* The second novel in the chronology of Vidal's epic NARRATIVES OF EMPIRE, embodying the passage of American history. But it’s still a fun, engaging book and I can’t wait to read the rest of this series.Description for Lincoln (Narratives of Empire) Paperback. There’s a lot of redundancy, the characters don’t really grow, and I think about 10-15% could be edited out. And yet, Lincoln slipped in and out of history just in time for the country’s most crucial hour. Vidal grasps how loosely the United States was organized at the time of Civil War and how many elites looked east to Europe at their monarchs and tyrants with envy. There is a sublime moment through the lens of either Seward or Chase, I can’t remember (I think the former), where the character realizes that through Lincoln’s “Honest Abe” facade was a Machiavellian type all along. Moreover, he comes off as human, a difficult thing to do, and not something I think Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln managed all that well, even though I loved that movie. He comes off as a racist, as a compromiser, as someone who perhaps worships the existence of the United States more than the much more important moral cause of abolition. Vidal allows Lincoln’s maneuvering to flow without making him a saint or martyr. Rather, it does so around the eyes of those who surround him and plot against him. Lincoln never gives us Abe Lincoln’s perspective, and like Burr, I think the book is better for it. Burr, one of my favorite reads of last year, was almost a comedy of manners mirror image of Lin Manuel-Miranda’s contemporary hit musical Hamilton. It mocked the Founding Father myths with aplomb while keeping the mystery around its eponymous character in shroud.

Although not the second book in publication order, it is the second one in sequence, with one loose connection to the first (no spoilers although Vidal clearly wants to thread the story). Gore Vidal brings this to life in a continuation of his Narratives of Empire series. He is often painted as a savant, manipulating both his opponents and allies to align with his will as he navigated the treacherous years of the American Civil War. Much has been made of Abraham Lincoln’s political genius.

Lincoln by gore vidal