Coming Soon: Unable to Escape This Toil – New Book from David J. Kent

It’s been submitted!

I’m happy to say that I just submitted the manuscript for my newest book: Unable to Escape This Toil: In Search of Abraham Lincoln’s Forgotten New England Tours. The book is being published by Globe Pequot, the trade arm of Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group. Unable to Escape This Toil is scheduled for release in February 2026.

Here is the Publisher’s Marketplace Announcement for the book:

As the announcement notes, the book is written in a “ride-along” style narrative, which means it blends coverage of my modern road trips of all the sites where Lincoln gave speeches during his two tours with the history of Lincoln’s times and issues. Readers get to visit the locations, check out what memorials remain of the sites, hear from local and regional experts, and get a sense of what the travel was like for Lincoln. Interwoven within the ride-along is the history of his time. Why was Lincoln there, and what did he accomplish?

In 1848, Lincoln’s first trip took him to Massachusetts between sessions of his single term as U.S. congressman. Zachary Taylor had been chosen as the Whig nominee for president, and the Whigs were finding he was not an ideal candidate. Lincoln spoke in Worcester to fend off a wayward Whig faction known as the Free Soilers, who were fielding their own nominee. In New Bedford he was expose to the growing abolitionist movement. He found himself dealing with another split in the Whig ranks between the Conscience and Cotton Whigs. The renowned writers of Concord were stirring up the transcendentalist pot against slavery. And Lincoln was discovering his Massachusetts ancestors. Lincoln went to Massachusetts “with hayseed in his hair” and came away vastly educated in the realities of the world

In 1860, Lincoln was back in New England, this time in Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. The twelve years since his last visit was one of life-altering chaos for him and for the nation. As tensions between North and South rose, Lincoln found himself taking his influential Cooper Union speech on the road trying to keep the new Republican Party from imploding while at the same time working hard to split the Democratic Party, now torn between its northern pro-slavery but pro-Union contingent led by Stephen A. Douglas and its southern pro-slavey but pro-secession faction looking for an alternative.

Lincoln’s first trip changed him. His second trip changed the country and sent us into the Civil War.

Now that the manuscript is in the hands of my editor, I’ll be giving more information on the forthcoming book as the cover and bookseller links become available. I hope you’ll bookmark this website and join my Facebook and Instagram pages. Keep on the lookout for free giveaways and other incentives as the release date gets closer. And as always, thanks for all your support.

If you haven’t already, check out my previous book, Lincoln: The Fire of Genius, and leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon to help get the word out.

Coming in February 2026: Unable to Escape This Toil

Also see – Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America.

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David J. Kent is Immediate Past President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and 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.