Month: April 2022

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Harold Holzer Offers Advanced Praise for Lincoln: The Fire of Genius

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Harold HolzerOne part of the process of putting together a book is asking prominent experts in the field to read an advance copy and provide back cover “blurbs.” I am very happy to report that one of the most highly respected and prolific leaders on Abraham Lincoln – Harold Holzer – has offered the following praise for Lincoln: The Fire of Genius:

Abraham Lincoln has seldom been known as a “technology president,” but as David J. Kent so ably demonstrates in this eye-opening volume, he should be. At first an inventor, geometry aficionado, fan of meteorology, and ultimately as a student of advanced weaponry, Lincoln grew into an ardent, indeed society-altering, advocate for both science and science education. David Kent has melded deep research, genuine expertise, and a fine way with an anecdote to produce a study that fills a long-missing niche in the Lincoln literature. 

Holzer is the 2015 winner of the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize for his book, Lincoln and the Power of the Press: The War for Public Opinion (Simon & Schuster). The Lincoln Prize is the most prestigious award given to writings on Abraham Lincoln. He is the author, co-author, or editor of over 50 books on Abraham Lincoln, plus more than 600 articles and chapters in another 60 books. To say he is the leading Lincoln scholar in the nation is an understatement.

In addition to his writing, Harold Holzer is the current chairman of the Lincoln Forum, past chair of the Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation, and a prolific speaker. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2008 by President George W. Bush, as well as so many other awards that it’s impossible to even begin to list them (check out his website for a selected list).

I’m happy to say that Holzer will also be one of the primary speakers at the Lincoln Memorial Centennial celebration on May 22, 2022 sponsored by the Lincoln Group of DC, of which I currently serve as president. More information on that event can be found on the Lincoln Group website.

I have also received several other items of praise for Lincoln: The Fire of Genius from other prominent Lincoln scholars, which I’ll highlight here over the next few weeks. I was fortunate to have journalist Sidney Blumenthal – himself the author of three award-winning volumes on the political life of Abraham Lincoln – write the foreword for the book. Read more about that here.

The book is available for pre-order on the Rowman & Littlefield website (Lyons Press is a trade imprint of Rowman). You can also pre-order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble (click on the respective links to pre-order). Release date is scheduled for September 1, 2022.

The book is also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. That will also ensure you get informed of the release date AND will let you try for one of ten free hardcover copies of the book that I’ll be giving away this summer. I’ll also be giving away as many as a hundred e-books. [The book will also be put out on audio]

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

I’ll have much more about the book over the next few months, so join my mailing list here to keep informed.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

 

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Abraham Lincoln Assassination Science

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Abraham Lincoln died at 7:22 am on the morning of April 15, 1865. The final chapter in Lincoln: The Fire of Genius is called “Assassination Science.” It starts this way:

Dr. Charles Leale examined the fallen president and knew immediately the wound was mortal. Twenty-three years old and only six weeks after receiving his medical degree from Bellevue Hospital Medical College, Leale found himself in charge of the shocking murder scene. He had been sitting in the dress circle at Ford’s Theatre when “about half past ten…the report of a pistol was distinctly heard and about a minute after a man of low stature with black hair and eyes was seen leaping to the stage beneath, holding in his hand a drawn dagger.” Rushing to the Presidential Box, Leale observed Lincoln “in a state of general paralysis.” Lincoln’s labored breath was intermittent, no pulse could be detected, and he was “profoundly comatose.”

 

But where was the wound? Initially Leale searched for a knife wound because Major Henry Rathbone, who had been accompanying the president and Mrs. Lincoln with his fiancé Clara Harris, was bleeding profusely from a slash along his left arm. Finding none and noticing Lincoln had stopped breathing and his pupils were dilated, Leale probed for a head wound and “found clotted blood on the head about an inch and a half behind the left ear.” After clearing the clot, there was “a sudden spasmodic gasp of breath,” after which Lincoln again breathed intermittently and noisily. Lincoln’s autonomic nervous system was keeping him alive for the time being, but the clock was already ticking.

From here, I delve into his autopsy, but also his history of disease (including bouts with malaria and a mild case of smallpox following the Gettysburg Address), his visits with chiropodist Issachar Zacharie to shave his corns, the autopsy of John Wilkes Booth, the growth of embalming science, and some really cool glowing bodies on the battlefield. The chapter ends with the continuing inquisition in which modern day doctors and Lincoln geeks can’t seem to let his body rest, metaphorically probing him for clues on genetic diseases and cancer diagnoses.

What is undeniable is that Lincoln continues to be a source of scientific fascination all these years after his death.

There is much more in the book, of course, now available for pre-order.

Pre-order Lincoln: The Fire of Genius now on Amazon and Barnes and Noble (click on the respective links to pre-order). The price is likely to drop before the final shipment, and any pre-orders will automatically get charged the lower price at fulfillment. Pre-ordering now helps the publisher get a sense of the interest, which could mean a bigger print run. So please go ahead and pre-order without worries. While you’re there, check out my other books.

