A secession crisis enigma : William Henry Hurlbert and "The diary of a public man"
"The diary of a public man," published anonymously in several installments in the North American Review in 1879, claimed to offer verbatim accounts of secret conversations with Abraham Lincoln, William H. Seward, and Stephen A. Douglas--among others--in the weeks just before the start of the Civil War. Despite repeated attempts to decipher the diary, historians never have been able to pinpoint its author or determine its authenticity. The author identifies the author, unravels the intriguing story behind the diary, and establishes its contents as largely genuine. According to the author, the diary was actually a memoir of New York journalist William Henry Hurlbert (1827-1895). He successfully perpetrated one of the most difficult feats of historical license--he pretended to have been a diarist who never existed. But Hurlbert's work was far from fictional. The diary introduces material impossible to fabricate along with previously concealed information that was corroborated only after its publication. It gives precise details regarding the struggle to shape Lincoln's cabinet and the composition of his inaugural address
Print Book, English, ©2010
Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, ©2010