A Passing to Note

[L Verge]

A friend in New York just alerted me that author Gene Smith, who wrote "American Gothic" on the Booths has died. Gene and I were friends dating back to the 80s when he began to write "Gothic." He was the epitome of an English writer - even though he was American - in the way that he dressed. Tweed jackets with patched elbows and a glass of scotch whiskey in his hand while debating history with Joan Chaconas and I.

[LincolnMan]

Wow-sorry to hear this. He was a gem.

[BettyO]

Sorry to hear, Laurie! Although I never had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Smith - I did really like his book!

[Linda Anderson]

According to his obituary in the New York Times, Mr. Smith, "depicted the lives of presidents, prime ministers and generals in a series of popular biographies, among them the 1964 best seller 'When the Cheering Stopped: The Last Years of Woodrow Wilson'... Recently, Mr. Smith wrote a brief obituary of himself, in third-person singular. It says, 'He used to muse that if there was an afterlife — granted a long shot, he said — he’d love it for the opportunities offered to interview people he studied in life.'”

[LincolnMan]

Love the obit. I'm sure we all feel that way.

[Craig Hipkins]

I loved American Gothic. As far as books relating to the Booth family I think it is the best along with Nora Titones book, and of course, The Mad Booth's of Maryland.

Craig

[L Verge]

I often felt that American Gothic was overlooked when people listed favorite books because it was just so down-to-earth, easy to read, etc. that the intellectuals among us tended to downplay the effect it made on the average person who knew little about the convoluted Booth family. If a tome is not at least 350 words with pages upon pages of notes and citations, some of us tend to ignore it.

Personally, Gothic was my favorite on the family until Nora's book came out. It blew me away, but it also is easy to read and appeals to the average person. As much as I liked her book, to hear her talk about it in person before an audience of about 125 at the 2011 Surratt Conference - most of whom were male critics waiting to pounce - was an even better treat. Nora is just about five feet tall, very tiny, very bubbly; but boy can she control a room and leave them begging for more.

That said, American Gothic is still the Booth book I would recommend to readers just getting started on our favorite subject. The next one I'm waiting for is Terry Alford's bio on JWB.

[Dave Taylor]

Very sad indeed. When I first started getting interested in the assassination, I went to my small local library and looked up any books they had on it. They only had two books on the subject, Twenty Days and American Gothic.

Thank you, Mr. Smith, for giving me my first education about the illustrious Booth family.

[L Verge]

I sent an e-mail of condolences to Gene's wife and daughter today. I wish I could have sent along some of these sentiments.