American Brutus John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln conspiracies

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Summary

"Now, in American Brutus, Michael W. Kauffman, one of the foremost Lincoln assassination authorities, takes familiar history to a deeper level, offering an unprecedented, authoritative account of the Lincoln murder conspiracy. Working from a staggering array of archival sources and new research, Kauffman sheds new light on the background and motives of John Wilkes Booth, the mechanics of his plot to topple the Union government, and the trials and fates of the conspirators. Piece by piece, Kauffman explains and corrects common misperceptions and analyzes the political motivation behind Booth{u2019}s plan to unseat Lincoln, in whom the assassin saw a treacherous autocrat, 'an American Caesar.' In preparing his study, Kauffman spared no effort getting at the truth: He even lived in Booth{u2019}s house, and re-created key parts of Booth{u2019}s escape. Thanks to Kauffman{u2019}s discoveries, readers will have a new understanding of this defining event in our nation{u2019}s history, and they will come to see how public sentiment about Booth at the time of the assassination and ever since has made an accurate account of his actions and motives next to impossible{u2013}until now. In nearly 140 years there has been an overwhelming body of literature on the Lincoln assassination, much of it incomplete and oftentimes contradictory. In American Brutus, Kauffman finally makes sense of an incident whose causes and effects reverberate to this day. Provocative, absorbing, utterly cogent, at times controversial, this will become the definitive text on a watershed event in American history."--Publisher's description.

Contents

By God, then, is John Booth crazy?
It all seems a dream-a wild dream
The President's case is hopeless
Arrest every man, woman, or child attempting to pass
A singular combination of gravity and joy
He wanted to be loved of the southern people
The man of genius in the Booth family
My profession, my name, is my passport
I have a greater speculation...they won't laugh at
You can be the leader...but not my executioner
There is going to be some splendid acting tonight
Sic semper tyrannis!
I believe he would have murdered us, every one
Let the stain of innocent blood be removed from the land
I must fight the course
These people around here contradict each other so much
Nothing short of a miracle can save their lives.

Published Reviews

Booklist Review: "In this thorough review of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Kauffman seems to have examined everything--documents, places, and artifacts--related to the case. He reports having spent 400 hours in the assassin's home, indicating his dedication to unearthing all the facts about the plots of John Wilkes Booth. Fortunately, dedication doesn't degenerate into obsession with any single angle: Kauffman announces no astounding revelation--such as a link between the assassin and the Confederate government. He does stress, however, the forensic sloppiness of the investigation, albeit without insinuating the wrong people were caught, tried, and hanged. While joining the historical chorus that innkeeper Mary Surratt, whatever her knowledge of the plotters, might not have deserved the rope, Kauffman's tracking of Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt doesn't clear them of consorting with Booth. A levelheaded analysis of the evolution of Booth's plans, Kauffman's book will satisfy the enduring interest in Lincoln's murder. --Ray Olson Copyright 2004 Booklist"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review: "Kauffman, an independent Lincoln assassination scholar, offers a beautifully written, exhaustive and well-reasoned reassessment of John Wilkes Booth and the murder of America's 16th president. The story Kauffman tells, though highly familiar, is also byzantine enough to still capture our attention. More importantly, Kauffman puts a new spin on well-worn data, adding a riveting reinterpretation that paints Booth as a ruthless player of complex games: a darkly brilliant manipulator of people, not all of whom realized what they were a part of until after Lincoln lay dead. Booth reveled in creating false impressions and planting strategic misinformation. One example involves Dr. Samuel Mudd, who set Booth's fractured leg before learning of the assassination and then, frightened for his life, made the mistake of denying knowing the actor. Years later, Gen. David Hunter-ranking member of the military commission that tried and sentenced Mudd to prison-commented: "The Court never believed that Dr. Mudd knew anything about Booth's designs. Booth made him a tool as he had done others." Kauffman's Booth is, in the end, a crazed but skilled puppetmaster who, as part of his endgame, needed to make sure that most of his puppets joined him in martyrdom for the Confederate cause. "Booth immortalized himself by staging one of history's greatest dramas," Kauffman writes. "In the process, he accomplished what every actor aspires to do: he made us all wonder where the play ended and reality began." Photos not seen by PW. (On sale Nov. 2) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved"
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Additional Information

Subjects	Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 Assassination Booth, John Wilkes, 1838-1865 Presidents Assassination United States Biography & Autobiography Nonfiction History 1809-1865 1838-1865.
Publisher	New York :Random House Publishing Group,2007 Random House Publishing Group2007
Edition	1st ed.
Contributors	OverDrive, Inc.
Language	English
System Details	Mode of access: World Wide Web. Format: Adobe EPUB eBook Format: Kindle Book Format: OverDrive READ Requires Adobe Digital Editions or Amazon Kindle
Description	1 online resource
Bibliography Notes	Includes bibliographical references (pages [477]-488) and index.
ISBN	9780307430618 9780307430618
Other	Classic View