"The Lincoln Miracle" was brilliant, I loved it. It's amazing how he was able to make the story of the 1860 Republican National Convention so suspenseful and tense, even though of course we know how it ends: Lincoln wins the nomination. But *how* he won it is really fascinating!
William Henry Seward was the premier Republican in the U.S. at the time, and from New York. Most people assumed he would win the nomination without any problems. Chicago, in their bid to host the convention, even pointed out that they had no "hometown son" in the state of Illinois to compete, even though Lincoln of course lived in Springfield. He was so far out of the realm of possibilities that most people discounted him before it even started.
His friends however did not. Seward was a polarizing figure, and Lincoln's supporters figured they could put Honest Abe forth as a good alternative candidate to the folks who didn't want to vote for Seward. It helped that Lincoln hadn't really ticked off too many people yet. And that's exactly what happened--Lincoln siphoned off the other candidates' votes and ended up surpassing Seward, and was elected President of the United States in November 1860. There was some discussion of his supporters promising plum jobs in the government to all the delegates who agreed to vote for him, even though Lincoln emphatically (and in writing) told them not to do so.
"When We Left Cuba" follows the story of Beatriz Perez, one of the sisters from "
Next Year in Havana". Beatriz is strong willed and determined to get back to her beloved home, she's sick of waiting around in Palm Beach for someone else to do something about Castro. She meets a senator who is related to Jack Kennedy, Nick Preston, and despite her better judgement ends up falling for him. Then there's her old pal from Cuba, Eduardo, who introduces Beatriz to the CIA and she becomes an operative.
Her ultimate goal, of course, is to kill Castro, but things don't go as planned. It was a fun book, very engaging, and I liked Beatriz a lot. She lived her life the way SHE wanted, which was pretty revolutionary for the time.
And finally, a Lord John reread from Diana Gabaldon. "Outlander" started a few weeks ago, so of course I wanted to reread some of my favorite Lord John moments. This book contained several short stories. I originally read it in April of 2020:
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