John Cribb has written a remarkable historical novel that chronicles in a uniquely personal way the struggles of Abraham Lincoln. From his humble birth in LaRue County, Kentucky to his childhood in rural Indiana, to his law practice and political beginnings in Springfield, Illinois, to the crushing responsibility he bore in Washington, DC during the Civil War, Old Abe is well worth reading.

The story focuses on the last five years of Lincoln's life, starting with his improbable election to the presidency over his Democrat opponent, the famed Stephen Douglas. Cribb's tale is absorbing and often touching; this is not your average account of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War.

The author describes the young Lincoln as a voracious reader, which over the years taught him almost everything he wanted to know. Vivid descriptions of the life and characters in the prairie town of Springfield and the political process of 1860 captivate the reader, beginning with the raucous nomination of Lincoln for president by the Republican Party of Illinois in a tent they called "the wigwam."

Almost no one expected Lincoln to win the national party's nomination. The other candidates included William Henry Seward of New York, who was favored to win, Salmon Chase of Ohio, Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania, and Edward Bates of Missouri. All had baggage of their own, and all except Bates became part of Lincoln's first administration.

After Lincoln was nominated, Cribb credits him with saying: "Make no contracts that will bind me. I can't be bound by promises I don't make myself." Thus, the author sets the stage for the hero he presents in Old Abe; an honest man, yet convincingly human and not without flaws.

Most poignant in the early part of the story is Lincoln's departure from Springfield for Washington, DC as president-elect in February 1861. Cribb describes a cold, drizzly morning at the small train station where a thousand friends and associates turned out to bid Abe farewell. Viewed by the reader from today's historical vantage point, the scene is tinged with sadness as Abe doffs his hat to the crowd and makes a short speech, knowing as we do that he will never return. Following a 12-day journey, he takes the oath of office in the shadow of secession and war.

Old Abe provides a rare glimpse into an apocryphal time, not only the horrific casualties of America's most costly war as Lincoln witnessed it, but the personal trials of his life. We meet Mary Todd Lincoln as we've never seen her in history books, a wife, a mother, with a tumultuous personality that today might be characterized as "schizophrenic." Cribb's characters, both real and fictional, show how the war between the American states tore families apart, including Mary's family, when her brothers and brother-in-law joined the Confederate army.

In the picture Cribb paints for us, we never doubt the Lincolns' love for each other despite their sometimes-stormy relationship, nor their devotion to their children. When we meet them, their eldest son, Bob, is nearly seventeen, and their second son, Eddie, has already died of consumption at the age of four. Two other sons, Willie and Tad, were ages nine and seven respectively when Lincoln was elected. Cribb skillfully weaves Lincoln's relationship with his sons into the chronicle of his presidential duties. His description of the tragic death of Willie in February 1862 shows how the loss nearly brought the sixteenth president to his knees and pushed Mary Lincoln to the brink of madness.

Cribb writes that "Abraham Lincoln had always hated slavery," but was not an abolitionist. As the south threatened secession and war loomed, he made it clear that preserving the union was his top priority. He believed that if the south was allowed to separate from the union, it would mean the end of the great American experiment of self-government, and that government of the people would perish from the earth.

Despite his personal distaste of slavery, Lincoln worried about losing the border states to the Confederacy if he moved to abolish it outright. And yet, as the war progressed in earnest, he knew the Confederate Army was using slave labor to aid their war effort. His conscience kept reminding him that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights...."

After much prayer and deliberation, Lincoln penned his Emancipation Proclamation in the summer of 1862. Upon the advice of his cabinet, he did not announce it at once, believing there was no advantage while the south was clearly winning the war. He issued the proclamation on New Year's Day 1863, as the tide was ever so slightly beginning to turn.

The author covers all the major battles, twists, and turns of the Civil War, from Bull Run to Antietam to Gettysburg and Lincoln's famous address, to Sherman's march on Atlanta, the fall of Vicksburg, and Lee's eventual surrender at Appomattox. The historical figures we learned about in school become real people, and Cribb shows the destructive scope of the war on all fronts.

Cribb's storytelling occasionally entertains with humor in Lincoln's banter with his sons, in his humility, and his witty turn of phrase. For example, just prior to his second presidential election, Mary says to him: "I'm afraid we will lose, Abraham." He responds: "Well, that's up to the people. If they turn their backs to the fire and get scorched in the rear, they'll have to sit on the blister."

Abraham Lincoln was assassinated just six weeks into his second term. It threw a country reeling from the effects of four years of bloody civil war into a further tailspin, and spelled the end of hope for the orderly and merciful reconstruction of the south that he had envisioned.

While the author's insightful writing inspires tearful sadness, perhaps the real tragedy today is the canceling of our history. Painful as the era of slavery and the Civil War was, in the end it spelled victory for the America of our Founders; for the government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

The Education Reporter Book Review is a project of America’s Future, Inc. To find out more about America’s Future, visit AmericasFuture.net.

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