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BACKSTAGE AT THE LINCOLN ASSASSINATION

~THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE ACTORS AND STAGEHANDS AT FORD’S THEATRE~

THOMAS A. BOGAR

http://www.RegneryHistory.com

Genre: History (Civil War era)

Source: Received for an honest review from the publisher.

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Regnery History (November 4, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1621570835
• ISBN-13: 978-1621570837

*Amazon*

April 14, 1865. A famous actor pulls a trigger in the presidential balcony, leaps to the stage and escapes, as the president lies fatally wounded. In the panic that follows, forty-six terrified people scatter in and around Ford’s Theater as soldiers take up stations by the doors and the audience surges into the streets chanting, “Burn the place down!”

This is the untold story of Lincoln’s assassination: the forty-six stage hands, actors, and theater workers on hand for the bewildering events in the theater that night, and what each of them witnessed in the chaos-streaked hours before John Wilkes Booth was discovered to be the culprit. In Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination, historian Thomas A. Bogar delves into previously unpublished sources to tell the story of Lincoln’s assassination from behind the curtain, and the tale is shocking. Police rounded up and arrested dozens of innocent people, wasting time that allowed the real culprit to get further away. Some closely connected to John Wilkes Booth were not even questioned, while innocent witnesses were relentlessly pursued. Booth was more connected with the production than you might have known—learn how he knew each member of the cast and crew, which was a hotbed of secessionist resentment. Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination also tells the story of what happened to each of these witnesses to history, after the investigation was over—how each one lived their lives after seeing one of America’s greatest presidents shot dead without warning.

Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination is an exquisitely detailed look at this famous event from an entirely new angle. It is must reading for anyone fascinated with the saga of Lincoln’s life and the Civil War era.

MY THOUGHTS:

BACKSTAGE AT THE LINCOLN ASSASSINATION: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE ACTORS AND STAGEHANDS AT FORD’S THEATRE by Thomas A. Bogar is an interesting History set during the Civil War era. April 14,1865 was the date the “shot was heard around the theate”. This is the date President Abraham Lincoln was fatally shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre. This is the untold story….

This is the day lives where changed forever, both on stage and off. A true-life thriller. Mr. Bogar shines the light on many questions about this date, April 14. With his research Mr. Bogar has stunning details involving more that Booth’s involvement in the assassination, there where more than a few suspects both inside and outside the Ford Theatre on  that fateful day in history.

There have been many books written on this topic, but few if any written on the actors, and stagehands who where present at Ford’s Theatre.  I was held spell-bound with this knowledge, the facts, and the historical research in writing such an undertaking. Well done! I would highly suggest this title, if your are a history buff, enjoy Civial War history, and/or the history of the assassination of President Lincoln. A new and fresh look at the “shot heard around the theatre”. Received for an honest review from the publisher.

REVIEWED BY: AprilR, courtesy of My Book Addiction and More