Another Lincoln assassination book

So back in January I wrote about a book signing I went to for a book about the Lincoln assassination. I finally got around to actually reading the book. And...it was pretty good. I was surprised, though, that all the reviews on Amazon were 5 stars. I mean, it wasn't that good. So I wound up writing my own review, which I was going to quote liberally here, but it hasn't been approved yet and I can't access it. Argh! I was annoyed that I couldn't give it 3.5 stars, which I really wanted to. It doesn't seem 4-star worthy, but is better than 3 stars.

In any case, it didn't help that I was going into the book with a negative impression. The book was good. What I think Pitch did best was give a great illustration of Washington, DC in April 1865. What he did more than other authors writing about the Lincoln assassination is use original sources from regular DC citizens, so there's a lot of depth to his story. He describes the illuminations celebrating the defeat of Richmond and Lee's surrender wonderfully. Throughout the book, no matter what he was talking about, he used diaries and letters to give readers a fabulous picture of what was going on--it's a great book to get the feel of life in Washington at the end of the Civil War. And Pitch gets kudos for that; I really liked that aspect of it.

I also really enjoyed that Pitch managed to cover the entire assassination--from threats on Lincoln coming into the city for his first inauguration to John Surratt's trial to Johnson pardoning the three surviving conspirators before he left office. The problem is that the book is only 400 pages long. For example, in writing about the trial, he goes into a lot of detail about what the people on trial had to deal with, which is great, and impressions of the media and spectators, also interesting, but lacks details of what actually went on during the trial. You know, evidence. Testimony. That sort of thing. If I have one big question about the Lincoln assassination and its aftermath, it's "Why did they wind up putting on trial the people they did?" Specficially I'm talking about poor Ned Spangler, who worked at Ford's Theatre. Booth rode up to the theatre, told Spangler to hold the horse, Spangler handed the reins to someone else. The end! So how did he wind up on trial and not, say, Thomas Jones, who harbored Booth and Herold in a pine thicket for days, knowing full well what Booth did? I mean, nobody probably knows at this point. Clearly I need to write the book about this pressing topic. But anyway. I'd like to know the content of the trial a bit, not just that women in the crowd were fascinated by Lewis Payne/Powell.

Plus, the book loses points with me for not going into detail about Boston Corbett, the soldier who killed Booth. Seriously, the dude castrated himself. How do you leave that out of a book? It's just wrong, I tell you.

And Pitch continues to come across as a little too self-congratulatory. In the acknowledgments, he goes on about how it took him 9 years and he wanted to quit, but his daughter, who doesn't care about history!, and his agent were both all, "No! You must keep going! I'm only partway through the manuscript and am moved to tears!" Look, I get it. These books are a labor of love. Give yourself a pat on the back and move on.

So, in general, points for giving readers a good idea of the region and for covering all aspects; I did learn new stuff, particularly about the chase of John Surratt. But, overall, it didn't go into enough depth. Points for being a good overview, though.

(Also, you should see the pictures from my usher appreciation night at Ford's last week. I got to see into the box!)