"February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln's beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. "My poor boy, he was too good for this earth," the president...

Dante Alighieri's epic poem travels through the endless agony of Hell, up the treacherous slopes of Purgatory, and on to the wondrous kingdom of Paradise-- the realm of universal unity and eternal salvation.