What do you think?
Rate this book
The Lincoln Hunters
Sent back in time to record a speech by Abraham Lincoln, Ben Steward learns that he has been transported twice--on two consecutive days--and that his double still exists in the same time zone. Reprint.--NYT
Paperback
First published January 1, 1958
1 person is currently reading
439 people want to read
About the author
Wilson Tucker
64 books33 followersArthur Wilson "Bob" Tucker was an American mystery, action adventure, and science fiction writer, who wrote as Wilson Tucker.
He was also a prominent member of science fiction fandom, who wrote extensively for fanzines under the name Bob Tucker, a family nickname bestowed in childhood.
He was also a prominent member of science fiction fandom, who wrote extensively for fanzines under the name Bob Tucker, a family nickname bestowed in childhood.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
August 10, 2016
I had forgotten the title of this book, but it was mentioned in Stephen Kings 11/22/63 and I could now add it to my list. I read it in high school and since we had a copy of it, I read it several times. I was fascinated by the time travel.
November 3, 2013
I read the book today - basically in one sitting. Yes, it was dated. But, hey, it was written 55 years ago! What matters to me are the story, the characters, and the overall plausibility - and The Lincoln Hunters succeeded in all three. Reading it felt like watching an episode of the Twilight Zone - a rating I don't bestow lightly...
October 16, 2016
Wilson Tucker is a wonderful storyteller with an awesome skill for putting readers into period settings. I read The Lincoln Hunters in the early 70's and came away with a satisfied glow, one that rekindled on the first page of this re-read. It held me captivate again for the length of the characters' breathtaking journey. No spoilers here. Mesmerizing work.
March 5, 2024
1983 Grade A
2024 Grade A-
I have read this book three times but don't have a date for the first time. The first time, it blew me away with the amazing story telling and it still does now. I did speed read a few small bits this time. Most of them were at the end when I was hurrying to finish because I was short on time, not because of content.
The story is about time travel. I found a few holes this time and it is rather tragic and also a little repetitive in places. Thus the speed reading. A man and his three man crew are sent back from the 2500s to the mid 1800s to record a lost Lincoln speech. Many things go wrong with the trip. Much of the story takes place in the past.
(BTW, wire recording was a real thing it the 1950s. I own an old home wire recorder although the speaker has disintegrated from age and the vacuum tubes are probably dead. It did work when I obtained it in the 70s.)
This book is Highly RECOMMENDED.
2024 Grade A-
I have read this book three times but don't have a date for the first time. The first time, it blew me away with the amazing story telling and it still does now. I did speed read a few small bits this time. Most of them were at the end when I was hurrying to finish because I was short on time, not because of content.
The story is about time travel. I found a few holes this time and it is rather tragic and also a little repetitive in places. Thus the speed reading. A man and his three man crew are sent back from the 2500s to the mid 1800s to record a lost Lincoln speech. Many things go wrong with the trip. Much of the story takes place in the past.
(BTW, wire recording was a real thing it the 1950s. I own an old home wire recorder although the speaker has disintegrated from age and the vacuum tubes are probably dead. It did work when I obtained it in the 70s.)
This book is Highly RECOMMENDED.
June 29, 2014
‘Ben Steward, man of the 26th Century, was a “Character” for Time Researchers: he was an adventurer, an actor, a student of history… a man trained to blend into any era of man’s long past. In the overpopulated, stultifying world of 2578, his was an exciting job.
He had, for example, been standing on the shore with the Indians when the Pilgrims rowed ashore from the Mayflower. And now he had been sent back 700 years into his past, to the political furore just before the Civil war… and he was facing certain death.
For the engineers who operated the time machine had made a mistake, and Steward was stuck in a time which would overlap the time-segment he had already scouted. No person could twice exist in the same time; it was an impossibility. And so Steward, in a few moments, would simply disappear…’
Blurb from the Ace paperback edition
In 2578 Time Travel is possible but fiendishly expensive. The chrononauts employed to travel the time lanes are known as ‘Characters’ because of their ability to adapt to different ages and assume characters with society. They are employed to retrieve artefacts or recordings (for profit) from the past and the company employs – apart from the chrononauts themselves – a team of research specialists and engineers to ensure that they will pass unnoticed in the relevant period and that they have a precise geographical and temporal target. All does not always go according to plan however.
