Critics have considered Robert E. Sherwood's drama Abe Lincoln in Illinois to be a labor of love, and an important part of the mythology that defines the American character, but the general consensus among serious critics is that it is not a very well-crafted piece. Even before this play was produced, Eleanor Flexner identified several repetitive aspects of Sherwood's plots. "A man wise, cynical, and charming finds the answer to his quest for the meaning of life, in a woman; suddenly he falls in love, no less suddenly his life is wrenched from its old pattern, and in three cases out of four he goes gallantly to his death in consequence." She went on to identify the background of war as a device that Sherwood used for sustaining tension, "a device forced upon him by his inability to construct a play in which the suspense will...