Writers of historical fiction have access to a plethora of literary devices to create a sense of place and time, including taking direct inspiration from period authors and written works. In his novel, Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders uses era-appropriate themes, vernacular, and other details to create an accurate historical setting and story. Saunders’ novel, winner of the Man Booker prize in 2017, in many ways reads like a 19^th century novel, yet it is thematically and stylistically relevant in the 21st century.  Themes such as racism and the public’s polarized view of celebrities, specifically the president, are cast in a 19th century context while providing commentary on those topics in contemporary times. Saunders writes with an array of stylistic innovations, such as his blending of fact and fiction and usage of varying points of view. Being told from numerous perspectives, this story utilizes the voices of 166 different characters residing in the bardo along with legitimate and fictional historical documents. The wide variety of views and voices provide countless perspectives on the same moments throughout the story. Regarding past influences, in Lincoln in the Bardo (set in 1862), Saunders directly channels the voices of iconic nineteenth century authors: Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, and Mark Twain. Saunders goes as far as recreating scenes from specific works (such as Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death), basing a character off Whitman himself, and pulling dialect inspiration from Twain. By doing so, he recreates prominent voices of the novel’s time and spins a story that could have been read by the characters themselves. Simultaneously, Saunders writes with past voices and current innovations to blend the feelings and writing styles of two separate centuries into one seamless novel.