Monday, November 13, 2006

Manhunt

I am a horribly slow reader. My wife, she'll go through a book a day, but I'm just not wired for reading. I'm a couch potato...I admit it. But I do enjoy reading, especially non-fiction. This weekend I finally finished a great book I've been working on for awhile, Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson. It took me longer to read than I had hoped, thanks in part to the fact that my copy was in my briefcase when it was stolen out of my car a few weeks ago. Take my word, nothing spoils a night of going to see a screening of "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" quite like coming out to the parking lot to find the window of your car broken and your briefcase stolen. I'm sure the perp thought he was getting a laptop or something, but about all they got was this book and a copy of "Will the Circle be Unbroken" I had from the library.

Anyway, this is a great book! It explores a part of an important historic event that is ignored by many today. I already knew John Wilkes Booth was an intriguing character in American history, but so are so many others who he encountered during the days following Lincoln's assassination. The man who killed Booth, Boston Corbett, has to be one of the oddest people I've ever read about.

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