Amos Peabody, the curator of a future museum has discovered a reference to a lost speech by Abraham Lincoln, made in Bloomington, Illinois in 1856 and wants the Time Researchers to obtain a recording for him.
The leader of the four man chrononaut team, Ben Steward, is sent to reconnoitre the area, but arrives a day too late on the morning after the speech. he explores the town, finds a fragment of the company's recording wire and is greeted by a man who appears to have met him the day before.
Steward returns to the future and selects three colleagues to accompany him back to 1856; Doc Bonner, Dobbs and Billy Bloch. the latter two are by trade, actors, a profession which lends itself to the business of fitting into the local scene.
Billy has problems though. he is an alcoholic and has learned that his brother – by dint of becoming unemployed – has been sequestered into one of the government’s labour gangs. To all intents and purposes this is government endorsed slavery.
The recording of Lincoln’s speech is made but Billy disappears and Steward is forced to try and find him before his earlier self appears the following morning. This will create a ‘cancellation’ of the individual since no two manifestations of the same person can exist at the same time.
One might consider it to be a cosy little novel but Tucker includes a rather sobering afterword. Within the novel he gives no hint of the text of Lincoln’s speech, although it is common knowledge that Lincoln is an excellent orator and knows how to work a crowd. It has long been supposed that that the speech was a dire condemnation of the slave-owning states of the South and that this was a turning point in US history when other political parties (such as the Whigs) died out, leaving only the Democrats and Lincoln’s Republican party.
Tucker tell us that he was prompted to write the novel by an old booklet published in 1897 for the Republican Club of New York entitled ‘Abraham Lincoln’s Lost Speech’ assembled from notes taken at the time by one HC Whitney:-
HC Whitney quotes Lincoln as follows:
(Speaking of a statement made by Stephen Douglas: “As a matter of fact, the first branch of the proposition is historically true; the government was made by white men, and they were and are the superior race. This I admit.” (A paragraph later:)
“Nor is it any argument that we are superior and the negro inferior – that he has but one talent while we have ten. Let the negro possess the little he has in independence; if he has but one talent, he should be permitted to keep the little he has.” (Speaking on a plank in the Whig Party platform:) “We allow slavery to exist in the slave states – not because slavery is right or good, but from the necessities of our Union… and that is what we propose – not to interfere with slavery where it exists (we have never tried to do it), and to give them a reasonable and efficient fugitive slave law… It was part of the bargain, and I’m for living up to it…”
Tellingly, within the novel Dobbs tells his colleagues a story about Ramses who was at one time at war with the Hittites. He suffered a terrible loss in a decisive battle, but decided – in a masterful ancient Egyptian act of spin, to tell his nation that he had won a glorious victory. This account of Ramses’ victory was recorded and was accepted as historical fact for at least 3000 years. Tucker is telling us in his own way that the Americans, and presumably all other societies, are very adept at rewriting their own history.
He had, for example, been standing on the shore with the Indians when the Pilgrims rowed ashore from the Mayflower. And now he had been sent back 700 years into his past, to the political furore just before the Civil war… and he was facing certain death.
For the engineers who operated the time machine had made a mistake, and Steward was stuck in a time which would overlap the time-segment he had already scouted. No person could twice exist in the same time; it was an impossibility. And so Steward, in a few moments, would simply disappear…’
Blurb from the Ace paperback edition
In 2578 Time Travel is possible but fiendishly expensive. The chrononauts employed to travel the time lanes are known as ‘Characters’ because of their ability to adapt to different ages and assume characters with society. They are employed to retrieve artefacts or recordings (for profit) from the past and the company employs – apart from the chrononauts themselves – a team of research specialists and engineers to ensure that they will pass unnoticed in the relevant period and that they have a precise geographical and temporal target. All does not always go according to plan however.
Amos Peabody, the curator of a future museum has discovered a reference to a lost speech by Abraham Lincoln, made in Bloomington, Illinois in 1856 and wants the Time Researchers to obtain a recording for him.
The leader of the four man chrononaut team, Ben Steward, is sent to reconnoitre the area, but arrives a day too late on the morning after the speech. he explores the town, finds a fragment of the company's recording wire and is greeted by a man who appears to have met him the day before.
Steward returns to the future and selects three colleagues to accompany him back to 1856; Doc Bonner, Dobbs and Billy Bloch. the latter two are by trade, actors, a profession which lends itself to the business of fitting into the local scene.
