I Am Abraham A Novel of Lincoln and The Civil War

Description

Jerome Charyn’s “daring” and “memorable” (The New Yorker) historical novel renders the inner life of our sixteenth President like never before. This unforgettable novel of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War effortlessly mixes humor with Shakespearean–like tragedy to create an achingly human portrait of Lincoln. Charyn conducts an orchestra of historical figures and fictional extras centered around a profoundly moral but troubled Commander-in-Chief, whose relationship with his Ophelia-like wife and sons–Robert, Willie, and Tad–is explored with penetrating psychological insight and the utmost compassion. Boldly narrated in the first person, using biblically cadenced prose, cornpone nineteenth-century humor, and Lincoln’s own letters and speeches, I Am Abraham concocts a melancholy but vibrant portrayal of Lincoln. From his picaresque days as a gangly young lawyer in Sangamon County, Illinois, to his 1865 visit to war-shattered Richmond only days before his assassination. Charyn’s President Lincoln comes to life in a haunting portrait we have rarely seen in historical fiction.