Edward Achorn’s The Lincoln Miracle: Inside the Republican Convention That Changed History has won the Harold Holzer Lincoln Forum Book Prize for the best book about Abraham Lincoln published in 2023.
Thomas A. Horrocks, chair of the Lincoln Forum Book Prize Committee, presented Mr. Achorn with the prize at the Forum’s gathering on Nov. 18 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
“Achorn presents a brilliantly written, riveting account of the 1860 Republican convention,” Dr. Horrocks said, in announcing the prize. That convention nominated Abraham Lincoln as president, though he was the darkest of dark horses.
Dr. Horrocks called the book a “page-turner,” adding, “I admit I could not put this book down, even though I knew how it ends.”
He said The Lincoln Miracle “places the reader in the cigar-smoke-filled hotel rooms of party movers and shakers and on the raucous convention floor, introducing us to Lincoln’s rivals, and especially his convention managers, who worked the key state delegations and made the essential deals to achieve Lincoln’s nomination.”
Dr. Horrocks argued that the book makes a significant contribution to American history. “The 1860 Republican convention was one of the most important — if not the most important — in our nation’s history, and Ed Achorn has given us the book the convention deserves.”
The Forum created the prize to honor outstanding scholarship on the life and career of Abraham Lincoln published in the year preceding the presentation of this award.
The Book Prize Committee is composed of Michelle Krowl, Ph.D., Daniel R. Weinberg, Christian McWhirter, Ph.D., and Dr. Horrocks. The Atlantic Monthly Press, an imprint of Grove Atlantic, published Achorn’s acclaimed Lincoln books The Lincoln Miracle and Every Drop of Blood.
Congratulations Mr. Achorn! Well deserved….
A well deserved honor for Mr. Achorn! Not only we’ll researched but extremely informative. The humorous anecdotes provide the reader with insights one does not usually encounter in historical biographies.
Hey, Ed. Wanted to leave a brief ntote of praise for two of your splendid books on Lincoln. Thank God for Dedalus books, which gave me quick access. In sontrast to your vluminous and thorough accounts, I’ll make this brief. and speaking of minite and provincial. What I particualrly enjoyed was tiur mention of Lincoln;s support for the new bridge across the Mississiipi at Davenport.
My sister and brhter in law lived there and I have many fond memoires of trips up there. You may or may not know that that brdge is now known as the Fred Schmebgel Mamorial Birdge–some improtanjt but forgotten IIowa Rep O believe. But it holds a tight spot in my memory.
What popped into y head as I read the Miracle book was the vast number of local newspapers you quote from: how about anther massive review of the rise of local and regional papers that seem a vita feature of that era’s culture?