The Day Lincoln Lost

An inventive historical thriller that reimagines the tumultuous presidential election of 1860, capturing the people desperately trying to hold the nation together—and those trying to crack it apart. Abby Kelley Foster arrived in Springfield, Illinois, with the fate of the nation on her mind. Her fame as an abolitionist speaker had spread west and she knew that her first speech in the city would make headlines. One of the residents reading those headlines would be none other than the likely next president of the United States. Abraham Lincoln, lawyer and presidential candidate, knew his chances of winning were good. All he had to do was stay above the fray of the slavery debate and appear the voice of reason until the people cast their votes. The last thing he needed was a fiery abolitionist appearing in town. When her speech sparks violence, leading to her arrest and a high-profile trial, he suspects that his political rivals have conspired against him. President James Buchanan is one such rival. As his term ends and his political power crumbles, he gathers his advisers at the White House to make one last move that might derail Lincoln’s campaign, steal the election and throw America into chaos. A fascinating historical novel and fast-paced political thriller of a nation on the cusp of civil war, The Day Lincoln Lost offers an unexpected window into one of the most consequential elections in our country’s history.

Abraham Lincoln is renowned for his stance on the emancipation of enslaved people in a period when America was sorely divided. At the same time, there was a little-known event that took place--one that left a stain on Lincoln's legacy, and has apologists still trying to expunge it today. This book tells the quiet but bloody history of Bernard Kock, a New Orleans entrepreneur with an ill-fated attempt at establishing a cotton plantation on Ile-a-Vache, a deserted Haitian island, using formerly enslaved Americans. It also covers Lincoln's involvement and support of Kock's plan, as well as his pledge of $50 in government funding for each of the 453 colonists. With chapters on Lincoln's encouragement of black deportation, the establishment of the plantation, the futile attempts at damage control and more, this text reveals an untold part of Lincoln's history.

During the opening days of the Civil War, President Lincoln was under the threat of kidnapping and assassination plots. In the chaos that was Washington at the time, it was the job of 116 men and their charismatic leader Kansas "free state" advocate Jim Lane to protect the president. This book is a meticulously researched account of those individuals and the pre-war conflicts that tore Missouri and the Kansas Territory apart in the 1850s."

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE The “devastatingly moving” (People) first novel from the author of Tenth of December: a moving and original father-son story featuring none other than Abraham Lincoln, as well as an unforgettable cast of supporting characters, living and dead, historical and invented Named One of Paste’s Best Novels of the Decade • Named One of the Ten Best Books of the Year by The Washington Post, USA Today, and Maureen Corrigan, NPR • One of Time’s Ten Best Novels of the Year • A New York Times Notable Book • One of O: The Oprah Magazine’s Best Books of the Year February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln’s beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. “My poor boy, he was too good for this earth,” the president says at the time. “God has called him home.” Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns, alone, to the crypt several times to hold his boy’s body. From that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its realistic, historical framework into a supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional state—called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo—a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie’s soul. Lincoln in the Bardo is an astonishing feat of imagination and a bold step forward from one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. Formally daring, generous in spirit, deeply concerned with matters of the heart, it is a testament to fiction’s ability to speak honestly and powerfully to the things that really matter to us. Saunders has invented a thrilling new form that deploys a kaleidoscopic, theatrical panorama of voices to ask a timeless, profound question: How do we live and love when we know that everything we love must end? “A luminous feat of generosity and humanism.”—Colson Whitehead, The New York Times Book Review “A masterpiece.”—Zadie Smith

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER More than ONE MILLION copies sold A TODAY Show Read with Jenna Book Club Pick A New York Times Notable Book, and Chosen by Oprah Daily, Time, NPR, The Washington Post, Bill Gates and Barack Obama as a Best Book of the Year “Wise and wildly entertaining . . . permeated with light, wit, youth.” —The New York Times Book Review “A classic that we will read for years to come.” —Jenna Bush Hager, Read with Jenna book club “Fantastic. Set in 1954, Towles uses the story of two brothers to show that our personal journeys are never as linear or predictable as we might hope.” —Bill Gates “A real joyride . . . elegantly constructed and compulsively readable.” —NPR The bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility and master of absorbing, sophisticated fiction returns with a stylish and propulsive novel set in 1950s America In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett's intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden's car. Together, they have hatched an altogether different plan for Emmett's future, one that will take them all on a fateful journey in the opposite direction—to the City of New York. Spanning just ten days and told from multiple points of view, Towles's third novel will satisfy fans of his multi-layered literary styling while providing them an array of new and richly imagined settings, characters, and themes. “Once again, I was wowed by Towles’s writing—especially because The Lincoln Highway is so different from A Gentleman in Moscow in terms of setting, plot, and themes. Towles is not a one-trick pony. Like all the best storytellers, he has range. He takes inspiration from famous hero’s journeys, including The Iliad, The Odyssey, Hamlet, Huckleberry Finn, and Of Mice and Men. He seems to be saying that our personal journeys are never as linear or predictable as an interstate highway. But, he suggests, when something (or someone) tries to steer us off course, it is possible to take the wheel.” – Bill Gates

LINCOLN – The Lost Cause Book 1 in the Lincoln Assassination Series President Abraham Lincoln once said, "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt!" President Jefferson Davis once said, "I worked night and day for twelve years to prevent the war, but I could not. The North was mad and blind, would not let us govern ourselves, and so the war came." More than 150 years later, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln remains one of the most significant events in United States history. It continues until this very day, attracting the interest of scholars, writers like myself, and armchair historians. This series is very special to my heart. It begins with the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln on March 4, 1861, and passes by the four war years and continues with his assassination by David Edgar Herold, a 23-year old pharmacist who was living in Washington City. Wait! Did you just say who? If you did, then follow this book from start to finish and you will find out that not only did John Wilkes Booth die for his involvement in the assassination, but so did four others. Many novels define John Wilkes Booth as a lone deranged actor and a madman who struck from a twisted lust for vengeance. This is not true. He was neither alone nor was he mad. According to the U. S. federal government, over 250 people were taken into custody and interrogated. Later books in the series will take you through the actual military trial of the other's conspirators, including the first woman ever executed by the United States Government. This novel will also cover that fateful night of Lincoln's assassination. It will follow the 12-day chase for John Wilkes Booth and David Herold. Then, it will follow the burial route and final resting place for Lincoln. The trial will not be covered in this novel, but the day of execution of the conspirators is included along with the burial of the other assassins. Then, the chase and capture of Jefferson Davis is told, along with his two year imprisonment by the federal government. Are you aware that it wasn't until 1977 during Jimmy Carter's term in office that Davis was posthumously forgiven for his role in the civil war and made a U. S. Citizen? The novel includes the inauguration, the assassination, the funeral, capture of John Wilkes Booth, the execution, the arrest and imprisonment of Jefferson Davis and later his funeral held in Metairie, Louisiana. Below are a few words his wife said while traveling down Poydras in downtown New Orleans. The funeral procession was over three miles long as mourners paid their respect to the South's President, Jefferson Davis. "Dear, I was thinking out loud how sad a day this has been. The United States War Department did not recognize your father. The United States flag did not fly at half-mast. It flew at half-mast throughout the south." Varina began to cry again. She raised her handkerchief up to blot the tears running down her cheek. "He is the only former Secretary of War not given the respect and honor due him by the United States Government." She sighed, clasping her slender hands together in her lap, and stared at them, lost with her emotions. "Mother, don't fret about it. Father's funeral service was, I am sure, attended by far more people than those who attended Abraham Lincoln's. The South loves him. We love the South."