| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 96.1

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 96.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Lincoln's Darkest Year: The War in 1862. By William Marvel. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2008. xvi, 443 pp. $30.00, ISBN 978-0-618-85869-9.)
William Marvel's new book is a continuation of his Mr. Lincoln Goes to War (2007). The focus of this potential series is President Abraham Lincoln's impact on the Northern experience of the Civil War. He especially emphasizes the eastern war theater and ordinary people, both civilians and soldiers.	1
The thesis of this volume is that opposing factions argued for either peace or continued prosecution, with one group judging the price too great for any potential results and the other reluctant to waste the investment already made. Tragically, victory and peace might have satisfied both parties fairly early, but those opportunities were lost through a closely connected series of blunders, some of which can be traced back to the conscious decisions of Abraham Lincoln. (p. xi) Furthermore, Marvel emphasizes how human failings, high and low, contributed to a deep decline in morale and a discontent with the war. Lincoln's primary shortcomings seem to consist of tolerating ineffective generals too long and not using more moderate methods.	. . .

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