What are you reading now?

[Linda Anderson]

I just finished Blood on the Moon, by Edward Steers which some historians, including James McPherson, claim to be the best single book on the assassination. I learned a lot and found it a good read. He takes up arguments with past interpretations and demolishes misleading defenses of Dr. Mudd. I am interested in John Surratt and the whole Catholic conspiracy theory that gained a lot of attention for years after the assassination but is now almost forgotten by historians. John Surratt was protected by a Catholic priest in Canada, then fled to join the Papal Zouaves at the Vatican. There were other connections between the conspiracy to kidnap and assassinate the president and the Catholic Church, and of course it played to a lot of prejudices and fears at the time. I did not feel Steers paid sufficient attention to this aspect of the story. I recommend the book as a good informative read.

I don't know much about the Catholic conspiracy theory. Why did the Church shelter John Surratt anyway?