November 13, 2013 Award-Winning Historian David O. Stewart To Discuss First Novel "The Lincoln Deception," Dec. 4

Press Contact: Donna Urschel (202) 707-1639
Public Contact: Abby Yochelson (202) 707-2138
Contact: Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at (202) 707-6362 or ada@loc.gov
Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at (202) 707-6362 or ADA@loc.gov

David O. Stewart, known for his award-winning nonfiction works on Aaron Burr, President Andrew Johnson and the Constitution, will discuss his first novel, “The Lincoln Deception,” on Dec. 4 at the Library of Congress.

Blending real and fictional characters, “The Lincoln Deception” is a gripping historical mystery exploring the endless fascination with Lincoln’s assassination and the conspiracy behind it.

Stewart will speak at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 4, in Dining Room A on the sixth floor of the James Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. Sponsored by the Library’s Humanities and Social Sciences Division, the event is free and open to the public. No tickets are needed. A book sale and signing will follow the program.

“The Lincoln Deception” is set in 1900, decades after Lincoln’s assassination and the trials of John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators. But was Booth actually the mastermind or was there some greater plot with inordinate significance for America’s future? Stewart’s research has uncovered intriguing aspects of the assassination puzzle, and he sets his fictional characters Speed Cook, an African American ex-ballplayer, and Jamie Fraser, a white doctor in small-town Ohio, off on an adventure to solve the mystery. The thriller takes this unlikely buddy pair from Ohio to Washington to Baltimore to New York City, bringing them in contact with aging Surratts, an acting company’s seductive lead actress and murderous thugs, as well as prominent Wall Street traders having lunch at Delmonico’s. Just who is helping and who is hindering their inquiries?

After practicing law for many years, Stewart began to write history, conducting extensive research at the Library of Congress. His first book, “The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution,” was a Washington Post bestseller and won the Washington Writing Award as Best Book of 2007. “Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln’s Legacy” and “American Emperor, Aaron Burr’s Challenge to Jefferson’s America” followed in 2010 and 2011 to equal acclaim. Stewart was awarded the prestigious Cincinnati History Prize by the Society of the Cincinnati in 2013. Publishers Weekly called “The Lincoln Deception” (August, 2013) an “impressive debut novel.” Stewart also is founder and president of the Washington Independent Review of Books, an online book review.

The Humanities and Social Sciences Division provides reference service and collection development in the Main, Local History and Genealogy, and Microform and Electronic Resources reading rooms at the Library of Congress. It regularly sponsors programs in the arts, humanities and social sciences.

The Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world, holds more than 155 million items in various languages, disciplines and formats. The Library serves the U.S. Congress and the nation both on-site in its reading rooms on Capitol Hill and through its award-winning website at www.loc.gov.

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PR 13-201
2013-11-13
ISSN 0731-3527