Friday, September 18, 2009

Abraham Lincoln, morose mystery fan?

In this podcast from WGBH, Douglas Wilson, codirector of the Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College, discusses what Abraham Lincoln read. Lincoln, an aspiring poet, was a fan of Edgar Allan Poe's poems because, in the words of one of Lincoln's friends, they are "gloomy." Wilson believes Lincoln admired Poe's detective stories because their solutions derive from the application of reason.

About the image: Abraham Lincoln. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

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