Billy has problems though. he is an alcoholic and has learned that his brother – by dint of becoming unemployed – has been sequestered into one of the government’s labour gangs. To all intents and purposes this is government endorsed slavery.
The recording of Lincoln’s speech is made but Billy disappears and Steward is forced to try and find him before his earlier self appears the following morning. This will create a ‘cancellation’ of the individual since no two manifestations of the same person can exist at the same time.
One might consider it to be a cosy little novel but Tucker includes a rather sobering afterword. Within the novel he gives no hint of the text of Lincoln’s speech, although it is common knowledge that Lincoln is an excellent orator and knows how to work a crowd. It has long been supposed that that the speech was a dire condemnation of the slave-owning states of the South and that this was a turning point in US history when other political parties (such as the Whigs) died out, leaving only the Democrats and Lincoln’s Republican party.
Tucker tell us that he was prompted to write the novel by an old booklet published in 1897 for the Republican Club of New York entitled ‘Abraham Lincoln’s Lost Speech’ assembled from notes taken at the time by one HC Whitney:-
HC Whitney quotes Lincoln as follows:
(Speaking of a statement made by Stephen Douglas: “As a matter of fact, the first branch of the proposition is historically true; the government was made by white men, and they were and are the superior race. This I admit.” (A paragraph later:)
“Nor is it any argument that we are superior and the negro inferior – that he has but one talent while we have ten. Let the negro possess the little he has in independence; if he has but one talent, he should be permitted to keep the little he has.” (Speaking on a plank in the Whig Party platform:) “We allow slavery to exist in the slave states – not because slavery is right or good, but from the necessities of our Union… and that is what we propose – not to interfere with slavery where it exists (we have never tried to do it), and to give them a reasonable and efficient fugitive slave law… It was part of the bargain, and I’m for living up to it…”
Tellingly, within the novel Dobbs tells his colleagues a story about Ramses who was at one time at war with the Hittites. He suffered a terrible loss in a decisive battle, but decided – in a masterful ancient Egyptian act of spin, to tell his nation that he had won a glorious victory. This account of Ramses’ victory was recorded and was accepted as historical fact for at least 3000 years. Tucker is telling us in his own way that the Americans, and presumably all other societies, are very adept at rewriting their own history.
December 28, 2021
Decent time travel science fiction, and not too horribly dated despite being written in the 1950s. The story goes back in forth between an authoritarian future America and mid-19th Century Illinois.
November 21, 2016
This novel, though written in the late 50's did not read at all "dated". It is the tale of a time traveling trip by a group of "Time Researchers" from the year 2578 that go back to record the "missing speech" of Abraham Lincoln. It was given in the year 1856 at the First Republican Congress.
A word about Wilson Tucker. He was a well known SF fan before he became an author and he liked to give his characters "real" names. He would name a character after a real life SF author and give them characteristics that may or may not be true to the real person.
The story also has a recurring story line about no one can "meet" themselves during a time trip, without "cancelling" each other out. Though this was only a theory, but the best scientific evidence was weighted this way, and no-one wanted to test it out. Due to an engineering snafu Benjamin Steward was to be sent back to reconnoiter the scene before the mission took place, but he was mistakenly delivered a day late. He had arrived the day after the speech.
So when the mission to record was sent to record the speech Ben had a certain window of time to get the speech and head back. There shouldn't have been a problem, but for one of his crew members, a Bobby Bloch (Robert Bloch who in this tale is a thespian with an alcohol problem.) gets lost and the mission is in jeopardy. Though the recording is accomplished one of the group has come up missing.
There are other side stories as well that make this novel a well written adventure that is running against the clock. The ending was satisfying, though not as I would maybe have wanted it. This is a good fast read and the tension drives the narrative.
A word about Wilson Tucker. He was a well known SF fan before he became an author and he liked to give his characters "real" names. He would name a character after a real life SF author and give them characteristics that may or may not be true to the real person.
The story also has a recurring story line about no one can "meet" themselves during a time trip, without "cancelling" each other out. Though this was only a theory, but the best scientific evidence was weighted this way, and no-one wanted to test it out. Due to an engineering snafu Benjamin Steward was to be sent back to reconnoiter the scene before the mission took place, but he was mistakenly delivered a day late. He had arrived the day after the speech.
