A Bit of Levity re: O'Reilly's "Killing Lincoln"

[BettyO]

I was checking on something regarding O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln (BOOK not the wonderful upcoming new movie by the same name....) and ran across this satirical web site - i.e. a SPOOF of O'Reilly's book.....

It's a hoot! Here is the URL: http://armyofawesomepeople.com/2011/12/0...g-lincoln/

The 12 worst historical inaccuracies in Bill O’Reilly’s ‘Killing Lincoln’

Posted by Tim Kochenderfer ⋅ December 7, 2011

Filed Under 2011 bestsellers, army of awesome people, Bill O'Reilly, civil war, comedy, Humor, Killing Lincoln, satire

Bill O’Reilly is no stranger to controversy, but this time it’s his book that’s under fire. O’Reilly’s best-seller ‘Killing Lincoln’ has been banned from many popular Lincoln attractions, due to what his critics call ‘inaccuracies.’ O’Reilly is defending his work, saying the mistakes are minor and that his enemies are trying to slow his book sales.

We in the Army of Awesome People never know who to believe, so we decided look into the matter ourselves.

We discovered the book is not only full of historical inaccuracies, but typos, crayon drawings, excessive swearing, unnecessary nudity and razor sharp pages as well.
Here are the 12 worst historical inaccuracies we found in the book:

The Preface – written by Abraham Lincoln.

p.1 – “There is much debate over which came first, Lincoln or the Lincoln Memorial.”

p. 10 – “The Gettysburg Address started off as someone’s actual address. Lincoln simply expanded it into a page long speech”

p. 21 – “…although they are together on bills in your wallet, the only time in history that Lincoln, Washington, Alexander Hamilton and Andrew Jackson were actually together was when they united on stage for a children’s charity in Philadelphia, PA. The five were dubbed the 36 dollar quartet. “

p. 32 – “During the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Lincoln vowed to send a man to the moon, a promise he would fulfill during his first term in office.”

p. 35 – “Union General Ulysses Grant and Confederate General Robert E. Lee met only once, but fell madly in love.

Lee meets Grant. Love at first sight?”

p. 42 – “During his presidency, Lincoln Logs were simply referred to as logs.

p. 63 – “Although the North and South fought bitterly during the Civil War, the East and West remained widely neutral.”

p.72 – Lincoln’s famous chinstrap beard was actually a fake and would have been a complete beard had not the fake moustache kept falling off.

p. 95 – “Then, after shooting Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth held his gun in the air and shouted ‘sic simper tyrannus!’ Several people in the theater were heard to shout back ‘Speak English!’

P. 100 – “Abraham Lincoln died of natural causes.”

Epilogue – “From 1932-1989 it was illegal in the United States to celebrate Lincoln’s birthday on Washington’s birthday.”

[Jim Garrett]

I thought Booth proclaimed "Sic that Tyrannasaurus!"

[BettyO]

"Speak English!"

[L Verge]

That line was the best for me because I could actually imagine today's audience doing that!

[Craig Hipkins]

I love it!
Killing Kennedy is now # 2 on Amazon. This guy is making buku money.

Craig

[LincolnMan]

Yes, I really like the page 95 entry too. Shades of a Saturday Night Live skit...

[Jim Garrett]

When "Killing Lincoln" first came out, I had a conversation with Rae Emmerson, formerly the site manager at Ford's who did not reccomend it for the bookstore. She was lambasted by B.O. for giving an honest review. I bought the book anyway, not wanting to be ignorant of what people would be talking about. About a quarter of the way through the book, I took a highlighter and started highlighting errors.

Shortly after that, I asked Rich Smyth if he had read or bought "Killing Lincoln". He hadn't, so I sent Rich my copy. I sent Rich a yellow book.

[LincolnMan]

Yellow journalism?

[Jim Garrett]

(10-14-2012 04:58 PM)LincolnMan Wrote:  Yellow journalism?

That was so bad, it was good!

---

I put "killing Lincoln" up there with "Why Was Lincoln Murdered?".

[BettyO]

I wouldn't even put it up there THAT high! HA!

[Jim Garrett]

Ford's Theatre requires all material in the bookstore to be reviewed before they will allow it to be sold in the bookstore. Rae Emerson, the former site manager and asst superintendent at Ford's, read "Killing Lincoln" and would not sell it in the bookstore. She was
lambasted on Bill O'Reilly's show, even though she was on solid ground. If I remember correctly, "Killing Lincoln" sold 900,000 copies the first week.

