Bad History Book Poll

[RJNorton]

Danny West sent this link.

[LincolnMan]

I see that according to the results coming in that O'Reilly's book Killing Lincoln is a contender in the top of the poll.

[Laurie Verge]

As it deserves to be! I must admit that I was impressed with the first few chapters as he took a somewhat different tactic and started with the final movement on Richmond. It went downhill from there, however.

[LincolnMan]

Laurie: agree! Someone told me he has a degree in history? I sure wish he had researched the material more carefully. The problem is a is a celebrity and people will believe his every word. On the other hand his book has increased discussion of Lincoln in circles where he would not have been discussed-perhaps.

[Craig Hipkins]

I still have not bought Killing Lincoln. I'm waiting for it to show up on E-Bay or Amazon for 99 cents.

Craig

[L Verge]

Trust me, Craig, you are not missing anything. Wait for the 99 cent version. O'Reilly also claims to have a degree in history and to have taught high school for a few years. This, of course, makes him eminently qualified to write a history book.

When it was announced that he would be writing a book on the Lincoln assassination, I announced to my staff and friends that he was going to ride the coat tails of The Conspirator movie. Sure enough, it was released within six months of the announcement and included a picture of Mary Surratt on the cover. If that's not exploitation, I don't know what is. Most reputable authors that I know take years to research and write. Of course, the O'Reilly/Dugard style, IMO, is more cut-and-paste using other people's work.

[Craig Hipkins]

Trust me, Craig, you are not missing anything. Wait for the 99 cent version. O'Reilly also claims to have a degree in history and to have taught high school for a few years. This, of course, makes him eminently qualified to write a history book.

When it was announced that he would be writing a book on the Lincoln assassination, I announced to my staff and friends that he was going to ride the coat tails of The Conspirator movie. Sure enough, it was released within six months of the announcement and included a picture of Mary Surratt on the cover. If that's not exploitation, I don't know what is. Most reputable authors that I know take years to research and write. Of course, the O'Reilly/Dugard style, IMO, is more cut-and-paste using other people's work.

Laurie,

I would say Dugard wrote most of the book. He has ghost written several other books. One that I can think of off the top of my head was a bio of King Tut suppose to have been written by James Patterson.

Craig

[Laurie Verge]

No doubt in my mind that Dugard did 95% of the work! However, if he is going to claim to be a historian, then he needs to follow the "formula" of researching, researching, researching, writing, peer review, etc. Writing and publishing in a six-month period is certainly not typical.

[LincolnMan]

And just as James Swanson did with his outstanding book Manhunt, there is a children's version of the O'Reiily book.

[Laurie Verge]

Has the O'Reilly children's version been published yet? I heard it was coming, but have not received any notice. It'll be interesting to see if they cleaned up their act any.

[LincolnMan]

I was channel surfing one night and stopped on The O'Reiily Factor for a moment. He was talking about the children's version. Don't know if it has been released yet.

[LincolnMan]

Bill O'Reilly has a new book coming out in October of 2012: Killing Kennedy:The End of Camelot.

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It seems the assassinations of our presidents has become very popular. What's next: Killing Garfield?

[Gene C]

What's coming up next is the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's assassination. Expect more books, TV specials, and more former chemist who find hidden documents about how Oswald survived and the great cover up....

[L Verge]

Gee, I wonder if O'Reilly is copycatting James Swanson, who has been writing a book on the Kennedy assassination for about three years now?

[LincolnMan]

Really? I didn't know that! Gene: I completely forgot about the 50th anniversary coming up. But I sure do remember that day.