The Murder Case That Propelled Him to the Presidency

I was very disappointed in this book. It cam with great hype and being a Lincoln buff I bought it. I have a rule with books. Very simple. If it moves and easy to read it's great. This did neither. I struggled to finish it . It was too verbose and went into different tangents all the time. Definitely not up to the standards of Ron Chernow and Grant which was a breeze to read.

Living in the next county over from the Lincoln farm where A. Lincoln grew up, of course, I am at the ready for any seemingly false citing of his good name. In the outline drawn on the ground of the once standing cabin I could still imagine the hardships that someway developed the character of this man.
This carefully researched story documents that fine character.

I enjoy history and expected a narrative of Americana about Lincoln; but this book is so much more. In many ways, it is like being in that Springfield courtroom, especially since there is a transcript of witness testimony at a time when such were not procedurally required. Great effort is made to describe what being a lawyer in Illinois was like in 1859. All of these details paint a vivid and exciting picture that I appreciated. This was not an easy case for Lincoln and his legal staff - professionally or personally. The reader becomes well aware of the challenges from the beginning. The explanations are direct and concise, adding to the building drama throughout. It takes an accomplished legal reporter to make this as timely and vivid as if it were happening today. It is a thoroughly enjoyable read up to the last page. Lincoln's honesty, integrity, and respect for the rule of law shine through and provide a crystal clear contrast with what we experience today from our lawyers and those charged with carrying out our Constitutional mandates. Dan Abrams has done a remarkable job!!

I found this book to be rather thin on information about Lincoln. It was a thin book hiding in a thinner book. There was much repetition of basic facts and issues raised--like a college student stretching the writing beyond the possible. Writing more did not elevate this book beyond a C-. The perspective was from the court reporter participating in writing down the whole trial. I sincerely doubt this last Lincoln murder propelled Lincoln to the Presidency. There is much before this trial that made Lincoln the Presidential Candidate, and President he became. The issues of the trial were simple enough. The defendant murdered his victim. The only question was whether it was in self-defense--which it was.
The background story of Lincoln and his times were marginal at best. All the other characters/ personalities were even less compelling. Whatever drama there might have been was simply deflated in this presentation. The subject may have been interesting, the execution was poor at best...sorry Dan no cigar.

A non-fiction account of Abraham Lincoln’s last murder trial, which was widely reported on and established Lincoln’s name as a potential candidate for the presidential run. Abraham Lincoln was a self-taught lawyer, and worked hard in these trenches before suddenly emerging into prominence with help from this push; the cover advertises that Lincoln was “involved in more than three thousand cases – including more than twenty-five murder trials – during his two-decades-long career”. The potential murderer on trial in 1859 that Lincoln was hired to defend was a twenty-tow-year-old, Peachy Quinn Harrison in Springfield, Illinois. Lincoln was of interest to the press during this trial because of the preceding debates he had with Senator Stephen Douglas. The case was personally challenging for Lincoln because the murder victim had trained for the law in his own office. And the accused killer was a son of a close friend. A rival revivalist preacher, who Lincoln ran against in elections, was needed to strengthen the case. This book is authored by Dan Abrams (CEO of Abrams Media, and chief legal affairs anchor for ABC News) and David Fisher (author of over twenty New York Times bestsellers).
As I was walking through the aisles at TLA, I noticed the Harlequin booth and stopped to study the covers since I wrote about this publisher in my previous books on the romance genre, of which in its present form they were one of the main founders. To my surprise, the books on display were not entirely romance-minded. The three female editors around the booth quickly pointed out that Harlequin had moved away from these romantic roots. They showed me this non-fiction title about Lincoln and invited me to email them to request review copies of this and perhaps some other books as they did not bring enough copies to hand out for these highbrow titles. I followed up and here it is.
Harrison’s argued that he acted in self-defense, a claim that was defended with a celebrity preacher’s eyewitness testimony (10). Given that a bestselling author co-wrote this book and it has been released from a publisher best-known for suspense fiction, this non-fiction is written with fiction tropes, or cliffhangers and background information offered to paint a picture rather than simply to convey the relevant information to explain the case. Meanwhile, the lawyer among the two authors has stepped in to double-check that all “restaurants, streets and hotels in Springfield” are accurately depicted. Everything Lincoln “did and even purchased on particular days during the trial was gathered from historical data” (11). There are a lot of details in this book that needed researching It starts out with a description of a “sweltering afternoon,” reflected also in the “beads of sweat” on Robert Hitt’s forehead, and proceeds to point out that he practiced his “shorthand on the ever-shaking rails” (15). This book attempts to place readers into this murder mystery so they can visualize the scenes and actions as they would have appeared to the protagonists and antagonists. The stress is laid on the relationships and feelings the characters have for each other rather than focusing purely on their fiscal, legal or professional entanglements. Though the political and other types of involvements are definitely also explained. The emotions are just used to connect scenes and to give the reader something to relate to, so they can sympathize with the players and get into the story on a personal level (30). While it is admirable that Harlequin is attempting to make a historical legal case relatable to the general reader, it is too simple for my taste in many places. For example: “The whole slaver issue confounded Hitt, as it did just about everyone with whom he discussed it. The morality of the issue was obvious, but getting out of it was so complicated. The economy of the South had grown dependent on it…” (135). While emotionally slavery is a powerful symbol, it’s troubling for me as a researcher to see it handled thusly. These are pretty empty sentences that in a scholarly study of the case would have been handled with detachment and the facts. Instead, they are shown from the perspective of a confused person who is unsure about the matter and doesn’t know much about it. If Hitt is clueless on the subject, why mention what he thought about it? By what the rest of the paragraph discusses, it seems the subject of slavery was something that Hitt contemplated might have been a matter people might “kill each other” over (135).
Thus, I could never read this book from cover-to-cover as it would be extremely painful for me to re-read these types of obvious statements. I would have a lot more fun reading the original transcript of the trial that this version is based on. If you enjoy fiction and dramatic narratives more than dry legal documents, then this is a book that you would enjoy. It is thoroughly researched, and includes curious details about Lincoln and the place and time when he worked as lawyer. It should fit most library collections nicely.
Pennsylvania Literary Journal: Spring 2018 Reviews: Anaphora Literary Press

