Lincoln Discussion Symposium

Has anyone read "Hanging Mary" by Susan Higginbotham? Will it make me crazy?

Here are two comments:
http://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussio...-2615.html

Christine, I read the book earlier this year, and I am positive you will enjoy it. The story is told through the eyes of Mary Surratt and Nora Fitzpatrick. Thus you get two different perspectives on the events that took place. The book humanizes Mary more than any other I have read. Susan is an excellent writer.

Bob Cook is a wonderful analyst of Lincoln assassination literature, and he wrote as follows:

"I might mention that I now regard Susan Higginbotham's novel Hanging Mary as one of the best-written works of fiction re Our Topic that I have encountered so far. Like the (non-fiction) Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination, her consistently -compelling novel truly "puts you there" from start to finish. And the alterations/emendations/etc. that she decided to use for the purpose of enhancing the narrative are convincingly explained in the Author's Note section at the end of the book.

I was particularly well-taken by Ms. Higginbotham's inclusions of many direct (documented) participant quotations - including the one uttered by Mary Surratt (according to Louis Weichmann*) after dropping off the "shootin' irons" at the Surratt Tavern that, for me, is the "Smoking Gun" (so to speak) comment that convinced me that Mary Surratt knew by the morning of April 14, 1865 that the plot was then an assassination one (and, therefor, subsequently deserved the punishment that she received.)

The (proverbial) Bottom Line: Hanging Mary is an (unqualified) excellent achievement by Ms. Higginbotham and one definitely not to be missed."

Thank you for this post, Roger. Since I am not a great reader of fiction I admit I hadn't before looked into reading this, but now do. I liked "Assassin's Accomplice" and, too, think "Mary Surratt knew by the morning of April 14, 1865 that the plot was then an assassination one (and, therefor, subsequently deserved the punishment that she received.)" So I will be curious as how this is put in line with "the book humanizes Mary more than any other I have read". I admit I somehow have always seen her as a very cold(hearted) person, maybe unjustly.

May I ask - while I have an understanding of what an excellent achievement is - what is an (unqualified) excellent achievement?

(06-12-2016 09:42 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote: [ -> ]May I ask - while I have an understanding of what an excellent achievement is - what is an (unqualified) excellent achievement?

Eva, I think Bob was saying that the book has no weaknesses, and there is no other book out there quite like this one. It is unique in how it approaches the topic of Mary Surratt.

Thanks, yes, but is uniqueness unqualified?

(06-12-2016 09:42 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote: [ -> ]Thank you for this post, Roger. Since I am not a great reader of fiction I admit I hadn't before looked into reading this, but now do. I liked "Assassin's Accomplice" and, too, think "Mary Surratt knew by the morning of April 14, 1865 that the plot was then an assassination one (and, therefor, subsequently deserved the punishment that she received.)" So I will be curious as how this is put in line with "the book humanizes Mary more than any other I have read". I admit I somehow have always seen her as a very cold(hearted) person, maybe unjustly.

May I ask - while I have an understanding of what an excellent achievement is - what is an (unqualified) excellent achievement?

Eva, I should add that I did not read the book exactly the same as Bob on the point of Mary's assassination knowledge. Unless I missed something, Hanging Mary implies Mary thought Booth was going to carry through with the kidnapping plot, not the assassination plot, on the night of April 14, 1865. She did not know Booth's plan had changed. At least that was my take.

I felt the same as Roger.

As for "unqualified," my interpretation of Bob's use of that term is that he is giving his assessment that the book is "totally" excellent -- not "excellent, oh! except for the constant use of incorrect grammar, and the..."

Too many reviewers try to split hairs by pronouncing someone's work as excellent and then taking the next few paragraphs to shoot down some of the parts and the writer's techniques. They are hypercritical to the point where you want to scream, "Well, did you like it or not?"

(06-12-2016 10:53 AM)RJNorton Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-12-2016 09:42 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote: [ -> ]Thank you for this post, Roger. Since I am not a great reader of fiction I admit I hadn't before looked into reading this, but now do. I liked "Assassin's Accomplice" and, too, think "Mary Surratt knew by the morning of April 14, 1865 that the plot was then an assassination one (and, therefor, subsequently deserved the punishment that she received.)" So I will be curious as how this is put in line with "the book humanizes Mary more than any other I have read". I admit I somehow have always seen her as a very cold(hearted) person, maybe unjustly.

May I ask - while I have an understanding of what an excellent achievement is - what is an (unqualified) excellent achievement?

Eva, I should add that I did not read the book exactly the same as Bob on the point of Mary's assassination knowledge. Unless I missed something, Hanging Mary implies Mary thought Booth was going to carry through with the kidnapping plot, not the assassination plot, on the night of April 14, 1865. She did not know Booth's plan had changed. At least that was my take.

Thanks for clarifying this, Roger!

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(06-12-2016 11:39 AM)L Verge Wrote: [ -> ]I felt the same as Roger.

As for "unqualified," my interpretation of Bob's use of that term is that he is giving his assessment that the book is "totally" excellent -- not "excellent, oh! except for the constant use of incorrect grammar, and the..."

Too many reviewers try to split hairs by pronouncing someone's work as excellent and then taking the next few paragraphs to shoot down some of the parts and the writer's techniques. They are hypercritical to the point where you want to scream, "Well, did you like it or not?"

Thanks, Laurie - and shame on me for not checking the dictionary before posting my question and for not having known better at all. I had never realized "qualified" (and all related words) can also mean "limited" as this doesn't apply to the German "qualifiziert" (and all related words). In German "qualifiziert" solely means "skilled" , "fit", professional" or "eligible", and "unqualifiziert" the opposite.

Awesome! Thanks everybody! I will add it to my summer reading list.

I wonder where Stanton would have had Mary imprisoned had she not been hanged.

The Wikipedia article here says, "In the United States, authorities began housing women in correctional facilities separate from men in the 1870s."

The web page here says, "From petty thief to Lincoln assassination conspirator, if you were a criminal in Washington D.C. in the 1860's -- you were going to be sent up the river.

Way up the river. To Albany.

The Albany Penitentiary served for decades as the prison for the District of Columbia."

This is where Samuel Mudd, Michael O'Laughlen, Samuel Arnold, and Ned Spangler were originally told they were going. Of course that was later changed to Ft. Jefferson.

So would Mary have been sent to Albany?

(06-15-2016 05:16 AM)RJNorton Wrote: [ -> ]The Wikipedia article here says, "In the United States, authorities began housing women in correctional facilities separate from men in the 1870s."

The web page here says, "From petty thief to Lincoln assassination conspirator, if you were a criminal in Washington D.C. in the 1860's -- you were going to be sent up the river.

Way up the river. To Albany.

The Albany Penitentiary served for decades as the prison for the District of Columbia."

This is where Samuel Mudd, Michael O'Laughlen, Samuel Arnold, and Ned Spangler were originally told they were going. Of course that was later changed to Ft. Jefferson.

So would Mary have been sent to Albany?

That has always been my assumption, but I have nothing to base it on directly related to Mary Surratt. For some reason, I cannot believe that she would have been sent to the tropical paradise of Ft. Jefferson along with the others.

Stanton was eager to get the convicted as far away from the public as possible - for their own safety?! AFAIK that was the reason why Alberny was altered. Wouldn't he have felt the same as for Mary?

I wasn't aware gender separation happened but that late, Roger!

It appears form this web site about a St Louis Civil War Prison, Gratiot Street Prison, women were kept at the same facility as men, but in separate buildings, wings, or floors of the building.

http://www.civilwarstlouis.com/Gratiot/gratiot.htm