Good evening and welcome to Inside the Cover.

Tonight's book is one of the bes I have read for quite some time.

It is April 1865 by Jay Winik, subtitled The Month That Saved America.

The book was copyrighted in 2001.

Somehow it escaped me until I recently spied it on a library shelf.

I finished the book on June 21st, 2024, and I knew immediately that it was one I wanted to share with you.

It is now time to go inside the cover.

Jay Winik was born on February 8th, 1957, in New Haven, Connecticut.

He is an honors graduate of Yale College.

He also holds a master's in economics with distinction from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Yale University.

April 1865 was a highly acclaimed bestseller, which also became a History Channel documentary and a stage production, both of which feature Winik.

Just after the Septembe 11th attacks, President George W Bush was seen carryin April 1865 into the white House.

Time magazine noted that the book was a powerful reminder about how a war's end is every bit as important as how or why it had begun.

Winik writes that April 1865 is a month that could have unraveled the American nation.

Instead, it saved it.

It is a month as dramatic and as devastating as any ever faced in American history, and it proved to be perhaps the most moving and decisive month, not simply of the Civil War, but indeed quite likely in the life of the United States.

He continues, ‘In the end, only after each such concatenation draws into focus, does April 1865 come to be seen as not simply a crucial and coherent period of the Civil War in its own right, but as an essential cornerstone in the events that ultimately brought America together.

To understand this is to grasp something precious.

It is to see our country again.

Doctor Winik provides s much comprehensive information as he deals with this one month of the American experience.

We learn about Thomas Jefferson and Monticello.

We learn about Lincoln's ru to the presidency and his trip across America to attend his initial inauguration.

We also learn that Lincoln was not the best speller.

We learn about the difficulties of his cabinet.

We have the dramatic events at the small red brick house in Appomattox, Virginia, on April 9th, 1865.

And of course, six days later, Abraham Lincoln was dead.

The first ever assassination of an American president.

In this tragic regard Winik provides one of the best descriptions of what took place at Ford's Theater leading up to it and after the shooting.

Ironically, during the day prior to attending the play, Lincoln and Mrs. Lincoln had found time to talk about the future, the years ahead, and what they would do at the conclusion of Lincoln's second term.

According to Winik, Mary laughed and said, ‘Dear husband, you almost startle me with your great cheerfulness.

He tells her, ‘I have never felt better in my life.

If you enjoy American history, if you appreciate battle strategies, if you are into political decisions, intrigues and machinations, if you enjoy biographies or more simply stated, if you are tuned into and turned on by exquisite and magical writing, April 1865 by Jay Winik is a book for you.

I hope you will take the time to find and read April 1865.

I suggest it is a timely and important read.

That's our show.

As always, it' been a pleasure to be with you, and I look forward to our next discussion about books, writing and authors.