The book is also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. That will also ensure you get informed of the release date AND will let you try for one of ten free hardcover copies of the book that I’ll be giving away this summer. I’ll also be giving away as many as a hundred e-books. [The book will also be put out on audio]

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

I’ll have much more about the book over the next few months, so join my mailing list here to keep informed.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

[Photo from Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Springfield, IL. For the history behind the discovery of the photo, read here: http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/news/rietveld.htm]

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Lincoln’s Role in the DC Emancipation Act of 1862 – April 13th Presentation

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David J Kent 2019I will be giving a presentation on April 13, 2022, titled “Lincoln’s Role in the DC Emancipation Act of 1862.” The presentation is part of a series of events in commemoration of the 160th Anniversary of DC Emancipation, an Act signed into law on April 16, 1862, by President Abraham Lincoln. The events are sponsored by the District of Columbia and Mayor Muriel Bowser’s DC Emancipation Day Commemoration Commission. The presentation week will culminate in the annual Emancipation Day parade.

The event is FREE and anyone can register to receive the virtual link at this website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-role-of-president-abraham-lincoln-in-the-dc-emancipation-act-of-1862-tickets-310030588837

The program begins at 6:30 pm ET and will be followed by a Q&A session.

I want to thank the Executive Office of the Mayor in the District, along with Mayor Bowser’s DC Emancipation Commission and the DC Archivist, for inviting me to participate in this important anniversary.

Background on Lincoln’s long road to emancipation can be read in this summary article previously published in the Lincolnian newsletter.

Pre-order Lincoln: The Fire of Genius now on Amazon and Barnes and Noble (click on the respective links to pre-order). The price is likely to drop before the final shipment, and any pre-orders will automatically get charged the lower price at fulfillment. Pre-ordering now helps the publisher get a sense of the interest, which could mean a bigger print run. So please go ahead and pre-order without worries. While you’re there, check out my other books.

The book is also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. That will also ensure you get informed of the release date AND will let you try for one of ten free hardcover copies of the book that I’ll be giving away this summer. I’ll also be giving away as many as a hundred e-books. [The book will also be put out on audio]

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

I’ll have much more about the book over the next few months, so join my mailing list here to keep informed.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

 

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Lincoln’s First Temporary Insanity Case

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Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln once advised in the prosecution of Isaac Wyant, who had his arm amputated after being shot in a border dispute with Anson Rusk. Following his recovery, Wyant sought out and shot Rusk four times, then pleaded not guilty by reason of temporary insanity. Lincoln’s old friend Leonard Swett was on the side of the defense.

The previous June, the two men had been arguing and Wyant attacked Rusk with a large knife. To protect himself, Rusk pulled a pistol and shot Wyant in the arm. Between the damage done and the ensuing infection, Wyant’s arm was amputated. Claiming to go to Indiana to be far away from Rusk, Wyant instead stalked Rusk, eventually following him into the courthouse. The DeWitt Courier later reported the incident:

Rusk entered the office of the county Clerk and was standing behind the stove with his arms folded, when Wyant opened the door and commenced firing an Allen revolver at him. The first ball struck Rusk in the side, the second in the shoulder, and the third ball entered his arm. Wyant then stood over the fallen man, put the pistol to his head and fired the fourth shot, the ball passing entirely through the head, and from the orifice it made oozed the brains. Rusk lived near an hour after, but never spoke, we believe. His murderer, Wyant, tried to make his escape, but was secured a short distance from the courthouse and conveyed [back into the] building. Shortly after he was taken to prison and securely ironed. It is thought nothing will save him from hanging, as a responsible witness was in the clerk’s office at the time of the murder. We understand that the wife of Rusk, who was enceinte at the time of his murder, and her child, which was prematurely born, are not expected to live from one minute to another, and perhaps may be dead now. If they die Wyant will be a triple murderer, and consequently, he should suffer the severest penalty of the law. Circuit court is now in session, but it is thought his trial will not take place this term. Some think there will be a change of venue.
Wyant had been given chloroform by the doctors who amputated his arm, and it was widely believed at the time that chloroform could induced insanity. A long list of doctors testified that the use of chloroform had caused a temporary insanity in Wyant to the point where Wyant was legally insane at the time of the shooting.

This was one of the first such “insanity defense” cases ever tried. Lincoln thought Wyant was faking the mental illness, but the jury found Wyant persuasive and sent him to the state mental hospital for treatment. The temporary insanity defense would later be used successfully by Congressman Daniel Sickles after he shot his wife’s lover in front of witnesses across the street from the White House.

A more substantive murder case, nicknamed the Almanac Trial, hit closer to home and brought into play one of Lincoln’s favorite scientific pursuits, astronomy. Lincoln’s role in setting significant legal precedents through science and technology related cases is discussed in greater depth in Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America, now available for pre-order.

Pre-order Lincoln: The Fire of Genius now on Amazon and Barnes and Noble (click on the respective links to pre-order). The price is likely to drop before the final shipment, and any pre-orders will automatically get charged the lower price at fulfillment. Pre-ordering now helps the publisher get a sense of the interest, which could mean a bigger print run. So please go ahead and pre-order without worries. While you’re there, check out my other books.

The book is also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. That will also ensure you get informed of the release date AND will let you try for one of ten free hardcover copies of the book that I’ll be giving away this summer. I’ll also be giving away as many as a hundred e-books. [The book will also be put out on audio]

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

I’ll have much more about the book over the next few months, so join my mailing list here to keep informed.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!