Library Journal
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As 1864 dawned and the Civil War dragged on, war weariness swept the North. President Lincoln was faced with the duel task of turning the war toward a Union victory and being reelected to the presidency. Flood, who has written many previous studies of aspects of the Civil War era (e.g., Grant and Sherman: The Friendship That Won the War), here turns to the personal and public story of Lincoln himself during his last full year of life. Drawing upon extensive primary and secondary sources, Flood weaves a compelling narrative of this brilliant, compassionate, but haunted leader as he deals with political rivals, military commanders, battlefield reverses, and his troubled personal life. Including as it does a mixture of military, social, and political history and many voices from the period, the tale is both engagingly spun and well documented. However, libraries that already have other recent, more rigorously focused books on these ultimate aspects of Lincoln's presidency, such as John Waugh's Reelecting Lincoln: The Battle for the 1864 Presidency, may choose to pass on this one. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 10/15/08.]-Theresa McDevitt, Indiana Univ. of Pennsylvania Lib. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Historian Flood (Grant and Sherman, 2005, etc.) offers an inside view of the Lincoln White House during one of the most critical years of the Civil War, focusing on the president's battle for re-election. The author conveys the turmoil of a period when Lincoln spent almost as much time fighting his own Cabinet as his generals did fighting the Confederacy. Flood opens with the traditional White House New Year's Day reception, then follows all the major twists and turns of Lincoln's fortunes during the course of 1864. A key decision came in January, when McClellan was dropped from command. The general, who privately described Lincoln as "an idiot," became his Democratic opponent in the election. Meanwhile, Grant was transferred to the eastern front to apply new pressure to the still defiant South. The election and the war were inextricably bound; as the Union army's fortunes changed, so did Lincoln's prospects for returning to office. Both the Peace Democrats and the radical Republicans saw him as an enemy of their goals. Grant's first encounters with Lee's army led to long casualty lists, and Jubal Early's assault on Washington in July gave Lincoln reason to despair. By late summer, he was convinced the Democrats would oust him. But just before the election, Sherman's capture of Atlanta, backed by Sheridan's scourging of the Shenandoah Valley, gave Lincoln the boost he needed to win. Flood orchestrates the complex events of this roller-coaster year with a sure hand, taking plenty of time to look at individual dramas away from the main scene, such as the reporter who brought news of Grant's first Virginia battles to Washington but was nearly shot as a spy before Lincoln saved him. The author does fair justice to all the astonishing events, closing with a poignant look ahead to the president's assassination and a letter from an admiring journalist wishing, "May God help you in the future as he has helped you in the past." Stirring history told in rich detail. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Flood follows Abraham Lincoln's fourth year as president, ranging across matters that arose in his office, in person, or on paper, whether of minor or major importance. Securing his readers' engagement with a detailed account of business Lincoln conducted on January 1, 1864, Flood depicts for them the appearance of Lincoln's workplace, to which access was extraordinarily easy to obtain. Petitioners and their pleas for government posts, for stays of execution, for an autograph parade through Flood's chronicle, as do bringers of tidings connected with the two biggest things on Lincoln's mind during 1864: winning reelection and winning the Civil War. Flood's overall effect shows how contingent each was: he recounts Lincoln's hardheaded electioneering actions involving money, political favors, and sidetracking rivals such as Salmon Chase alongside Lincoln's exercise of his commander-in-chief role. Neither objective was entirely separable, and there's a sophistication in Flood's portrayal that shows how Lincoln's actions to further one furthered the other, as in his furlough of Union soldiers to vote for him. Flood's high-quality historical narrative will capture the Civil War readership.--Taylor, Gilbert Copyright 2008 Booklist