1864: Lincoln at the Gates of History

by Charles Bracelen Flood Narrated by Mel Foster

Overview

At the beginning of 1864, the Civil War was far from won; terrible and bloody Union setbacks and casualties lay ahead. Abraham Lincoln was facing a re-election battle as some northern Democrats were ready to start peace talks that could leave the Confederacy a separate slaveholding American nation and as his secretary of the treasury, Salmon P. Chase, challenged him for the Republican nomination. But by the end of the year, the war's end was in sight, and slavery was on the verge of extinction.



Despite all the turmoil of war and political infighting, Lincoln also set the stage for a new era of westward expansion. He shaped the decades to come through laws and subsidies that propelled railroads westward, by the Homestead Act that offered western lands to immigrant farmers and by the Act to Encourage Immigration that enabled 615,000 men, women, and children to arrive in America during the Civil War.



As the year ended, John Wilkes Booth, who stalked Lincoln throughout 1864, was only a few weeks away from assassinating our greatest president.

Editorial Reviews

Janet Maslin

By focusing a book entirely on the tactical maneuvers that got Lincoln through 1864, the historian Charles Bracelen Flood makes a smart tactical choice of his own…Mr. Flood's 1864 compresses the multiple demands upon Lincoln into a tight time frame and thus captures a dizzying, visceral sense of why this single year took such a heavy toll.
—The New York Times

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review.

Critically acclaimed historian Flood (Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that Won the Civil War) provides a brilliant, compelling account of Lincoln's dramatic final full year of life-a year in which the war finally turned in the Union's favor and Lincoln faced a tough battle for re-election. After Union defeats at the Battle of Cold Harbor and the siege of Petersburg, Confederate General Jubal Early came within five miles of Washington, D.C., before he was beaten back; General Sherman's September victory at Atlanta followed, with his bloody march to the sea. At the same time, Lincoln found himself running against his own secretary of the treasury, Salmon Chase, for the Republican nomination, and then against the Democrat (and general) George B. McClellan for the presidency. Lincoln won by a narrow popular majority, but a significant electoral majority. At the close of 1864, as Lincoln celebrated both his re-election and the coming end of the war, John Wilkes Booth laid down an ambitious plan for kidnapping that soon evolved into a map for murder. Combining a novelist's flair with the authority and deep knowledge of a scholar, Flood artfully integrates this complex web of storylines. 16 pages of b&w photos, maps.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Library Journal

As 1864 dawned and the Civil War dragged on, war weariness swept the North. President Lincoln was faced with the duel task of turning the war toward a Union victory and being reelected to the presidency. Flood, who has written many previous studies of aspects of the Civil War era (e.g., Grant and Sherman: The Friendship That Won the War), here turns to the personal and public story of Lincoln himself during his last full year of life. Drawing upon extensive primary and secondary sources, Flood weaves a compelling narrative of this brilliant, compassionate, but haunted leader as he deals with political rivals, military commanders, battlefield reverses, and his troubled personal life. Including as it does a mixture of military, social, and political history and many voices from the period, the tale is both engagingly spun and well documented. However, libraries that already have other recent, more rigorously focused books on these ultimate aspects of Lincoln's presidency, such as John Waugh's Reelecting Lincoln: The Battle for the 1864 Presidency, may choose to pass on this one. [See Prepub Alert, LJ10/15/08.]
—Theresa McDevitt

Kirkus Reviews

Historian Flood (Grant and Sherman, 2005, etc.) offers an inside view of the Lincoln White House during one of the most critical years of the Civil War, focusing on the president's battle for re-election. The author conveys the turmoil of a period when Lincoln spent almost as much time fighting his own Cabinet as his generals did fighting the Confederacy. Flood opens with the traditional White House New Year's Day reception, then follows all the major twists and turns of Lincoln's fortunes during the course of 1864. A key decision came in January, when McClellan was dropped from command. The general, who privately described Lincoln as "an idiot," became his Democratic opponent in the election. Meanwhile, Grant was transferred to the eastern front to apply new pressure to the still defiant South. The election and the war were inextricably bound; as the Union army's fortunes changed, so did Lincoln's prospects for returning to office. Both the Peace Democrats and the radical Republicans saw him as an enemy of their goals. Grant's first encounters with Lee's army led to long casualty lists, and Jubal Early's assault on Washington in July gave Lincoln reason to despair. By late summer, he was convinced the Democrats would oust him. But just before the election, Sherman's capture of Atlanta, backed by Sheridan's scourging of the Shenandoah Valley, gave Lincoln the boost he needed to win. Flood orchestrates the complex events of this roller-coaster year with a sure hand, taking plenty of time to look at individual dramas away from the main scene, such as the reporter who brought news of Grant's first Virginia battles to Washington but was nearly shot as a spy before Lincoln saved him. Theauthor does fair justice to all the astonishing events, closing with a poignant look ahead to the president's assassination and a letter from an admiring journalist wishing, "May God help you in the future as he has helped you in the past."Stirring history told in rich detail. Agent: John Taylor "Ike" Williams/Kneerim & Williams

From the Publisher

"The book is as adept at analyzing Lincoln's choices as at showing what they meant to his ravaged nation." ---The New York Times

APRIL 2010 - AudioFile

Letters, telegrams, and military maneuvers are the focus of this Civil War history, which recounts Lincoln’s presidential administration day by day in the year 1864. Mel Foster narrates in a flat tone, barely differentiating between speakers and events. Describing some of the bloodiest action of the war, he keeps his voice steady and even, a style that does not engaging emotionally with the events. Foster's narration may disappoint listeners who prefer more drama, especially in a story of war. Listeners will learn about the politics and military strategies of the last year of the war, as well as all the matters great and small that held Lincoln's attention. Yet Foster’s reading does not draw listeners into the emotional aspects of that year. M.B.K. 2010 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171009434
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	03/02/2009
Edition description:	Unabridged

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