Lincoln's lie : a true Civil War caper through fake news, Wall Street, and the White House

Resource Information

The work Lincoln's lie : a true Civil War caper through fake news, Wall Street, and the White House represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in DC Public Library System. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Lincoln's lie : a true Civil War caper through fake news, Wall Street, and the White House

Title remainder

a true Civil War caper through fake news, Wall Street, and the White House

Statement of responsibility

Elizabeth Mitchell

Title variation

True Civil War caper through fake news, Wall street, and the White House

Creator

• Mitchell, Elizabeth, 1966-

Author

• Mitchell, Elizabeth, 1966-

Subject

• History
• History
• Journalism
• Journalism -- United States -- History -- 19th century
• Journalists
• Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
• Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Relations with journalists
• Presidents -- Press coverage
• Presidents -- Press coverage -- United States
• 1800-1899
• Press and politics -- United States -- History -- 19th century
• Press coverage
• Relations with journalists
• United States
• United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Censorship
• United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Journalists
• United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Press coverage
• Press and politics
• Censorship

Genre

• History

Language

eng

Summary

"In 1864, during the bloodiest days of the Civil War, two newspapers published a call, allegedly authored by President Lincoln, for the immediate conscription of 400,000 more Union soldiers. New York streets erupted in pandemonium. Wall Street markets went wild. When Lincoln sent troops to seize the newspaper presses and arrest the editors, it became clear: the proclamation was a lie. Who put out this fake news? Was it a Confederate spy hoping to incite another draft riot? A political enemy out to ruin the president in an election year? Or was there some truth to the proclamation-far more truth than anyone suspected? Unpacking this overlooked historical mystery for the first time, journalist Elizabeth Mitchell takes readers on a dramatic journey from newspaper offices filled with heroes and charlatans to the haunted White House confinement of Mary Todd Lincoln, from the packed pews of the celebrated preacher Reverend Henry Ward Beecher's Plymouth Church to the War Department offices in the nation's capital and a grand jury trial. In Lincoln's Lie, Mitchell brings to life the remarkable story of the manipulators of the news and why they decided to play such a dangerous game during a critical period of U.S. history. Her account of Lincoln's troubled relationship with the press and its role in the Civil War is one that speaks powerfully to our current political crises: fake news, profiteering, constitutional conflict, and a president at war with the press."--

Assigning source

Provided by publisher

Cataloging source

DLC

Dewey number

973.7092

Index

index present

LC call number

E457.2

LC item number

.M67 2020

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography

Target audience

general