This post contains the review for Part III of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and thoughts on the book as a whole. If you haven't finished reading the book, read ahead at your own peril.
This section was surprisingly brief considering it contains Abe's Presidential campaign and his time as the President. Since it is this time period that we study so much in school, albeit without the vampires, I'll try to keep this review brief.
This part starts with Abe's failed run for Senate against Stephen Douglas. Apparently, the loss is exactly what the Union had hoped for. When Henry Seward, the favorite for the Republican presidential nomination, leaves for an extended trip to Europe, Abe becomes the new nominee. While others are out campaigning for him, Henry sends Abe to assassinate Jefferson Davis. Taking his friends, Joshua Speed and Ward Hill Lamon, with him, Abe and his partners are nearly killed, having been led into a trap by a traitor within the Union. They're rescued by Henry and some other Union vampires, but it would be the last time Abe went hunting.
Abe becomes president, and has to avoid an assassination attempt before he ever reaches Washington. He is guarded constantly by three vampires, whom Abe calls his "unholy trinity", and numerous human guards. It is not long into Abe's presidency that the Civil War begins. While the North has more men and weapons, Abe soon finds out that the South has vampires among its ranks. And the threat of vampires to Abe's life had never been greater. One afternoon, a vampire pays a man to distract the guards who watch over Willie and Tad, Abe's two youngest sons. While the guards are distracted, the vampire forces Willie to drink his blood. Willie dies from drinking this fool's dose and an enraged, grieving Abe throws all the vampires out of his service, including Henry. Willie's death proves to be a final turning point in Abe's life. He increasingly goes out with little to no regard to his life, reducing the number of men that guard him and even going out to battle. Abe's wife, Mary, would never completely recover from this loss.
As the war went on, more and more attacks by Confederate vampires cause fear to spread through the Northern ranks, to the point that they begin to turn on one another. Abe decides that in order to combat this menace he must "starve the devils" (p. 295). He issues the Emancipation Proclamation in the wake of McClellan's victory at Antietam, and just as he hopes, the slaves turn on their vampire masters. Abe wins his reelection, the South surrenders, and the vampires begin to flee out of America. It looks as though Abe has succeeded in ridding America of all its vampires, but his lack of guards finally catches up to him. While at the theater, he is assassinated by the vampire, John Wilkes Booth. Booth flees South, expecting to be greeted as a hero, but meets his bad end in Virginia, courtesy of Henry Sturges.
The book ends with Abe and Henry witnessing Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech in the shadow of Abe's memorial. Because, "some men are just too interesting to die" (p. 336).
Discussion Questions for Part III and the Book as a Whole
- What did you think about the scene in which Abe meets General McClellan? Do you think that his years of hunting vampires have made Abe paranoid?
- Do you think that Henry was right to turn Abe? How do you think Abe felt about it?
- Was the book what you were expecting? Did you like it?
- What did you think of the book's epistolary style?
- Do you think this book would help teenagers get into history?
- Did you learn anything new that was actual historical fact?
- What moment from the book has stayed with you the longest?
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