A Finger in Lincoln's Brain

[RJNorton]

Thanks to Bob Cook for sending this information. I am sure 2015 will be bringing us many interesting titles.

A Finger in Lincoln's Brain: What Modern Science Reveals about Lincoln, His Assassination, and Its Aftermath (Hardcover) – January 30, 2015
by E. Lawrence Abel (Author)

In this book, E. Lawrence Abel sheds much-needed light on the fascinating details surrounding the death of Abraham Lincoln, including John Wilkes Booth's illness that turned him into an assassin, the medical treatment the president is alleged to have received after he was shot, and the significance of his funeral for the American public. The author provides an in-depth analysis of the science behind the assassination, a discussion of the medical care Lincoln received at the time he was shot and the treatment he would have received if he were shot today, and the impact of his death on his contemporaries and the American public.

The book examines Lincoln's fatalism and his unbridled ambition in terms of empirical psychological science rather than the fanciful psychoanalytical explanations that often characterize Lincoln psychohistories. The medical chapters challenge the long-standing description of Lincoln's last hours and examine the debate about whether Lincoln's doctors inadvertently doomed him.

Challenges the long-standing account of Lincoln's last hours and examines the debate about whether his doctor prolonged or shortened his life

• Sheds light on the crime with an in-depth analysis of ballistics and detailed forensics information

• Features a new interpretation of why Booth shot Lincoln

A hitherto unrecognized disease tipped an unstable John Wilkes Booth over the edge.

Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Praeger (January 30, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1440831181

[LincolnMan]

Thanks Roger. It sounds like a great read. I've never heard about an illness that JWB had that may have contributed to his assassination behaviors.

[L Verge]

I wonder if the author picked up on an article that caused debate when we ran it in the Surratt Courier? A now-deceased doctor from Annapolis, Maryland, suggested that Booth was a victim of VD. Or maybe this new author has discovered a 21st-century disease that can be applied to Booth now when a 19th-century diagnosis could not have been made.

I think I feel a migraine coming on from now through 2015...

[Angela]

I am really looking forward to reading this as it will be a very contemporary look on what it possible in modern medicine...yet, I think this is a book that can only ever be ordered online. Or can anybody else imagine asking in a bookshop for that title ;-)

[LincolnToddFan]

Thanks Roger-

Goodness that man sure knows how to select an eye catching title for his book! It does sound fascinating.

[LincolnMan]

The follow-up to the book should probably be "The Finger in Garfield's Body." I think all agree that Garfield probably would have survived if the unsterile fingers and instruments hadn't probed in the entry wound.

[Gene C]

I just hope it's not another speculative medical diagnosis theory trying to cash in on the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's death. I think I'll wait for a knowledgeable person to review it before I pay top $$.

Based on Roger's post and the info from Bob Cook, it has some real potential to fill in the gaps of what we know regarding Lincoln's health.

[LincolnToddFan]

(10-07-2014 06:44 AM)LincolnMan Wrote:  The follow-up to the book should probably be "The Finger in Garfield's Body." I think all agree that Garfield probably would have survived if the unsterile fingers and instruments hadn't probed in the entry wound.

LOL...soo true Bill! How horribly that poor man suffered...

[Ernesto]

Laurie, there are new medications for migraine. I'm a Surratt Soc. member and have greatly benefited from your posts and courier reports, as well as from others. I'm not going to give away the "punchline" about Booth but the book also reexamines the Latimer dispute and whether the doctors were negligible and Leale's confabulatations, along with other things "assassination." The book is scheduled for end of Jan, 2015. Just thought you'd like to know.--an admirer (e.l.a.)

(10-04-2014 11:07 AM)L Verge Wrote:  I wonder if the author picked up on an article that caused debate when we ran it in the Surratt Courier? A now-deceased doctor from Annapolis, Maryland, suggested that Booth was a victim of VD. Or maybe this new author has discovered a 21st-century disease that can be applied to Booth now when a 19th-century diagnosis could not have been made.

I think I feel a migraine coming on from now through 2015...

[Jim Garrett]

(10-08-2014 08:31 PM)LincolnToddFan Wrote:  

(10-07-2014 06:44 AM)LincolnMan Wrote:  The follow-up to the book should probably be "The Finger in Garfield's Body." I think all agree that Garfield probably would have survived if the unsterile fingers and instruments hadn't probed in the entry wound.

LOL...soo true Bill! How horribly that poor man suffered...

It was either in "The Last Lincolns" or Jason Emmerson's "Giant in the Shadows" that mentions that they stuck a whole hand in Garfield's wound! Maybe the follow up book could be, "Give Garfield a Hand".

[L Verge]

(10-18-2014 09:51 AM)Ernesto Wrote:  

Laurie, there are new medications for migraine. I'm a Surratt Soc. member and have greatly benefited from your posts and courier reports, as well as from others. I'm not going to give away the "punchline" about Booth but the book also reexamines the Latimer dispute and whether the doctors were negligible and Leale's confabulatations, along with other things "assassination." The book is scheduled for end of Jan, 2015. Just thought you'd like to know.--an admirer (e.l.a.)

(10-04-2014 11:07 AM)L Verge Wrote:  I wonder if the author picked up on an article that caused debate when we ran it in the Surratt Courier? A now-deceased doctor from Annapolis, Maryland, suggested that Booth was a victim of VD. Or maybe this new author has discovered a 21st-century disease that can be applied to Booth now when a 19th-century diagnosis could not have been made.

I think I feel a migraine coming on from now through 2015...

Thank you for the compliment, Mr. Abel, and I hope you understand my wariness after so many years of being in this "assassination" business. I look forward to reading your book. Would you be interested in participating in our Authors' Hour at our upcoming March conference if the book is out by that time? Contact me at laurie.verge@pgparks.com.

[Gene C]

Here is the Amazon site for Mr. Abel's book

http://www.amazon.com/Finger-Lincolns-Br...V9HHAVSHF2

[LincolnMan]

I just ordered the book. Has anyone from the Forum read it yet?

[Wesley Harris]

Anyone read it yet? I ran out of book money at the conference and had to pass it up.

[Thomas Thorne]

I just read it having bought it at the conference. Not being an MD,I can't offer an informed opinion on it. The genre of medical speculation without modern diagnostic tools about persons long dead suffers from excessive certitude.

I'm sure another MD is even now writing a confident reply which repudiates the conclusions of this book and it will share the same defects.
Tom