cover image The Lincoln Miracle: Inside the Republican Convention That Changed History

The Lincoln Miracle: Inside the Republican Convention That Changed History

Edward Achorn. Atlantic Monthly, $30 (528p) ISBN 978-0-8021-6062-1

Lincoln’s victory at the 1860 Republican national convention was one of the most improbable in American political history, according to this comprehensive and often riveting account. Historian Achorn (Every Drop of Blood) offers sharp assessments of Lincoln’s rivals for the nomination, including front-runner William H. Seward, who would serve as Lincoln’s Secretary of State, and spotlights power brokers such as newspaper editor Horace Greeley, a staunch abolitionist whose “virile defenses of freedom stirred a nation.” Achorn also details how Lincoln stalked incumbent Illinois senator Stephen Douglas from campaign stop to campaign stop in 1858, forcing the “Little Giant” to debate him on issues of slavery. Though Lincoln lost that race, the debates caught the attention of the Republican Party’s moderate wing, giving him a long-shot chance to win the nomination. Achorn provides riveting details about the schemes and backroom deals made by Lincoln’s supporters and loads the account with dramatic set pieces, such as when Mary Todd Lincoln weighed in on a proposal to nominate her husband for the vice presidency: “If you cannot have the first place,” she told Lincoln, “you shall not have the second.” The result is a dramatic and well-informed study of political sausage-making. Agent: Lisa Adams, Garamond Agency. (Feb.)