So when the mission to record was sent to record the speech Ben had a certain window of time to get the speech and head back. There shouldn't have been a problem, but for one of his crew members, a Bobby Bloch (Robert Bloch who in this tale is a thespian with an alcohol problem.) gets lost and the mission is in jeopardy. Though the recording is accomplished one of the group has come up missing.
There are other side stories as well that make this novel a well written adventure that is running against the clock. The ending was satisfying, though not as I would maybe have wanted it. This is a good fast read and the tension drives the narrative.
March 28, 2018
The power of time travel to open up the past provides the starting point of Wilson Tucker’s novel. In the 26th century, a business specializing in time travel is hired to record a speech made by Abraham Lincoln in 1856. What seems like an ordinary assignment, though, is soon complicated by an error that sends the team leader, Benjamin Steward, to the morning after speech. Now risking a fatal paradox that may lead to his death, he travels back with his team to the day of the speech itself, where he faces complications that threaten to undermine his mission and may lead even to his death.
Tucker’s novel is a short and engaging venture about the perils and complications of time travel. His premise of a history only half-remembered is an entertaining one and his characters, while somewhat dated, are interesting and sympathetic. While not as good as his later time-travel novel, , Wilson provides one of the better efforts at a time travel novel and an enjoyable adventure that entertains the reader.
Tucker’s novel is a short and engaging venture about the perils and complications of time travel. His premise of a history only half-remembered is an entertaining one and his characters, while somewhat dated, are interesting and sympathetic. While not as good as his later time-travel novel, , Wilson provides one of the better efforts at a time travel novel and an enjoyable adventure that entertains the reader.
April 21, 2018
The Lincoln Hunters holds up surprisingly well. It's a solid time travel story about trying to record a one of Lincoln's lost speeches (bonus points for making the macguffin an event instead of an object -- I mean, don't you want to know what it was that Lincoln said?) and Tucker shows us what it's like when time travel goes wrong and gets messy. Ben Steward is a likable, flawed Character (with a capital C); I wish Tucker had written another novel about the "Sam Wendy incident."
Minor parenthetical notes:
- I can only assume that the character of "Bobby Bloch" is Tucker's way of making fun of his friend Robert Bloch.
- In an instance of life imitating art, in reference to a time traveler describing the Hamilton-Burr duel, another character declares, "I saw it at the theater."
Minor parenthetical notes:
- I can only assume that the character of "Bobby Bloch" is Tucker's way of making fun of his friend Robert Bloch.
- In an instance of life imitating art, in reference to a time traveler describing the Hamilton-Burr duel, another character declares, "I saw it at the theater."
May 5, 2015
This novel, a classic time travel paradox of a traveler meeting himself in time, was my first true introduction to the wonderful world of science fiction as a boy. I read it over and over again and then rushed out to discover others. Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke and Heinlein would come later. But this was my first taste of the genre. I applaud the memory of it, still fresh in my mind after many, many years. It was a rite of passage, no less.
May 13, 2017
A very good time travel novel which fudges things (a bit) unnecessarily at the end.
May 30, 2022
Energetic, engaging, and I would say intelligent, but also slapdash and awkwardly written. I enjoyed the book.
July 6, 2023
When an eccentric old collector from the future decides he wants to hear Lincoln's lost speech (1857) about abolition of slavery, he approaches a Time Research Organization that uses Time Travel to research history. That premise is a little silly, considering the dangers of time travel, and the silliness of the premise dropped it down a notch in my rating system.
The time travelers conspire to travel back and record this speech in person. The team is made up of out-of-work actors who find these trips a compelling exercise in acting as well as walloping good adventure. The actors frequently quote "Shakespeare" in comical quips-- but even that after awhile becomes a bit too much for me. There are also references to a Second Shakespeare that in this author's world takes place sometime between our current world and the far future the story is set in.. The world he creates is sad and consists of work gangs that solve the unemployment problem for those who cannot function at their employment.
The adventure gets off to a bad start when the first adventurer is sent in a day late by mistake. However, he sees signs that the replacement mission went wrong. Returning, he advises of the error and the replacement mission is planned.
However, one of the team is a drinker, whose brother was recently sentenced to work in a South American work gang, where his end will come quickly as these folks are quickly used up. Arriving on the right day, they have a meal that includes a whiskey and when the alcoholic member turns up missing the rest of the team seek to accomplish the mission, find their missing member, and return safely to their time.
