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Mar 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Feb 22 15:07:21 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 22 10:30:35 -0700 2009 A painstakingly researched novel that had everything you can ask for in a historical fiction. Gore Vidal uses journals, newspaper clippings, government records and diaries and letters to construct a fully formed narrative storyline that is informative and gripping.

The book focus...more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jul 21 12:20:58 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 21 12:27:35 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Oct 08 17:05:34 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 08 17:06:58 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 13 11:52:00 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 11 17:50:57 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Apr 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 18 16:40:54 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 18 16:40:54 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Mon Jun 23 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 26 18:12:41 -0700 2007 Tue Jun 24 13:52:50 -0700 2008
This was my first experience reading Gore Vidal, and it felt like an endurance test sometimes. It's not a fictionaliz...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Feb 22 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 29 09:02:28 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 22 12:37:41 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 27 15:00:14 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 27 15:00:43 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Nov 10 03:05:16 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 10 03:33:55 -0800 2008 2 I would say that I am really fanatic of the historical novel of Gore Vidal, less for his political analysis..
Lincoln is one of his best novel fo...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jan 11 10:30:59 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 11 10:33:38 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Sep 08 21:56:47 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 05 20:16:18 -0700 2009
Like any good Historical novel worth it's salt, it's brilliantly researched. A lot of the things said by Lincoln ...more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Feb 22 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 13 13:30:48 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 22 14:46:13 -0800 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=8716