The Booth Brothers: Drama, Fame, and the Death of President Lincoln

by Rebecca Langston-George

Overview

Today everyone knows the name of John Wilkes Booth, the notorious zealot who assassinated Abraham Lincoln. But in his lifetime, the killer was an actor who was well-known among fans of the theater, well-known but less famous and less admired than his brother Edwin. In the 1860s, Edwin Booth ranked among the greatest and most-respected stars of the stage. He lived in New York and sympathized with the Union cause, while his younger brother stomped the streets of Washington, D.C., and raged as the Civil War turned in favor of the North. John fantasized about kidnapping the president, but after the defeat of the Confederacy, he sought deadly vengeance. The night Lincoln attended a performance at Ford's Theatre, Edwin was far away, knowing nothing of the plot unfolding in the nation's capital.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781515773399
Publisher:	Capstone
Publication date:	09/01/2017
Series:	Encounter: Narrative Nonfiction Stories Series
Pages:	112
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.30(d)
Lexile:	1070L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Rebecca Langston-George is the author of 12 books including The Booth Brothers: Drama, Fame, and the Death of President Lincoln. She received the Armin R. Schulz Literacy Award from the California Reading Association in 2016 for writing that promotes social justice. Rebecca lives in Bakersfield, California.

Table of Contents

A wanted man — Witness to history — Family and country divided — Actors and rivals — Plans and plots — A country reunited — A new plan executed — A hunted man — A brother burdened — Afterword — Timeline — Photo gallery — Glossary — Internet sites & read more — Select bibliography — Source notes — Index.

Interviews

compelling true story, new perspective on one of history’s greatest crimes, fast-paced storytelling, historical photos

Editorial Reviews

2017-06-27
A fact-filled profile of Edwin and John Wilkes Booth. The sons of a renowned Shakespearean actor, each enjoyed successful theatrical careers, though Edwin was more famous and admired as an actor. They were divided in their sympathies in the Civil War. John Wilkes spied and smuggled in his zealous support of the Confederacy, fantasizing about a plot to kidnap Lincoln before masterminding the assassination. Langston-George notes that the lives of the Lincolns and the Booths intersected multiple times. Robert Todd Lincoln and John Wilkes pursued the same woman, Lucy Lambert Hale, and Edwin Booth saved the life of President Lincoln's eldest son when he pulled him off the tracks before an oncoming train. President Lincoln had also seen John Wilkes perform at Ford's Theater. This story of the Booth brothers is sufficiently factual but lacks depth or nuance. Langston-George frequently uses quotes; sources are identified in the endnotes. What drove John Wilkes to embrace the Confederacy and white supremacy and to plot Lincoln's assassination is not discussed. The emotional and psychological toll his crime took on Edwin is unexplored. A much more engaging, astute, and insightful profile of the Booth brothers can be found in James Cross Giblin's Good Brother, Bad Bother (2005). An informationally sound profile but a lackluster narrative. (afterword, photos, timeline, glossary, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)

Kirkus Reviews