By the day of Abraham Lincoln's second inauguration on March 4, 1865, more than 700,000 Americans had been killed in the Civil War. Lincoln's stunning address, only 701 words, posited that the sin of slavery was the cause of all the horror and death the nation had endured. Author Edward Achorn sets this speech within 1865 Washington—filthy streets and unscrupulous politicians—and some of the people in attendance, including Walt Whitman and Frederick Douglass. A vivid, brilliant book.