Lincoln – Gore Vidal

Description

Lincoln by Gore Vidal is an intimate, unvarnished portrait of one of history’s most mythologised figures. Moving beyond the marble pedestal of The Great Emancipator, Vidal’s Lincoln is a complex, shrewd, and deeply human man — a political strategist navigating a treacherous capital divided by war, suspicion, and conflicting loyalties.

Set during the height of the American Civil War, the novel brings the besieged Washington D.C. vividly to life, capturing not only the military and political struggles but also Lincoln’s personal hardships: his grief over the death of his son, the strain of an unstable marriage to Mary Todd Lincoln, and the moral agonies surrounding the issue of slavery. Vidal’s portrayal reveals a leader as conflicted and calculating as he is courageous and principled.

Part of Vidal’s Narratives of Empire series, Lincoln seamlessly blends real historical figures with richly drawn fictional characters, offering a broad, engrossing panorama of 19th-century America. It’s a superbly researched, incisively written novel that demystifies the man behind the legend without diminishing his monumental significance.