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John Wilkes Booth: Day by Day
By 1865, at the age of 26, Booth had much to lose: a loving family, hosts of friends, adoring women, professional success as one of America's foremost actors, and the promise of yet more fame and fortune. Yet he formed a daring conspiracy to abduct Lincoln and barter him for Confederate prisoners of war. The Civil War ended before Booth could carry out his plan, so he assassinated the president, believing him to be a tyrant who had turned the once-proud Union into an engine of oppression that had devastated the South. This book gives a day-by-day account of Booth's complex life--from his birth May 10, 1838, to his death April 26, 1865, and the aftermath--and offers a new understanding of the crime that shocked a nation.
296 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 23, 2014
Historian Loux (d. 2013) puts a twist to ordinary biography by doing daily, diary-like, entries for every day of John Wilkes Booth's life that information was available. As the author notes in his Preface, "Sparse information survives about John Wilkes Booth's youth," the period 1838 to 1857 of the first chapter. With indefatigable research and the help of a circle of knowledgeable historians supporting this unique project, Loux records what information is available. To make up for this paucity, he records information on Booth's father, the famous actor Junius Brutus Booth, thus offering influences, family experiences, and context for the notorious assassin of Abraham Lincoln.
After Booth moves to Philadelphia and a couple of years later, Richmond in the first stages of his acting career, information becomes regular and at times plentiful, much of it in reviews of Booth as an actor which Loux quotes from frequently. Thirty-five pages of notes in smaller type followed by ten pages of Bibliography in the same type attest not only to Loux's exhaustive research, but also the sources for much of the book's content.
Introductory essays to the ten chapters give some perspective on the period's or location's place in the broader span of Booth's life, often pointing out the most significant incidents. The author, however, makes no attempt to psychoanalyze Booth or otherwise explain his alteration from obviously committed, leading actor of the pre-Civil War decades with appreciative friends and public to nefarious assassin of Lincoln in league with a group of plotters. The few instances of overt bitterness and anger at Lincoln as leader of the War's winning side Loux includes for the full portrait of Booth are no different from countless others from Southern state sympathizers.
Rather than explanation or analysis, the author means to provide copious material on Booth's life for a picture of him beyond his notoriety. The author is effective and exemplary in this aim. Implications as to Booth's psychology, effects on him, assassin's pathology, or political or social conflicts of the era are left to the reader. The book is an accomplishment of factual and chronological information for historians, researchers, and such wanting to track the long, circuitous path of the man who shot Lincoln.
After Booth moves to Philadelphia and a couple of years later, Richmond in the first stages of his acting career, information becomes regular and at times plentiful, much of it in reviews of Booth as an actor which Loux quotes from frequently. Thirty-five pages of notes in smaller type followed by ten pages of Bibliography in the same type attest not only to Loux's exhaustive research, but also the sources for much of the book's content.
Introductory essays to the ten chapters give some perspective on the period's or location's place in the broader span of Booth's life, often pointing out the most significant incidents. The author, however, makes no attempt to psychoanalyze Booth or otherwise explain his alteration from obviously committed, leading actor of the pre-Civil War decades with appreciative friends and public to nefarious assassin of Lincoln in league with a group of plotters. The few instances of overt bitterness and anger at Lincoln as leader of the War's winning side Loux includes for the full portrait of Booth are no different from countless others from Southern state sympathizers.
Rather than explanation or analysis, the author means to provide copious material on Booth's life for a picture of him beyond his notoriety. The author is effective and exemplary in this aim. Implications as to Booth's psychology, effects on him, assassin's pathology, or political or social conflicts of the era are left to the reader. The book is an accomplishment of factual and chronological information for historians, researchers, and such wanting to track the long, circuitous path of the man who shot Lincoln.
February 22, 2015
The first thing that hit me when reading John Wilkes Booth: Day By Day is that how young Booth was when he shot Lincoln, only 26. This is a thorough look featuring a literal day to day listing of Booths activities from childhood to his burial in 1869. A must read for those interested in the Lincoln Assassination.
Free review copy.
Free review copy.
July 26, 2021
Great detail, as the title suggests. Great resource for research and / or term paper. Enjoy!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews