The Lincoln Conspiracy by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch

Everyone has heard about Abraham's Lincoln's assassination in Ford's Theater soon after his second inauguration, but few know that there was an earlier plot to assassinate him right before his first inauguration. In this book, Meltzer and Mensch give a highly sensationalized account of the first attempt on Lincoln's life.  They posit that a group of white supremacist southern sympathizers planned to have Lincoln killed as he passed through Baltimore Maryland. Lincoln supporters heard rumors of the plot and hired the Pinkerton Agency to investigate. Not only did they find details about the perpetrators and their plans, but also devised a way to sneak Lincoln through Maryland in disguise earlier than he had been expected. Meltzer and Mensch also include a lot of history about Lincoln, his run for the presidency, and the state of the union at the time of his election. 

I read another in this series about George Washington a number of years ago, and I have a John F. Kennedy one in my cue right now.  This one is very much in the same style as the George Washington one.  It is pretty amazing how Meltzer is able to take ordinary facts and make them sound super dramatic. For example, in one part of the book he talks about how Lincoln was invited to a dinner during his train trip to the capital, and his son, who had been tasked to keep track of his attaché case with his inaugural speech in it, gave the case to the porter to hold during the dinner.  Lincoln became alarmed when he found out that his son no longer had the case, and went to the main desk and searched through the checked bags until he found it. This is a pretty small event. Lincoln had a few moments of panic, but then found his documents and all was well, but the authors made it sound like it was this huge deal that threatened the future of the nation. Still, I enjoyed the book. Although overwritten, it has a lot of interesting facts told in an engaging way. At the end of the book the authors admit that not all historians agree that there was actually a plot to kill Lincoln and that much of the evidence is inconclusive. Of course, they are making the case that there was, and doing it in a way that appeals to a broad audience. (2020, 428p)