What are you reading now?

[Ed Steers]

(01-12-2014 11:28 AM)Don1946 Wrote:  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.

Dear Mr. Doyle, Not sure I am using the proper procedure to comment, but here goes. I did not consider the Catholic Conspiracy to have any validity at all, and felt Bill Hanchett covered it thoroughly ("Lincoln Murder Conspiracies"). I was more interested in the "Booth escaped" theory that Ray Neff prominantly pushed, and countering the "Dr. Mudd is innocent" claims. Both have a much larger following today and seem to have taken hold in some quarters. Indiana State University has accepted Neff's entire library/files and carefully indexed them believing they are true. I think this is a serious problem and tried to address by having a panel of historians (selected by ISU and North & South magazine) review the files and render an opinion. Nothing ever came of it although several prominent historians told me they would participate. ISU is an excellent university and should take the challenge to the Neff collection seriously. One of the problems with the Catholic Conspiracy is motive. I remember reading in the Rufus King papers (King was Lincoln's representative to the Papal States) that part of the negotiation to return John Surratt was that the U.S. reciprocate should the Papal States request extradition, AND that should the Republicans overrun the Papal States the U.S. would would grant asylum to the Pope. If true, it seems strange that the Pope would want to see Lincoln killed. In any event, the Catholic Conspiracy has long been demolished and Bill Hachett did a credible job. In addition to the two books already mentioned I suggest you also read Alfred Isacsson"s "The Travels. Arrest, and Trial of John Surratt." It is quite good.