[b:The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War|15793053|The Hour of Peril The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War|Daniel Stashower|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1344322305s/15793053.jpg|21515013] by [a:Daniel Stashower|43295|Daniel Stashower|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1351641842p2/43295.jpg] is one of the finest historical true crime books I've ever read. Since everyone knows that Lincoln in fact made it to his inauguration alive, Stashower faced a difficult job in building suspense throughout the book. Stashower has risen to this challenge and produced a book that builds in suspense as Alan Pinkerton races to uncover and neutralize a conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln as his inauguration train passes through Baltimore. The Hour of Peril describes not only Pinkerton's race against time, but does an excellent job of describing the environment of the United States on the very brink of civil war. This is an outstanding book which anyone with any interest in Lincoln and the civil war will enjoy. ( )

Did not know of this plot to kill Lincoln that was foiled by Pinkerton. Found the story very interesting. Learned a lot about Lincoln, the man, and about Pinkerton. Recommend to anyone who would like to know more about Lincoln prior to his being President. ( )

"The Hour of Peril" centers around the little known (previously unknown to me) conspiracy to assassinate President-elect Abraham Lincoln, before he was sworn in as President. Additionally, the book also devotes an appreciable amount of detail to the story of Allan Pinkerton, the founder of the famous Pinkerton Detective Agency, who was engaged to foil the plot. Stashower tells of how Pinkerton came to start his detective agency and was able to develop the business by helping prevent train robberies. Then Stashower explains how Pinkerton and his people became aware of, and helped prevent, the “Baltimore Plot,” the conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln on the eve of the Civil War.

The book started off a little disjointed, but not enough to detract from the story. Stashower provided good background on the State of the Union at the time, the deep resentment of the slaveholding southern States over the election of Lincoln, the secession movement, and political life in the mid-nineteenth century.

While I don't believe it was an intended element of the book, nonetheless I couldn't help myself from drawing a parallel between Stashower's story from 150 years ago, about a little known but a gifted orator from Illinois who, despite strong opposition from one section of the Country, ended up becoming President, and comparing that to the story of another little known, equally gifted orator from Illinois who despite similar strong opposition in parts of the Country, became the President in our time. Lincoln entered the Office with strong beliefs about the rights of slaves to their individual freedom. Obama entered the presidency with strong beliefs about the rights of all citizens to have access to health care insurance. Both of these policies were hugely unpopular in many sections of the Country, especially the South, and devastating economic impacts were predicted for both. Both policies resulted in secession movements (remember the talk of Texas secession back in 2009?), and both Presidents were under assassination threats even before taking their high office. Today, we look back at Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation as the right and obvious choice for the Nation. While reading "The Hour of Peril", I couldn't help wondering what future generations will think when they look back at Obama's push for National health care, and whether they will see this as an obvious and right choice for our Country.




( )

Overall, the book was OK. I learned some things about Lincoln that I had not known before. However, the book seemed a little bit longer than it needed to be. And a significant amount of material is about Allan Pinkerton. That was not a bad thing, but the subtitle of the book should have indicated that this book was as much or more about Allan Pinkerton and his detective work than actually about the alleged “secret plot”. I am not implying that there was no plot, although that is certainly open to some question, admittedly by the author himself.

There was a lot of background material about Pinkerton, and much discussion about his agents and their activities. Again, that was not a bad thing – but I was expecting a lot more discussion of a plot to kill Lincoln. Unfortunately, discussion of the plot and plotters was thin when considering the length of the book.

Nonetheless, the book was enjoyable to read, and to some extent read like a detective novel in places. But I would not put it anywhere near the top of my list of historical non-fiction books, nor of the many books I’ve read about Lincoln. ( )

The first 25% of this book is great for all the details of Pinkerton and Lincoln. I stopped listening to it at that point. The narration is very good. My problem is that I listen to audiobooks while exercising and this is not the type of book suitable for that. The pace of the story is much to slow for such casual listening. I need to read this type of book in print, so I will abandon it for now.