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Summary
Summary
Edwin Booth and his younger brother John Wilkes Booth were, in many ways, two of a kind. They were among America's finest actors, having inherited their father's commanding stage presence along with his penchant for alcohol and impulsive behavior. In other respects, the two brothers were very different. Edwin was more introspective, while John was known for his passionate intensity. They stood at opposite poles politically, as well: Edwin voted for Abraham Lincoln; John was an ardent advocate of the Confederacy.
Award-winning author James Cross Giblin draws on first-hand accounts of family members, friends, and colleagues to create vivid images of Edwin Booth and his brother John Wilkes, best known today as the man who shot Abraham Lincoln. He traces the events leading up to the assassination and describes the effects of John Wilkes's infamous deed on himself, his family, and his country. Comprehensive and compelling, this dual portrait illuminates a dark and tragic moment in the nation's history and explores the complex legacy of two leading men--one revered, the other abhorred. Notes, bibliography, index.
Author Notes
James Cross Giblin was born in Cleveland, Ohio on July 8, 1933. He received a B. A. from Western Reserve University in 1954 and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Columbia University in 1955. He pursued playwriting before taking a job at Criterion Books in 1959. He focused on the children's book field. In the early to mid-1960s, he was an associate editor at Lothrop, Lee and Shepard. In 1967, he moved to Seabury Press, where he became editor-in-chief, spearheading the development of the children's book line there, later called Clarion Books. When Houghton Mifflin bought Clarion in the late 1970s, he moved to the company as Clarion's publisher. As an editor, he worked with such authors as Eileen Christelow and Mary Downing Hahn.
His first children's book, The Scarecrow Book written with Dale Ferguson, was published in 1980. During his lifetime, he wrote more than 20 books for young readers, mainly nonfiction, historical nonfiction, and biographies. He won several awards including the 1983 National Book Award for Chimney Sweeps: Yesterday and Today and the 2003 Sibert Medal for The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler. He died on April 10, 2016 at the age of 82.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Horn Book Review
(Middle School, High School) Amateur historians may find it convenient to think of Edwin Booth, often considered the finest classical actor of his time, as ""good,"" and his brother, John Wilkes, President Lincoln's assassin, as ""bad,"" but as Giblin shows in this dual biography, such labels are usually too simplistic. Edwin spent much of his youth following in his father's footsteps as he learned the actor's craft but, equally as passionately, embraced alcohol, which had led to his father's downfall. John Wilkes's public rise and then fall reverses Edwin's cycle: he was known as the bright, cheerful son and actor who suffered none of Edwin's internal demons until, fueled by his hatred of Lincoln, he became the first individual to kill an American president. Giblin raises his biographical curtain on both brothers in the theater, letting both the mid-nineteenth-century arts and the brothers' careers share center stage. Still, the liveliest part of the narrative begins with John Wilkes's assassination intrigue -- his violent act, capture, and death -- and concludes with Edwin's attempt to continue his public life amidst the resulting publicity. Giblin's bibliography and discussion of sources opens a wealth of avenues for further reading; period photographs put faces to the history. An index will be included in the finished book. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Gr. 5-8. Giblin never forgets the story part of history. In this absorbing narrative, he frames the intertwined tale of two brothers with accounts of their families, friends, the Civil War, and ninteenth-century theater. Edwin and John Wilkes were sons of Junius Booth, also a famed actor, and Edwin learned his craft in part as a young teen, traveling with his touring father to keep him from drinking too much. Alcoholism and depression afflicted the family, but Giblin is brilliant at showing that darkness was only one part of a life. Edwin's support of the North and John Wilkes' passion for the Southern cause drove a wedge in the family, and John Wilkes' assassination of Lincoln--plotted out for readers from historical documents with breathtaking clarity--haunted Edwin and his family. With settings that range from Australia to Germany, from New York to San Francisco, each vividly reconstructed, Giblin's book will engross readers until the very last footnote. --GraceAnne DeCandido Copyright 2005 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 6-9-Actors Edwin and John Wilkes Booth each had a compelling stage presence and a fondness for alcohol, just like their famous father, Junius. Edwin spent his life perfecting his craft and building a reputation as the finest classical actor of his time. John was impulsive, popular with the ladies, and best known today as the man who assassinated Abraham Lincoln. The text is carefully researched, drawing heavily on firsthand accounts from family members and liberally illustrated with photographs, most from the Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library. The writing is engaging and eminently readable, and presents history in a manner that is, in essence, consummate storytelling. Giblin traces the events leading up to the assassination, discussing the Civil War, John Wilkes Booth's love for the Confederacy, and the plots he and his colleagues hatched to kidnap Lincoln. The effects that the assassination had on the country, and his family, are clearly presented. The search for Booth and his coconspirators rivals the excitement of police procedurals as Giblin chronicles efforts by law enforcement to bring the group to justice. Edwin's later life and his contributions to American theater are discussed. Behind all his successes, however, stood the ghost of his brother John, and the act that would forever link the Booth name with disgrace. What a story! This is nonfiction at its finest.-Jennifer Ralston, Harford County Public Library, Belcamp, MD (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Edwin Booth was the greatest classical actor of his day and did much to pave the way for the respect theater now has in our country. His younger brother John assassinated Abraham Lincoln. For every person who knows of Edwin Booth, thousands know about his murderous sibling. Such is the way with heroes and villains. Particularly compelling in this volume are details of the conspiracy John hatched to bring down the government by killing Andrew Johnson and William Seward, and kidnapping the president to ransom him for Confederate prisoners. Giblin successfully combines his twin interests in theater and the Civil War in this fascinating biography of brothers during a time of war. Archival photographs and reproductions of posters, playbills, paintings and engravings are a handsome complement to the text. The extensive bibliography and source notes are readable and interesting in their own right. Add this far-ranging work to Civil War collections, histories of American theater and other fine nonfiction works by the author. (index) (Nonfiction. 10-14) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Table of Contents
| Chapter 1 A Brother's Crime | p. 1 |
| Chapter 2 Crowing Like a Rooster | p. 7 |
| Chapter 3 "Where Are Your Spurs?" | p. 16 |
| Chapter 4 Gold Pieces and Blizzards | p. 25 |
| Chapter 5 Hamlet in Honolulu | p. 33 |
| Chapter 6 Edwin in Love | p. 44 |
| Chapter 7 Marching Off to War | p. 56 |
| Chapter 8 "He Must Come at Once!" | p. 67 |
| Chapter 9 A Spy and a Blockade Runner | p. 76 |
| Chapter 10 "When Lincoln Shall Be King" | p. 87 |
| Chapter 11 "To Whom It May Concern" | p. 98 |
| Chapter 12 "Sic Semper Tyrannis!" | p. 110 |
| Chapter 13 The Terrible Aftermath | p. 125 |
| Chapter 14 "Hunted Like a Dog" | p. 136 |
| Chapter 15 "Useless, Useless" | p. 144 |
| Chapter 16 Death by Hanging | p. 155 |
| Chapter 17 Standing Ovations | p. 169 |
| Chapter 18 Into the Furnace | p. 179 |
| Chapter 19 Targeting Edwin | p. 188 |
| Chapter 20 Triumph in Germany | p. 198 |
| Chapter 21 A Toast to the Players | p. 207 |
| Chapter 22 The Last Hamlet | p. 216 |
| Bibliography and Source Notes | p. 223 |
| Index | p. 235 |
