This Week on History Happy Hour: With the Democrats convening later his month in Chicago, HHH turns to the city’s first political convention in 1860, where a team of outsiders plotted their way to a history-changing nomination for an underdog named Abraham Lincoln. Chris and Rick welcome Edward Achorn, author of The Lincoln Miracle: Inside the Republican Convention that Changed History.

From smoky hotel rooms to night marches by the Wide Awakes, to fiery speeches on the floor of the giant convention center called The Wigwam, discover a longshot effort carried out in a political climate just as contentious as our own today.

Edward Achorn is the author of two critically acclaimed books about Abraham Lincoln. His book, Every Drop of Blood: The Momentous Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, was named one of the best books of 2020 by the Economist magazine. He is also the author of two classic baseball books, The Summer of Beer and Whiskey and Fifty-Nine in ’84. He is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and recipient of the Yankee Quill Award for lifetime achievement in journalism.