Lincoln

A Novel (Narratives of Empire, Book 2)

By: Gore Vidal

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Lincoln is the cornerstone of Gore Vidal’s fictional American chronicle, which includes Burr; 1876; Washington, D.C.; Empire; and Hollywood. It opens early on a frozen winter morning in 1861, when President-elect Abraham Lincoln slips into Washington, flanked by two bodyguards. The future president is in disguise, for there is talk of a plot to murder him. During the next four years there will be numerous plots to murder this man who has sworn to unite a disintegrating nation.

Isolated in a ramshackle White House in the center of a proslavery city, Lincoln presides over a fragmenting government as Lee’s armies beat at the gates. In this profoundly moving novel, a work of epic proportions and intense human sympathy, Lincoln is observed by his loved ones and his rivals. The cast of characters is almost Dickensian: politicians, generals, White House aides, newspapermen, Northern and Southern conspirators, amiably evil bankers, and a wife slowly going mad.

Vidal’s portrait of the president is at once intimate and monumental, stark and complex, drawn with the wit, grace, and authority of one of the great historical novelists.

©1984 by Gore Vidal. (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Interesting but not groundbreaking

A well written story. Not as many historical nuggets as in Burr. As always Grover Gardener is great.

Lincoln

This is a very good historical novel. The author acknowledges at the end what characters he had little knowledge of and for whom he made up a fictional story. Knowing this, I was able to enjoy the book and research from other sources the characters who interested me.

Gardner is my favorite Lincoln.

After Daniel Day-Lewis, of course. Sam Waterston is a close third.

I read this when I was a teenager. Back then I thought it was a masterpiece. Now I'm more inclined to think of it as solid, with moments of brilliance but some flaws. The cynicism seems less like The Truth and more like adolescent glibness. The subplot with David Harrold strikes me as pointless. The saga of Kate Chase and William Sprague is less pointless, but both characters are thin. The two of them, and Harrold, could probably be removed to the novel's benefit.

Lincoln is at its best when it's about Lincoln. I recall reading somewhere that his subordinates, who thought him a joke in 1860, were in agreement by 1865 that he was a genius, and a perfect a man as a man can ever be. Here is a convincing portrayal of a man who could pull that off. Vidal's Lincoln is blithe yet depressive, humble yet ambitious, fatalistic yet determined, empathetic yet utterly closed-off, emancipator of the slaves yet buffoonishly insensitive to them, politician mastermind, and savior of the Union. The scene where he out-foxes Chase in front of colleagues and legislators is a awesome moment, almost worth the price of the book. Also good is any scene where Grant shows up.

We were lucky to have had him and Lincoln. A lot of people think the Confederacy was a lost cause from day one, but I'm not convinced. I think the odds were against them, but not utterly so. Good leadership is what sealed it, which we fortunately had in the White House.

In summary, some flaws, yes, but still a solid, borderline excellent read. I've read three of Vidal's Narratives of Empire Series: this, Burr, and 1876; and I would rank them in that order. This is the book to start with.

The narrator is what makes this a great listen

Title says it all. The book is good on its own merits, but Mr. Gardener makes it come alive.

Great history lesson!

This book makes American history so interesting. I also liked that people written about all had personalities!