What follows is a rollicking good story-- but focuses primarily on the ability of a public speaker (Lincoln and others) to sway people to their opinions. One of the reasons that the Lincoln speech is lost is that those who heard it become so enraptured that they stop taking notes. The speech is also controversial, Lincoln denies saying what IS reported that he said-- to keep from seeming quite so right-wing--- and the author seems to know his history. In fact, there was a scene in which the team leader looks at telegraph wires and I thought that was a little early for telegraph lines to exist... I looked it up and I was wrong.... Telegraphs did exist, but the reason I thought they didn't was that I remember that the telegraph put the pony express (1860-1861) out of business. Well, the truth is that they existed, but lines weren't established across the continent until that period.
It's a good story with a neat twist ending. Worth reading-- an old fashioned style of Science Fiction that is fun.
The time travelers conspire to travel back and record this speech in person. The team is made up of out-of-work actors who find these trips a compelling exercise in acting as well as walloping good adventure. The actors frequently quote "Shakespeare" in comical quips-- but even that after awhile becomes a bit too much for me. There are also references to a Second Shakespeare that in this author's world takes place sometime between our current world and the far future the story is set in.. The world he creates is sad and consists of work gangs that solve the unemployment problem for those who cannot function at their employment.
The adventure gets off to a bad start when the first adventurer is sent in a day late by mistake. However, he sees signs that the replacement mission went wrong. Returning, he advises of the error and the replacement mission is planned.
However, one of the team is a drinker, whose brother was recently sentenced to work in a South American work gang, where his end will come quickly as these folks are quickly used up. Arriving on the right day, they have a meal that includes a whiskey and when the alcoholic member turns up missing the rest of the team seek to accomplish the mission, find their missing member, and return safely to their time.
What follows is a rollicking good story-- but focuses primarily on the ability of a public speaker (Lincoln and others) to sway people to their opinions. One of the reasons that the Lincoln speech is lost is that those who heard it become so enraptured that they stop taking notes. The speech is also controversial, Lincoln denies saying what IS reported that he said-- to keep from seeming quite so right-wing--- and the author seems to know his history. In fact, there was a scene in which the team leader looks at telegraph wires and I thought that was a little early for telegraph lines to exist... I looked it up and I was wrong.... Telegraphs did exist, but the reason I thought they didn't was that I remember that the telegraph put the pony express (1860-1861) out of business. Well, the truth is that they existed, but lines weren't established across the continent until that period.
It's a good story with a neat twist ending. Worth reading-- an old fashioned style of Science Fiction that is fun.
June 2, 2024
A time-travel novel set in the far-future, even from now, The Lincoln Hunters has some intriguing ideas, but there is a strange time-warp between this novel and the present day. The book was written in 1958, not long before Sputnik and only little more than a decade before the first moon landing, yet one character asks another if he thinks we’ll ever get to the stars (p. 139). Yet, it is a time in which the author posits a world where time-travel is expensive, but profitable, and in which a future revolution has come to, at least, the U.S. (if not the whole world). Capitalism is still king and part of the thesis of The Lincoln Hunters is that it can be available for the right price.
Time-travel is not a tourist industry in The Lincoln Hunters, but one can hire “Characters” who study the history enough to travel back in time and retrieve artifacts for you without worrying about negating the timestream. Alas, several factors put the timestream at risk in the attempt to get a recording of the so-called “lost speech” of Abraham Lincoln, given in an assembly portending the Republican party and convened in Bloomington, IL. The scouting mission goes wrong and there is a high probability of the “Characters” being stuck in time.
The pacing was more relaxed than one would expect from contemporary science-fiction, but I kept turning pages, even as I there are still some good literary references. At one point, a character alludes to Shakespeare’s Sonnet 87: “In sleep I am a king, but waking no such matter.” (p. 68). There was also a Roman reference: Oderint dum metuant which would mean “Let them hate as long as they fear.” (p. 128). Even better, I was not expecting the way things were resolved, but I liked it.
Time-travel is not a tourist industry in The Lincoln Hunters, but one can hire “Characters” who study the history enough to travel back in time and retrieve artifacts for you without worrying about negating the timestream. Alas, several factors put the timestream at risk in the attempt to get a recording of the so-called “lost speech” of Abraham Lincoln, given in an assembly portending the Republican party and convened in Bloomington, IL. The scouting mission goes wrong and there is a high probability of the “Characters” being stuck in time.
