Back in May I announced that I submitted the final manuscript for my new book about Lincoln’s two tours of New England. As the production process proceeds, I’ve been working with the editors to fine-tune the book. Most of that sausage-making is behind the scenes and won’t be noticeable to the public, but one change is rather obvious. I have a new title!
The title of the book in print will be…(imagine a drum roll here)…Lincoln in New England: In Search of His Forgotten Tours.
My original working title, Unable to Escape This Toil, came from a letter Abraham Lincoln had written to his wife Mary. He was in Exeter, New Hampshire at the time visiting his son Robert, who was at Phillips Exeter Academy studying to retake the Harvard entrance exams he had failed the previous summer. Lincoln had given a big (really big) speech at Cooper Union in New York, then planned a relaxing few days visiting his son. By the time he got there he had already given one additional speech and committed to at least five more. Another four were waiting for him when he arrived at the Exeter train station. In his letter home, Lincoln wrote: “I am unable to escape this toil,” he said, adding “If I had foreseen it, I think I would not have come East at all.” He was being a bit whiny and disingenuous, which I discuss in a paper that I just submitted to the Lincoln Forum Bulletin for publication this fall. In any case, the title seemed a big opaque to the general public, so we changed it to a much more descriptive Lincoln in New England. The subtitle is tweaked slightly to go with the new title.
As of this writing, Lincoln in New England: In Search of His Forgotten Tours is scheduled for release on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. You can even pre-order the book via the publisher website and other booksellers:
Globe Pequot (with links to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million, and Bookshop)
[The other links weren’t updated yet, so I’ll add them when they work]
Meanwhile, formatting of the book continues. It will include fifty black-and-white photos from my travels and of historical places, plus two maps to show Lincoln’s speaking tour routes.
Stay tuned for the cover reveal to come soon!
[Photos by David J. Kent, 2025]
Coming in March 2026: Lincoln in New England: In Search of His Forgotten Tours
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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.
I hope to learn more about Lincoln’s visit with Millard Fillmore at the Buffalo Unitarian Church. Looking forward to your book.
Thanks. The book is working its way through the process (I just received draft book cover options today!) and will be out in February. It’s already open for pre-orders.