Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever

Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard         Audio Book:  7 hours, 49 mins   Hardback Book:  589 pages                     

Really good telling of the events surrounding the two weeks before Lincoln's death with blow by blow correspondent coverage as though you are there and a news reporter is telling you all about what is transpiring, day by day as it relates to the countdown to his death.   Lots of good intel about the participants in this sad part of our American political saga.   O'Reilly even walks the reader through his last minutes alive so thoroughly that the reader empathizes with Mary Todd Lincoln and you feel for Mr. Lincoln, still alive and suffering the pain of that bullet lodged behind his eye and when Mary kisses him and touches his cheek, his eyes and faced now bruised from the trauma and she says, 'Speak to me, Love," and he makes the most awful sound as though bubbling up from the inner depths of his soul.   Chilling.   So much so that Mary fainted.  Haunting, too.   You can't forget that scene so aptly described.  Wow!   So many years later and still I cry for this poor couple.   So unfair, just when things seemed to be getting better - BAM!  One shot changes everything.    I highly recommend this book.   I think adults will appreciate it most, but, I also think Highschoolers and Middle Schoolers would also benefit from all the intense 'you are there for this time in history' drama.   Excellently told story.   Particularly enlightening are all the subltle details included that may have eluded readers in earlier tellings.  Well done!   

 - Shirley J.

Hanging Mary

Hanging Mary by Susan Higginbotham   400 pages

If you aren’t an Abraham Lincoln history buff, the name Mary Surratt won’t mean anything. Mary was the boarding house owner where John Wilkes Booth met with his fellow conspirators. She is also the first woman executed by the U. S. government.

A lot is known about Mary, biographical information mainly. But the truth of her role, or non-role, in Lincoln’s assassination is mystery to this day. In this first historical fiction work about Mary, which I know of, author Susan Higginbotham weaves an interesting story about Mary, John Wilkes Booth, Lewis Powell, David Herold, George Atzerodt,  and the others who played major roles in killing Lincoln. One of the questions that has haunted historians is what role did John Surratt, Mary’s son, play in the assassination and why did he never return to defend his mother after she was arrested?

Billed as the “The Untold Story of Lincoln’s Assassination,” Higginbotham tells the story from two viewpoints. First is Mary, then one of her boarders, Miss Nora Fitzpartick. Of course, Nora’s appearance, which I knew nothing of, sent me scouring Google to determine if she was a real character, or a plot device. She is real, although not much is known about her.

The story begins in August 1864 and ends on July 7, 1865, immediately after the hangings. There is an Epilogue for Nora that in June 1869.

I liked the back and forth of the narrative between Mary and Nora. It provides a realistic look at the time and at the players, especially the charming Mr. Booth. I didn’t get swept up in the story like I had hoped. That’s why I give Hanging Mary 4 out of 5 stars.

Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination: The Untold Story of the Actors and Stagehand's at Ford's Theater

Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination: The Untold Story of the Actors and Stagehands at Ford’s Theater by Thomas A. Bogar    377 pages

I’ve been a student of Abraham Lincoln for many years. I enjoy reading about him and his family.

I always seem to learn something new. When I stumbled across this 2013 gem from Regency History, I knew I was onto something.

 None of the other books I had read or movies I had seen every delved into this particular aspect of the assassination. As Bogar researches this unmined area, he makes some interesting revelations.

 The book is about the forty-six actors and stagehand that were either on stage or backstage after John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865. Now approaching the 150^th anniversary of this event, figures from the past seem to hover back in the gaslight for another review.

The people who were in John T. Ford’s employment that night had their lives complicated, distributed, disrupted, and even destroyed. Some could never outrun Lincoln’s ghost; others, like Peanut John completely disappeared from history.

The crux of the true-life expose is how most of Ford’ employees were arrested and tried. Not many history books cover this aspect of the assassination.

 While not a page-turner, Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination: The Untold Story of the Actors and Stagehands at Ford’s Theater is an interesting, revelatory read. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.