Customer Reviews

Biography - John Wilkes Booth [VHS]

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I love history and the Lincoln Assassination is a particular favorite of mine. I like to read bios and watch documentaries about all of the conspirators. I am also always on the lookout for videos to show in my high school social studies class so I wanted to check out Biography's look at JWB. Although it was easy for me to follow, I was disappointed overall. The pace of the video is too slow and the background music is overemphasized. If you like history, you might like this video, but will come away with an empty feeling. I am hoping the the good people at Biography will redo the Bio of JWB. He is an important figure in American History and worth knowing about.

My opinion's a bit different than other viewers. No question that avid history buffs who have done much reading, viewing, etc, are going to feel as though much of the information in the DVD is just well-known, and it is. But not everyone in the world knows everything, and if they're interested in who Booth is, what the story was beyond just the actual assassination minutes, it's very good. The experts speaking on the issue are also well-known & respected, & explain things well. There were also some details in the beginning, which though being someone who's done a lot of reading, viewing & visiting myself, still had never heard before. Some things regarding Booth's parents & siblings, and his youth. Not every second he was alive (so not too much & boring), but interesting to see a bit regarding how things started in his life. I'm such a Lincoln person that I hate this guy's guts, but it's interesting to hear some things of which I was unaware. Is good to watch the overall summary for folks not into too much detail or not knowing much other than he killed Lincoln, contains at least a few bits of info you may not have heard (and even some less famous pictures), and actually would be a good general teaching tool used with other means. I'm keeping mine, and would watch it again...

very lackluster production that closed with the line that booth was killed in maryland. duh! booth was killed in virginia.........anyway
the same photographs are shown over and over and over, although some of the photographs were ones i had not seen. i will watch it again, and i will keep it as part of my collection, but i wouldnt recommend it to the serious student.

AS A HISTORY BUFF, I WAS A BIT DISAPPOINTED IN THIS PRODUCT. I FOUND SEVERAL ERRORS IN IT AND I DID NOT THINK IT DELVED MUCH INTO HIS PERSONAL LIFE, WHAT MADE THIS MAN TICK. I KNOW HE HATED LINCOLN AND LIKE SO MANY SOUTHERNERS, THEY DID NOT GIVE HIM A CHANCE WHEN HE WAS ELECTED PRESIDENT. IF HE WAS NOT ASSASCINATED, HE WOULD HAVE BEEN THE BEST CHANCE FOR THE SOUTH TO SURVIVE, AS IT WAS....THEY HAD TO DEAL WITH THE CARPETBAGGERS. WHAT A WASTE.....