Who Should Write This Book?

[L Verge]

(03-08-2016 10:44 AM)L Verge Wrote:  Books on the assassination just keep a'comin... Several weeks ago, I mentioned a new one written from the judicial standpoint of analyzing the Conspiracy Trial of 1865. We finally broke down and took advantage of a 30% discount off the regular $75 price of this book so that we could place a copy in our library. The net cost was still high at (including shipping) $57.58.

Avenging Lincoln's Death: The Trial of John Wilkes Booth's Accomplices by Dr. Thomas J. Reed is hard cover with what I call a textbook finish. Including a well-annotated index and citations, it is 215 pages. I have not (and probably will not) read it, but skimming through, it appears to be well-researched and well-written -- and amazingly for a law book -- pretty easy to comprehend! As I have confessed before, I'm allergic to legalese.

Anyone well-versed in the Lincoln assassination should find this a good read. It is obviously intended to assist young law students - maybe sophomore level? -- once they recover from forking out the price.

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(03-08-2016 10:44 AM)L Verge Wrote:  Books on the assassination just keep a'comin... Several weeks ago, I mentioned a new one written from the judicial standpoint of analyzing the Conspiracy Trial of 1865. We finally broke down and took advantage of a 30% discount off the regular $75 price of this book so that we could place a copy in our library. The net cost was still high at (including shipping) $57.58.

Avenging Lincoln's Death: The Trial of John Wilkes Booth's Accomplices by Dr. Thomas J. Reed is hard cover with what I call a textbook finish. Including a well-annotated index and citations, it is 215 pages. I have not (and probably will not) read it, but skimming through, it appears to be well-researched and well-written -- and amazingly for a law book -- pretty easy to comprehend! As I have confessed before, I'm allergic to legalese.

Anyone well-versed in the Lincoln assassination should find this a good read. It is obviously intended to assist young law students - maybe sophomore level? -- once they recover from forking out the price.

A much easier price tag to stomach and a good basic book arrived in my office yesterday. The author is William W. Joyce, a retired U.S. history and social studies professor at Michigan State University for fifty years and a descendant of James Gifford, the builder of both Ford's Theatre and Tudor Hall, the Booth home.

The book's title is Booth and His Assassins, Lincoln and His Avengers. It covers the whole spectrum of my favorite topic and would be a good source for baptizing high school students to the story.

STOP THE PRESSES - CLOSE YOUR WALLET. I am retracting my semi-approval of the above book by Mr. Joyce. In determining whether or not to sell it in the Surratt House gift shop, we ran across several "questionable" bits of information. The one that shut us down completely was a statement that there is some speculation that John Wilkes Booth and Dr. Samuel A. Mudd had a sexual relationship.

After being addicted to the assassination story for over fifty years, I can honestly say that is the first time I have ever heard that tidbit! Would love to see a citation for that one.