Non-Fiction Post

 Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson tells the story of how Lincoln was shot and killed. It also tells the story of what happened to John Wilkes Booth after he shot Lincoln. Booth shot and killed Lincoln because he was mad that the Confederacy had lost the war. As an actor, Booth knew the whole layout of the theater that Lincoln was going to attend a show in. Booth also knew the show well, and that made it easier to plan the murder. From the title it is clear that this book tells us a lot about the hunt for Booth and his associates.

This book was really suspenseful and keeps the reader on the edge of his seat. In the book, the first thing Swanson talks about is how Booth shot Lincoln. He starts out by telling the reader how Booth got to the theater and up the back way to Lincoln’s box. After that he explains how Booth snuck into the room and shot Lincoln in the back of the head with a small pistol. When he tried to get away he was tackled by Major Henry Rathbone who realized what Booth had done. Not thinking, Booth jumped out of the box onto the stage where he stood up and said “Sic simper tyrannis!” which is “the state motto of Virginia: ‘Thus always to tyrants’” (Swanson 43).  The details Swanson adds make the book exciting because you don’t know what is going to happen next. The descriptions make the reader wonder what it was like in the theater that night.

Swanson includes pictures that make the reader want to know more about the events that happen in this book. For example, Swanson includes pictures from news papers from back in 1865. One specific news paper is the National Police Gazette from April 22, 1865 which shows drawings of how Lincoln was shot and what people did after he was shot. It also shows drawings of the attempted assassination of Secretary of State William H. Seward in his bed (56). Seeing these images helps the reader get a better picture of what really happened and the surrounding time period. These images also give us an idea of the people and the time because of what they were wearing and where they were. It also show s how people back then would learn about what happened through drawings  since there were no TV’s.

This book makes me wonder what the time was like. Also after reading this book I want to see Lincoln, the movie. This book makes me think how terrible the assassination of the president was, especially since he freed the slaves