When I volunteer at Ford's and guests tell me how much they enjoyed "Killing Lincoln", I re-direct them towards what I consider the top three general LA books, "Manhunt", Blood on the Moon" and "American Brutus". All excellent reads that move well, accurate and all three written by dedicated LA historians.

[LincolnMan]

Wow Jim-that's significant-that the very place where Lincoln was shot will not sell the book "Killing Lincoln."

[Jim Garrett]

(10-18-2012 08:49 PM)LincolnMan Wrote:  Wow Jim-that's significant-that the very place where Lincoln was shot will not sell the book "Killing Lincoln."

The Bookstore, operated under the auspices of the National Park Service has held fast. The gift shop, operated by the Ford's Theatre Society, now carries the book.

Unfortunately, publishing houses do not have historical proof-readers. There is alot of gray areas of interpretation, but publishing houses really should have a "fact checker" on board. I think it is great that Bill O'Reilly would want to write (co-write) a book on the LA. It's very readable. Too bad the accuracy is not even second rate.

---

I thumbed through the O'Reilly childrens book on the LA. It actually looked pretty interesting. They have a picture of the room where Lincoln died and I was really excited because I had never seen that picture before. Then I noticed...........it was the Ulke picture reversed.

[RJNorton]

The errors have been noted by others, but did anybody have trouble getting used to O'Reilly's continued use of the present tense in describing past events? Maybe this didn't bother others, but I had trouble with it. It just didn't flow well in my brain.

[MaddieM]

(10-14-2012 12:15 PM)BettyO Wrote:  I was checking on something regarding O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln (BOOK not the wonderful upcoming new movie by the same name....) and ran across this satirical web site - i.e. a SPOOF of O'Reilly's book.....

It's a hoot! Here is the URL: http://armyofawesomepeople.com/2011/12/0...g-lincoln/

The 12 worst historical inaccuracies in Bill O’Reilly’s ‘Killing Lincoln’

Posted by Tim Kochenderfer ⋅ December 7, 2011

Filed Under 2011 bestsellers, army of awesome people, Bill O'Reilly, civil war, comedy, Humor, Killing Lincoln, satire

Bill O’Reilly is no stranger to controversy, but this time it’s his book that’s under fire. O’Reilly’s best-seller ‘Killing Lincoln’ has been banned from many popular Lincoln attractions, due to what his critics call ‘inaccuracies.’ O’Reilly is defending his work, saying the mistakes are minor and that his enemies are trying to slow his book sales.

We in the Army of Awesome People never know who to believe, so we decided look into the matter ourselves.

We discovered the book is not only full of historical inaccuracies, but typos, crayon drawings, excessive swearing, unnecessary nudity and razor sharp pages as well.
Here are the 12 worst historical inaccuracies we found in the book:

The Preface – written by Abraham Lincoln.

p.1 – “There is much debate over which came first, Lincoln or the Lincoln Memorial.”

p. 10 – “The Gettysburg Address started off as someone’s actual address. Lincoln simply expanded it into a page long speech”

p. 21 – “…although they are together on bills in your wallet, the only time in history that Lincoln, Washington, Alexander Hamilton and Andrew Jackson were actually together was when they united on stage for a children’s charity in Philadelphia, PA. The five were dubbed the 36 dollar quartet. “

p. 32 – “During the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Lincoln vowed to send a man to the moon, a promise he would fulfill during his first term in office.”

p. 35 – “Union General Ulysses Grant and Confederate General Robert E. Lee met only once, but fell madly in love.

Lee meets Grant. Love at first sight?”

p. 42 – “During his presidency, Lincoln Logs were simply referred to as logs.

p. 63 – “Although the North and South fought bitterly during the Civil War, the East and West remained widely neutral.”

p.72 – Lincoln’s famous chinstrap beard was actually a fake and would have been a complete beard had not the fake moustache kept falling off.

p. 95 – “Then, after shooting Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth held his gun in the air and shouted ‘sic simper tyrannus!’ Several people in the theater were heard to shout back ‘Speak English!’

P. 100 – “Abraham Lincoln died of natural causes.”

Epilogue – “From 1932-1989 it was illegal in the United States to celebrate Lincoln’s birthday on Washington’s birthday.”