Lincoln (114 page)
Authors: Gore Vidal
Readers of the other novels in this chronicle will recognize Charlie Schuyler (
Burr
and
1876
), Emma
(1876)
and the vile ubiquitous William de la Touche Clancey—they are fictional. As for Lincoln and the other historical figures, I have reconstructed them from letters, journals, newspapers, diaries, etc. Occasionally, I have done some moving around. At the time of Kate Chase’s Boxing Day reception, McClellan had been sick in bed for almost a week; but I needed him at the Chases’. I have not done this sort of thing often. I have not done it at all with the Presidents.
For those who may be alarmed at my version of the Gettysburg Address, I used not Lincoln’s final tinkered-with draft but what someone who was there (Charles Hale of the Boston
Daily Advertiser
) wrote down. Finally, I must thank Professor David Herbert Donald of Harvard’s History Department not only for his books on Lincoln and Herndon and on Charles Sumner, but for his patient reading—and correction—of the manuscript. Any further errors, if they exist, are mine, not his.
G. V.
January 25, 1984
BOOKS BY
G
ORE
V
IDAL
BURR
Alternating the narrative of journalist Charles Schermerhorn Schuyler with the Revolutionary War diaries of Aaron Burr, this novel begins Vidal’s history of the United States on a note of intrigue and scandal.
“A dazzling entertainment … a devastating analysis of America’s first principles.” —
The New York Times Book Review
Fiction/0-375-70873-1
LINCOLN
This novelistic portrait of Lincoln and his era—which nearly created its own civil war among historians when it was first published—is perhaps the pivotal work of the series, illuminating Vidal’s theory of the transformation of America from a republic to an imperial state.
“An astonishing achievement.” —
Harold Bloom
Fiction/0-375-70876-6
1876
The centennial of the nation’s founding is the occasion for Vidal to bring back the narrator of
Burr
, Charlie Schuyler, and reintroduce his family line as a force in the history of the nation.
“Superb.… Simply splendid.… A thoroughly grand book, must, must reading for anyone.” —
Business Week
Fiction/0-375-70872-3
VINTAGE INTERNATIONAL
Available at your local bookstore, or call toll-free to order:
1-800-793-2665 (credit cards only).
BOOKS BY
G
ORE
V
IDAL
EMPIRE
The end of the Spanish-American War, the beginning of the “American Century,” and the burgeoning power of the American press—represented by William Randolph Hearst and the fictional Caroline Sanford (Charlie Schuyler’s granddaughter)—continue the transformation of the empire.
Fiction/0-375-70874-X
HOLLYWOOD
The future movie capital of the world and the nation’s capital begin their long and checkered relationship (and Vidal’s own grandfather, Senator Thomas P. Gore, makes an appearance) as Vidal continues his saga into the first decade of the new century.
Fiction/0-375-70875-8
WASHINGTON, D.C
.
Although the most recent historically, this is the first novel Vidal published in what he later conceived as the Narratives of Empire series. Set in the period surrounding World War II and FDR’s presidency,
Washington, D.C
. also concerns the ambitions of a young John Kennedy-like politician.
Fiction/0-375-70877-4
VINTAGE INTERNATIONAL
Available at your local bookstore, or call toll-free to order:
1-800-793-2665 (credit cards only).