Local History

I grew up in Southern Maryland.  It's only about 4 hours away from where I live now, a bit outside Philadelphia, but the history is very different.  By growing up so close to Washington D.C. I felt close to a lot of our nations history (something I am also lucky enough to feel living close to Philadelphia), the good and the not so good.  Readers of this blog will know I am not the biggest fan of non-fiction even though I am a big fan of history.

James Swanson's Chasing Lincoln's Killer is one of those books that changes my mind about non-fiction.  I'll be honest, part of the appeal is that I can picture many of the places described in the book.  I have been to the White House and the D.C. landmarks mentioned.  I have also been to the Dr. Mudd house and seen part of John Wilkes Booth's escape route.  But I think I would have liked this book even without the local connections.

One of my problems with non-fiction is that you already know what happens and the books often come off dry.  Swanson was able to keep you hooked on the story.  I couldn't put this book down, I had to know what happened next.  I already knew what happened to John Wilkes Booth, but that didn't matter.  Swanson's telling of the tale puts new life to that story.

As the title suggests Chasing Lincoln's Killer tells the story of John Wilkes Booth's escape and eventual capture (not a spoiler, this is an actual event that has already happened). What the title doesn't suggest is that it tells the story in such a way that the reader gets caught up in the drama of the situation and you have to keep reading because you just can't take the suspense.

This book was also an interesting story in how the reader responds to characters.  I am not a fan of John Wilkes Booth, what he did was atrocious and I believe our country would be better had Lincoln lived; however, he was the main character in this book and I almost found myself rooting for him.  No, not quite rooting, more like secretly wondering how long he could last.  I was fascinated by this character and I wanted to know more.  That is the sign of a great book.  I will definitely be recommending this book to students next year.

Learning your history...that's kids stuff.