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[Event listing courtesy of the Friends of the Goodnow Library]
Please join the Friends of the Goodnow Library for an afternoon with author Ed Achorn on Sunday, April 6, 2025, at 3 PM at the Sudbury Grange, 326 Concord Road, Sudbury. The Grange is located next to Sudbury Town Hall and ample free parking is available behind the building. The program is free and open to the public. Seating is first come, first served.
Author Ed Achorn will discuss his book, The Lincoln Miracle, the vivid behind the scenes story of perhaps the most consequential political moment in American history —Abraham Lincoln’s history-changing nomination to lead the Republican Party in the 1860 presidential election. Lincoln had a record of political failure. In 1858, he lost a celebrated Senate against Stephen Douglas, his second failed Senate run, and had not held public office since one term in Congress a decade earlier. As the Republican National Convention opened in mid-May, 1860 in Chicago, powerful New York Senator William Salmon Chase was the overwhelming favorite for the presidential nomination. With other notables like Salmon Chase and Edward Bates in the running, few thought Lincoln stood a chance though stubborn Illinois circuit judge David Davis had come to fight for his friend.
An extremely tense political drama unfolding over six days, The Lincoln Miracle explores the genius of Lincoln’s quiet strategy, the vicious partisanship tearing America apart, the fierce battles raging over racism and slavery, and booming Chicago as a symbol of modernization transforming the nation.
Edward Achorn, a Pulitzer Prize finalist for Commentary, is also the author of the highly praised Every Drop of Blood: The Momentous Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, as well as two acclaimed books about nineteenth century baseball and American culture: Fifty-nine in ’84: Old Hoss Radbourn, Barehanded Baseball, and the Greatest Season a Pitcher Ever Had, and The Summer of Beer and Whiskey.
This program is made possible by a generous bequest by Stella and Frank Ricciardi to the Friends of the Goodnow Library. In case of inclement weather, please check updates at https://www.friendsofgoodnow.org.