LINCOLN by GORE VIDAL (1984)

This is a fictionalized biography of Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. It is purportedly very accurate in regard to historical events, although some historians have taken issue with several of the details, such as the fact that Lincoln was afflicted with syphilis in his young manhood. It is so detailed as to be tedious at times, and it is certainly overly long (700+ pages). If I had not read a couple of non-fiction books about Lincoln just previous, I believe I would have become bogged down by this fictional treatment.

One aspect of Lincoln's life was new to me--that his wife Mary Todd Lincoln behaved so bizarrely. I will read further non-fiction about her before I take Vidal's accounts of her actions as fact, though if he is to be believed, it would appear that she was actually mentally ill, not just temperamental.

Not just from this book, but also from the other Lincoln books I have read I have been made aware that Lincoln was not quite the abolitionist I had imagined him to be. His primary object always was to preserve the Union, not to free the slaves. The Emancipation Proclamation, when it came later in the war, was a tactical decision more than a decision of conscience. He did believe slavery was wrong and that it should not be allowed to spread to new territories, but he had serious doubts about the feasibility of immediate freedom for all slaves and about the prospects for integration of thousands of freed slaves into white society.

I would recommend that a reader wanting to know more about Abraham Lincoln read one of the excellent non-fiction biographies or histories rather than this fictionalized treatment. Contrary to what one would expect, it is boring in comparison to the non-fiction I have read treating the same subject.