The pacing was more relaxed than one would expect from contemporary science-fiction, but I kept turning pages, even as I there are still some good literary references. At one point, a character alludes to Shakespeare’s Sonnet 87: “In sleep I am a king, but waking no such matter.” (p. 68). There was also a Roman reference: Oderint dum metuant which would mean “Let them hate as long as they fear.” (p. 128). Even better, I was not expecting the way things were resolved, but I liked it.
May 12, 2021
A taut time travel novel from a nearly forgotten author. This novel surprised me. Given the title (and misleading cover), I expected something more gimmicky involving swapping of identities with Lincoln, etc. Instead, this short novel packs many great ideas into a rather simple plot--time travel for profit, a world government with an emperor and a token senate (maybe we are headed this way), global warming, and a big politcal lie! The overview of how a time travel operation might work is quite intriguing. Tucker also muses on the lost moments in history (like Lincoln's lost speech). I plan on re-reading Tucker's Year of the Quiet Sun before I try to acquire more of his OOP books.
December 31, 2023
Abraham Lincoln is one of the most famous presidents in US history, so when a person 700 years after Lincoln lived once a speech of his that was never recorded what happens? Well, if you’re Mr. Peabody, you hire the researchers to go back in time and retrieve that lost speech. but what happens when you send a character Benjamin Stuart you already lost one of his fellow characters in while on the mission who is another. This is a fascinating. What if question mixed with history and science fiction a simple read with an interesting premises, if you like Lincoln and history as much as I do. then I highly recommend reading wilson Tucker’s The Lincoln Hunters.
Read
February 17, 2023In the 26th century time travel is possible. A whole institution is devoted to it. Benjamin Steward is one of many "Characters" who are sent back in time to do historical research. Steward is assigned to record a speech Lincoln made in 1856, which has has been lost in time. He will assemble his team and they will be sent to 1856. Can they accomplish their mission? This was well thought out. Steward is a smart mouth wise guy. Still his is quite capable at his job. This was a satisfying story.
April 15, 2019
The first third of this novel feels very dated, and the protagonist was not very likable by today's standards. However, the narrative became much more compelling as it went on, and the main character became much more easy to relate to. Overall it is a memorable story and could be considered essential reading for people who enjoy time-travel fiction.
January 6, 2019
I looked for this book for 8 years and found it at a library book sale!!! Considering how old this book is, I think it was well written with an interesting coherent story line. There were a few surprises along the ay but I enjoyed it for what it was.
April 13, 2019
A good old-fashioned time travel adventure that now also functions as a period piece of sic-fi--published in 1958. Worthy to stand beside Jack Finney's Time and Again. Good, clear, declarative sentences. Imaginative semidystopian future. Flattish but memorable characters. Good YA too.
July 21, 2024
This is a decent read. The Shakespearean actor guy got on my nerves and made it difficult to understand what he was saying, but other than that, it's pretty standard SciFi from its era. The kind of thing that got turned into an Outer Limits episode.
March 22, 2018
Dated but kind of fun
April 10, 2019
I enjoyed this book but I was slightly disappointed at the end
October 27, 2019
gift from Evan for Christmas
July 2, 2020
A time-traveller who goes back in tie to record one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates experiences difficulties in returning. A Science Fiction Book Club selection.
January 12, 2022
Interessante e non banale racconto sui viaggi nel tempo.
October 4, 2022
Extremely annoying.
October 10, 2012
There was small mention of this slim volume in Stephen King’s recent book, “11/22/63”. It too had some concept of the problems relating to time travel so I picked up “The Lincoln Hunters.”
First Impressions:
I read Tucker’s “Year of the Quiet Sun” which is more fast-paced and interesting with a twist ending. “Lincoln Hunters” lacks that twist and is a bit anti-climatic.
Plots:
It’s not a bad book but really has little to do with Lincoln. Time Researchers scour the past for lost treasures. This 24th century company employs “Characters” who go into the past and record actual events for museums and other clients. One Benjamin Stewart is chosen for the trip to Lincoln’s first speech which was never recorded nor written down by reporters of the time, somewhere in Bloomington, IL at the Republican convention, many years before the Civil War.
What’s interesting is Tucker’s explanations of the time – the warm, subtropical climate of Cincinnati, the USA went through a Second Revolution and is now run by an Emperor in city-states, and the unemployment problem is solved with labor camps (a fate most of the characters in the book shudder to contemplate!).
