 | The Lincoln Assassination: Crime and Punishment, Myth and Memory A Lincoln Forum Book Subjects: Lincoln Abraham 1809–1865 -- Assassination; Lincoln Abraham 1809–1865 -- Death and burial; Assassins -- United States -- History -- 19th century; Conspiracies -- United States -- History -- 19th century; In the fourth volume from scholarly collective the Lincoln Forum (following Lincoln Revisited), 10 contributors turn their attention to the 16th president's assassination. Editors Holzer and Williams collaborate on an interesting (and well-illustrated) look at popular engravings and prints portraying Lincoln's final hours, some of which put a crowd of 50 at Lincoln's deathbed, in a room large enough for no more than a half-dozen. Richard Sloan looks at Lincoln's funeral procession and his time lying in state in New York City, with interesting insight for amateur urban historians. Thomas Lowry's "Not Everybody Mourned Lincoln's Death" is vivid but narrow, focusing on the easily-grasped point that many Americans, on the heels of the Civil War, were glad to see Lincoln dead. Multiple articles look at the trial of John Wilkes Booth's conspirators, often disagreeing about which of the accused, convicted and hanged were actually guilty. Thomas R. Turner notes that as early as the 1860s, "historians were agonizing that. there was little left to be said" about Lincoln; while this collection does reinforce that idea, it also turns up enough unanswered or undecided questions to hold readers' interest and promise more scholarship to come. B&w illus. (May) Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information. Holzer Harold : Harold Holzer is Roger Hertog Fellow at the New-York Historical Society and one of the nation's leading authorities on Lincoln and the political culture of the Civil War era. He is chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation and has written, co-written, or edited forty-seven books, most recently Lincoln and the Power of the Press.Symonds Craig L. : Craig L. Symonds is Professor Emeritus at the U.S. Naval Academy and the author of many books on Civil War and naval history. He won the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Prize in 2005, The Lincoln Prize (with James M. McPherson) in 2009, and the Dudley Knox Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Naval History in 2014.Williams Frank J. : Frank J. Williams, a renowned Lincoln scholar, is the former Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court and founding chairman of The Lincoln Forum. He also serves as President of The Ulysses S. Grant Association. He is the author or editor of fourteen books, including Lincoln as Hero. |
