Books in Brief: Mr. Lincoln’s City

Mr. Lincoln’s City: An Illustrated Guide to the Civil War Sites of Washington, by Richard M. Lee (EPM Publications, 175 pp., $ 12.95).

The Civil War was the event in the history of the city of Washington, D.C. and with the help of this book you can visit Mr. Lincoln’s city and take in five walking tours and 72 sites. Mr. Lee offers 15 maps, 130 photographs, and dozens of anecdotes, bringing life and immediacy to his subject. Mr. Lincoln’s City is a guide, and it is at its best when used as such, but like the best guides, it can stand alone. Hospitals, offices, various memorials, prisons, Newspaper Row, Willard’s Hotel, the route of escape used by John Wilkes Booth after the assassination of Lincoln —all can be retraced, seen, or conjured up, in the cases of those that are long gone. You can visit the site of Congressman Lincoln’s boardinghouse, and learn his approach to telling a stretcher, as well as the fact that he liked to go bowling. You can see the townhouse of Major Rathbone, the man who was with Lincoln at Ford’s Theater, and who later went mad. You can visit the spot where Lincoln deposited his paychecks during the war. Mr. Lee, who is now at work on a similar volume on Richmond during the Civil War, has done his homework, which means you don’t have to do yours. Mr. Lincoln’s City is an essential piece of baggage for those visiting, or indeed living in, D.C.

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Owen Hatteras

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Mr. Lincoln’s City: An Illustrated Guide to the Civil War Sites of Washington, by Richard M. Lee (EPM Publications, 175 pp., $ 12.95).

The Civil War was the event in the history of the city of Washington, D.C. and with the help of this book you can visit Mr. Lincoln’s city and take in five walking tours and 72 sites. Mr. Lee offers 15 maps, 130 photographs, and dozens of anecdotes, bringing life and immediacy to his subject. Mr. Lincoln’s City is a guide, and it is at its best when used as such, but like the best guides, it can stand alone. Hospitals, offices, various memorials, prisons, Newspaper Row, Willard’s Hotel, the route of escape used by John Wilkes Booth after the assassination of Lincoln —all can be retraced, seen, or conjured up, in the cases of those that are long gone. You can visit the site of Congressman Lincoln’s boardinghouse, and learn his approach to telling a stretcher, as well as the fact that he liked to go bowling. You can see the townhouse of Major Rathbone, the man who was with Lincoln at Ford’s Theater, and who later went mad. You can visit the spot where Lincoln deposited his paychecks during the war. Mr. Lee, who is now at work on a similar volume on Richmond during the Civil War, has done his homework, which means you don’t have to do yours. Mr. Lincoln’s City is an essential piece of baggage for those visiting, or indeed living in, D.C.