LINCOLN’S LAST TRIAL is a meticulously accurate account of the final murder trial conducted by Abraham Lincoln as a defense lawyer. Having grown up in and around the historic town of Gettysburg, PA, Lincoln has always been a figure constructed in my mind, unchanging and static, but Abrams and Fisher have rocked the very foundation of that mindset. They make an honest effort to avoid regurgitating the Lincoln legends that have become so engrained in the historical American psyche and have comined that effort with prose that reads like eloquent fiction with the factual consequence of reality. Abrams and Fisher left me biting my nails over the verdict of a case tried over 150 years ago. Lincoln is transformed into a powerful and domineering character in what is perhaps one of the most honest and unseen portrayals of his own personal past outside the confines of his presidency. Smart, digestible, and utterly exciting, LINCOLN’S LAST TRIAL is a time machine to the past that all of us should climb into.

I found this book to be rather thin on information about Lincoln. It was a thin book hiding in a thinner book. There was much repetition of basic facts and issues raised--like a college student stretching the writing beyond the possible. Writing more did not elevate this book beyond a C-. The perspective was from the court reporter participating in writing down the whole trial. I sincerely doubt this last Lincoln murder propelled Lincoln to the Presidency. There is much before this trial that made Lincoln the Presidential Candidate, and President he became. The issues of the trial were simple enough. The defendant murdered his victim. The only question was whether it was in self-defense--which it was.
The background story of Lincoln and his times were marginal at best. All the other characters/ personalities were even less compelling. Whatever drama there might have been was simply deflated in this presentation. The subject may have been interesting, the execution was poor at best...sorry Dan no cigar.

