From Booklist
A lucid investigation into the minds of former Alabama governor George Wallace and his would-be assassin Arthur Bremer. Wallace is the racist politician who ran strongly in the 1972 presidential primaries before being gunned down by Bremer. Healey doesn't deny Wallace's racist underpinnings, but he finds in Wallace a man whose "fingerprints are all over American politics" today, and therefore worthy of reflection. Wallace was a hard-driving opportunist, in love with politics, a populist garnering support from blue-collar America. After he was shot and wheel-chair bound, Wallace desired a forgiveness for his racist past, and Healey believes it was heartfelt. Bremer started life as a quiet child obsessed with death. As an adult, he wanted to do something big and noteworthy and decided to kill either then-president Nixon or candidate Wallace. Excerpts from Bremer's diaries reveal an eerie, sad person, bent on destruction. An unusual and surprising work. Brian McCombie
Review
In The Two Deaths Of George Wallace, author Thomas Healey traces the stalking and attempted assassination of George Wallace by Arthur Bremer in 1972. This political event has been studied before, but here Healey concentrates on the human history, the deep levels of psychology that have not been previously examined. Healey show sin detail the origins of Bremer's obsession, then traces Bremer's movements as he tracks his potential targets, including Richard Nixon. We see how coincidence largely determined that it would be Wallace who was shot. Healey then recounts Bremer's trial and imprisonment. Healey also describes George Wallace's fascinating personal and political life and updates Wallace's post-shooting career. One of Healey's sources is the largely unknown journal kept by Arthur Bremer as he sank deeper and deeper into psychosis in the weeks leading up to the assassination attempt. The Two Deaths Of George Wallace is extensively annotated and quite unlike any other published to date about one of the pivotal events in 20th century American political history. The Two Deaths Of George Wallace is a masterpiece of research and a marvel of clarity making a complicated historical event accessible to every interested reader. -- Midwest Book Review
