Brad Meltzer writes fantastic kids books about people who have made a difference in history, and also has a couple of books for grown-ups. The title is a little hokey, but the book itself was super interesting. It’s a true story about a plot against Lincoln’s life that was to take place in Baltimore in 1861 as he made his way to DC for his first inauguration. It’s told in narrative form so it’s not dry the way a lot of historical books can be. 4/5 stars.

Running alongside this plot is also the story of the nation’s first private detective agency (who foiled the attempt, and from which we get the expression “private eye”) and the first female spy (who played an integral part in getting Lincoln to safety).

The context, of course, is the political upheaval over slavery, as well as rampant and open white supremacy, thus causing a number of southern states to secede to preserve those views and that lifestyle in the south. I spent a lot of time thinking about the parallels between society then and society now with its approach to race relations and other political differences between the north and south even still (coughpandemiccough). I’m not a historian. I don’t have profound, informed things to say. But I don’t know if I felt better knowing that we’ve gotten through this kind of in-fighting before, or even more concerned about another civil war.