Stephen L. Carter, "The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln"

All Events

Start: Jul 19 2012 7:00 pm

Stephen L. Carter takes historical fiction to the next level with The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln. With this beloved president on trial for taking action beyond the powers of his office, Carter has wonderfully captured the question of the reach of presidential authority at times of war, and highlighted its timeless ambiguity.

This thrilling new novel takes an alternate history approach; President Abraham Lincoln survives the assassination attempt at Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865. Two years later he is charged with overstepping his constitutional authority, both during and after the Civil War, and faces an impeachment trial...

Twenty-one-year-old Abigail Canner is a young black woman with a degree from Oberlin, a letter of employment from the law firm that has undertaken Lincoln’s defense, and the iron-strong conviction, learned from her late mother, that “whatever limitations society might place on ordinary negroes, they would never apply to her.” And so Abigail embarks on a life that defies the norms of every stratum of Washington society: working side by side with a white clerk, meeting the great and powerful of the nation, including the president himself. But when Lincoln’s lead counsel is found brutally murdered on the eve of the trial, Abigail is plunged into a treacherous web of intrigue and conspiracy reaching the highest levels of the divided government.

Here is a vividly imagined work of historical fiction that captures the emotional tenor of post–Civil War America, a brilliantly realized courtroom drama that explores the always contentious question of the nature of presidential authority, and a galvanizing story of political suspense.