Most of the book deals with personalities and a somewhat soap opera style with a woman engineer, secretly married to the guy who died under Benjamin’s watch in a Roman gladiator adventure and less-described characters including a drunk who thinks he’s a Shakespearean actor, a doctor and an adventurer.
The actual traveling to the 19th century and meeting Lincoln was a bit anti-climatic, but I did not know a lot about Lincoln’s start in politics so I did learn something.
The writing is at times hard to follow. Tucker will say Benjamin, then later say “The Character then ….” implying that Ben is also the Character named. It’s confusing not to use pronouns, Tucker!
Bottom Line:
“The Lincoln Hunters” is not a historical novel so much as a book about societies, where we look towards the past, whether personal past or Man’s past, and regret a little too much rather than look towards the future. Cute little novel.
First Impressions:
I read Tucker’s “Year of the Quiet Sun” which is more fast-paced and interesting with a twist ending. “Lincoln Hunters” lacks that twist and is a bit anti-climatic.
Plots:
It’s not a bad book but really has little to do with Lincoln. Time Researchers scour the past for lost treasures. This 24th century company employs “Characters” who go into the past and record actual events for museums and other clients. One Benjamin Stewart is chosen for the trip to Lincoln’s first speech which was never recorded nor written down by reporters of the time, somewhere in Bloomington, IL at the Republican convention, many years before the Civil War.
What’s interesting is Tucker’s explanations of the time – the warm, subtropical climate of Cincinnati, the USA went through a Second Revolution and is now run by an Emperor in city-states, and the unemployment problem is solved with labor camps (a fate most of the characters in the book shudder to contemplate!).
Most of the book deals with personalities and a somewhat soap opera style with a woman engineer, secretly married to the guy who died under Benjamin’s watch in a Roman gladiator adventure and less-described characters including a drunk who thinks he’s a Shakespearean actor, a doctor and an adventurer.
The actual traveling to the 19th century and meeting Lincoln was a bit anti-climatic, but I did not know a lot about Lincoln’s start in politics so I did learn something.
The writing is at times hard to follow. Tucker will say Benjamin, then later say “The Character then ….” implying that Ben is also the Character named. It’s confusing not to use pronouns, Tucker!
Bottom Line:
“The Lincoln Hunters” is not a historical novel so much as a book about societies, where we look towards the past, whether personal past or Man’s past, and regret a little too much rather than look towards the future. Cute little novel.
February 9, 2025
By the standards of 1958, when it was first published, this must have been an above-average minor novel. By now, the writing style and the social attitudes are a little dated, but not too badly, and it remains an agreeable minor novel, though probably not above average by today’s standards.
Wilson Tucker was always a bit of an oddball, writing fiction with a distinctive personal flavour, and here he gives us a personal vision of time travel into the past. (He dealt with time travel into the future in The Year of the Quiet Sun).
In the story, Benjamin Steward leads a small team of people on a mission from 2578 AD to 1856 AD, to get a recording of Lincoln’s Lost Speech. This seems a straightforward and relatively easy mission, but various human errors combine to create difficulties.
Characterization is quite good, especially for 1958: the characters are all individuals with distinct non-standard personalities, except perhaps for the only female character, who is probably not entirely standard, but remains rather enigmatic.
This is a book I don’t want to reread often, but I can enjoy rereading it occasionally, which makes it a typical three-star book.
The ending is not simply happy or unhappy, but a mixture of the two. Happiness with some regrets, I suppose. Tucker’s fiction usually seems to have a trace of melancholy about it, although perhaps only a trace.
Wilson Tucker was always a bit of an oddball, writing fiction with a distinctive personal flavour, and here he gives us a personal vision of time travel into the past. (He dealt with time travel into the future in The Year of the Quiet Sun).
In the story, Benjamin Steward leads a small team of people on a mission from 2578 AD to 1856 AD, to get a recording of Lincoln’s Lost Speech. This seems a straightforward and relatively easy mission, but various human errors combine to create difficulties.
Characterization is quite good, especially for 1958: the characters are all individuals with distinct non-standard personalities, except perhaps for the only female character, who is probably not entirely standard, but remains rather enigmatic.
This is a book I don’t want to reread often, but I can enjoy rereading it occasionally, which makes it a typical three-star book.
The ending is not simply happy or unhappy, but a mixture of the two. Happiness with some regrets, I suppose. Tucker’s fiction usually seems to have a trace of melancholy about it, although perhaps only a trace.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews