It Didn't Happen the Way You Think (by Robert Lockwood Mills)

[mikegriffith1]

I just finished reading Robert Lockwood Mills' excellent book It Didn't Happen the Way You Think: The Lincoln Assassination: What the Experts Missed (Heritage Books, 1994). This is one of the most thoughtful, insightful, and analytical books on the case that I have read so far.

Mills is a former investment banker and stage actor who became interested in writing on historical subjects. He was the project editor for five books on historical subjects published by Reader's Digest, and he produced a docudrama on the Lincoln assassination that was broadcast on Connecticut Public Radio.

Mills picks up where Eisenschiml left off. Mills' book is by far the best defense of Eisenschiml's work that I have read to date. Among other things, Mills addresses many of the arguments of Eisenschiml's critics, especially William Hanchett's criticisms. Mills mentions facts that I have not seen discussed in any other book.

I find it curious and unfortunate that so much attention has been given to sensationalist and badly flawed books like Finnis Bates' The Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth, but that so little attention has been given to Mill's careful, sober, and thorough book.