A non-fiction account of Abraham Lincoln’s last murder trial, which was widely reported on and established Lincoln’s name as a potential candidate for the presidential run. Abraham Lincoln was a self-taught lawyer, and worked hard in these trenches before suddenly emerging into prominence with help from this push; the cover advertises that Lincoln was “involved in more than three thousand cases – including more than twenty-five murder trials – during his two-decades-long career”. The potential murderer on trial in 1859 that Lincoln was hired to defend was a twenty-tow-year-old, Peachy Quinn Harrison in Springfield, Illinois. Lincoln was of interest to the press during this trial because of the preceding debates he had with Senator Stephen Douglas. The case was personally challenging for Lincoln because the murder victim had trained for the law in his own office. And the accused killer was a son of a close friend. A rival revivalist preacher, who Lincoln ran against in elections, was needed to strengthen the case. This book is authored by Dan Abrams (CEO of Abrams Media, and chief legal affairs anchor for ABC News) and David Fisher (author of over twenty New York Times bestsellers).
As I was walking through the aisles at TLA, I noticed the Harlequin booth and stopped to study the covers since I wrote about this publisher in my previous books on the romance genre, of which in its present form they were one of the main founders. To my surprise, the books on display were not entirely romance-minded. The three female editors around the booth quickly pointed out that Harlequin had moved away from these romantic roots. They showed me this non-fiction title about Lincoln and invited me to email them to request review copies of this and perhaps some other books as they did not bring enough copies to hand out for these highbrow titles. I followed up and here it is.
Harrison’s argued that he acted in self-defense, a claim that was defended with a celebrity preacher’s eyewitness testimony (10). Given that a bestselling author co-wrote this book and it has been released from a publisher best-known for suspense fiction, this non-fiction is written with fiction tropes, or cliffhangers and background information offered to paint a picture rather than simply to convey the relevant information to explain the case. Meanwhile, the lawyer among the two authors has stepped in to double-check that all “restaurants, streets and hotels in Springfield” are accurately depicted. Everything Lincoln “did and even purchased on particular days during the trial was gathered from historical data” (11). There are a lot of details in this book that needed researching It starts out with a description of a “sweltering afternoon,” reflected also in the “beads of sweat” on Robert Hitt’s forehead, and proceeds to point out that he practiced his “shorthand on the ever-shaking rails” (15). This book attempts to place readers into this murder mystery so they can visualize the scenes and actions as they would have appeared to the protagonists and antagonists. The stress is laid on the relationships and feelings the characters have for each other rather than focusing purely on their fiscal, legal or professional entanglements. Though the political and other types of involvements are definitely also explained. The emotions are just used to connect scenes and to give the reader something to relate to, so they can sympathize with the players and get into the story on a personal level (30). While it is admirable that Harlequin is attempting to make a historical legal case relatable to the general reader, it is too simple for my taste in many places. For example: “The whole slaver issue confounded Hitt, as it did just about everyone with whom he discussed it. The morality of the issue was obvious, but getting out of it was so complicated. The economy of the South had grown dependent on it…” (135). While emotionally slavery is a powerful symbol, it’s troubling for me as a researcher to see it handled thusly. These are pretty empty sentences that in a scholarly study of the case would have been handled with detachment and the facts. Instead, they are shown from the perspective of a confused person who is unsure about the matter and doesn’t know much about it. If Hitt is clueless on the subject, why mention what he thought about it? By what the rest of the paragraph discusses, it seems the subject of slavery was something that Hitt contemplated might have been a matter people might “kill each other” over (135).
Thus, I could never read this book from cover-to-cover as it would be extremely painful for me to re-read these types of obvious statements. I would have a lot more fun reading the original transcript of the trial that this version is based on. If you enjoy fiction and dramatic narratives more than dry legal documents, then this is a book that you would enjoy. It is thoroughly researched, and includes curious details about Lincoln and the place and time when he worked as lawyer. It should fit most library collections nicely.
Pennsylvania Literary Journal: Spring 2018 Reviews: Anaphora Literary Press

LINCOLN’S LAST TRIAL is a meticulously accurate account of the final murder trial conducted by Abraham Lincoln as a defense lawyer. Having grown up in and around the historic town of Gettysburg, PA, Lincoln has always been a figure constructed in my mind, unchanging and static, but Abrams and Fisher have rocked the very foundation of that mindset. They make an honest effort to avoid regurgitating the Lincoln legends that have become so engrained in the historical American psyche and have comined that effort with prose that reads like eloquent fiction with the factual consequence of reality. Abrams and Fisher left me biting my nails over the verdict of a case tried over 150 years ago. Lincoln is transformed into a powerful and domineering character in what is perhaps one of the most honest and unseen portrayals of his own personal past outside the confines of his presidency. Smart, digestible, and utterly exciting, LINCOLN’S LAST TRIAL is a time machine to the past that all of us should climb into.

The book is strong when it focuses on the details of what a small town murder trial would look like in the mid 19th century. IMHO, however, the book gets a bit schmaltzy when the author ad nauseum imports assumptions about the character and tactics and intentions of the participants, and in the process virtually canonizes Lincoln. My guess is that Lincoln was much more down and dirty as a trial lawyer than this author presents. BTW, the title is puzzling. I couldn't find anything in the book showing that this trial in any way propelled Lincoln's successful run for presidency. It simply was the last big trial Lincoln did before he ran for president.

This was an enjoyable quick read focusing on Mr. Lincoln’s epic courtroom skills
in defending a young man against a murder charge. Was it a case of self-defense
or not? The true transcript from the 19th century trial, thanks to the transcriber, Mr. Hitt really brings the tale to life
in quite a novel and remarkable way.