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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining "biography" of an event, April 8, 2003
The Day Lincoln Was Shot is an old book. It was available when I was in grade school, but although I entertained an interest in history at the time, I was not yet into US history. A friend recently reintroduced me to the book, since he knew I had developed an interest in the period. I must say, I am glad he did. The book is strikingly well written and very well researched. Jim Bishop was not a professionally trained historian, but he was a writer with an interest in history and a methodical manner of approaching his subject. According to the introduction, the author kept notebooks on each of the major participants of the drama of Lincoln's last days, adding to them whenever scraps of information came his way. When he finally put pen to paper he had such voluminous data in anecdotal form, that he was able to untangle events in a way that no one before him had been able to do. Although he puts speeches into the mouths of his subjects, this dialogue is reconstructed from information from diaries, printed speeches, trail transcripts, and other documents from the time, that give credence to the author's construction.The book is written on an hour by hour basis, departing from this format only to add a chapter on events that immediately preceded the fateful day. The author follows the activities of each of the major participants, describing their behavior, interactions, and words, creating a drama every bit as riveting as a novel or play. I had read a biography of John Wilkes Booth that had raised the possibility of a conspiracy by Northerners to remove Lincoln and his more conciliatory approach to reconstruction by using a misguided Booth as a pawn in their political designs. At that time, I felt that there was a distinct possibility that this might have been the case. Bishop's book, however, made it apparent that this theory is not new but has been around since the events themselves. The author discusses the theory that the Secretary of War Stanton may have been behind such a scheme, but dismisses it as misguided, though I'm not entirely sure that his reasons for doing so are any more valid than the previous author's were. One of the things I enjoyed most about the book is that Bishop doesn't leave one hanging at the end. Lincoln isn't just dead as the finale. The author details some of the fates of those who participated in the events. We are not only told what happened to the perpetrators of the murder, but what became of individuals like Secretary of War Stanton, Vice President Johnson, Surgeon General Barnes, Ulysses S. Grant, among others. We are even told of the fate of the Ford Theater and its owner. The wrap up is very good. The book is a delight to read. It's full of information and colorful detail. It's clearly and understandably written, and would make entertaining reading for anyone from 5th or 6th grade reading level to the adult.
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by James L. Swanson
by Richard Bak
by Jim Bishop
by Ph.D., Alan Axelrod
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