Honest Abe In Fiction

Since childhood, we've all heard the stories about Abraham Lincoln reading books by firelight and leading our country through the Civil War and as the Great Emancipator.  Now how about reading some fiction so as to gain some insight into the life and times of Honest Abe from outside the history books?  Here are a few titles to get you started.

Mr. Lincoln's Wars by Adam Braver.

A collection of interwoven tales, told from the sixteenth president's own perspective as well as from the viewpoints of those whose lives he impacted, explores the human side of Lincoln during the crucial events of his life.

Booth by David Robertson.
Details the life of John Surratt, the only surviving accessory to Lincoln's assassination, and how he became entangled with the enigmatic John Wilkes Booth, which ultimately led him to become involved in the deadly machinations of Booth and his co-conspirators.

The Emancipator's Wife by Barbara Hambly.
In 1865, in the wake of her husband's assassination, Mary Todd Lincoln struggles to cope amid the animosity and confusion that surrounds her, in a historical novel that captures the saga of one of the most misunderstood women in American history.

Lincoln by Gore Vidal.

The character of President Lincoln, unremittingly tested by the trials of the war years, is reflected through the eyes of the diverse and colorful denizens of Washington, including his wife Mary and his political rivals and disciples.

A Bullet For Lincoln by Benjamin King.

Seeking to guarantee that the government will not invest in rebuilding the South, conspirators hire an assassin to help them frame John Wilkes Booth..

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith.

Reveals the hidden life of the sixteenth U.S. president, who was actually a vampire-hunter obsessed with the complete elimination of the undead, and uncovers the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of the nation.

Henry and Clara by Thomas Mallon.

Stepsiblings Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris sit in President Lincoln's box on the night he is assassinated, and afterward, they marry and have children.

Freedom by William Safire.

Lincoln suspends habeas corpus at the beginning of the Civil War and events unfold until he signs the Emancipation Proclamation.