Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Apparently I am on a president kick.  For the second time in a few months, I picked up a biography of an American president that challenged the depictions offered in mainstream history.  For the second time, I was not disappointed.

Image Credit: amazon.com

Growing up in the Deep South, the circumstances and saga of the American Civil war presented to me were occasionally in conflict with the "official" record.  In Alabama, those imparting the story like to emphasize the infringement of government on states' rights, and the travesty that is a federal government taking up arms against those who choose liberty over federal control.  In contrast, most textbooks (which we were taught to read with much skepticism) contest that the war was over the moral issue of slavery.  Monuments have been erected to Abraham Lincoln for preserving the Union and freeing the slaves.  I had thus found a skeptic's middle ground: the South hid the detestable practice of chattel slavery behind cries against federal infringement (a tried and true argument used to defend almost any morally repugnant practice we choose to employ; see segregation and, most recently, immigration), while Lincoln was an opportunist that seized on "freeing the slaves" to justify the violence of a war aimed at preserving the southern agricultural engine essential for sustaining the industrializing North.

According to Seth Grahame-Smith, I am way off.  In fact, the Civil War was contested for one purpose: the eradication of vampires from North America.  In Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Grahame-Smith presents a detailed account of Lincoln's life, based upon Abraham's never-before published journals.


As a child, Lincoln watched his mother succumb to a rapidly-progressing illness, only later to learn that what had been diagnosed as typhoid was actually the workings of a vampire to whom his father had defaulted on a loan.   "Henceforth," declared Abe, "my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose..."
Possessed of legendary strength, stature and ax skills, Lincoln engaged in a lifelong pursuit of eradicating vampires from the burgeoning country.  Grahame-Smith relates the story with consistency and detail, exposing the very real presence of death throughout Lincoln's life, as he lost mother, sister, fiance and children to untimely ends.  He depicts Lincoln as a complex character, filled with the wisdom and drive commonly attributed him, as well as an undying disdain for vampires.  This unique look at American history, and the role played by vampires in that history, provides a fun read.  Should you not have time to pick it up, a movie based on the book is set to release next summer.  If you are not convinced by this review, take a moment to watch the book trailer below.  Recommended.