Oreilly's book thrown out of Ford's theater because of mistakes. (2 Viewers)

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This is not a book I would read because of the authors: O'Reilly is not a historian and Dugard doesn't have a good reputation. If you want to read about the Assassination, there are plenty of reliable books out there including Edward Steers' Blood on the Moon. There is also James Swanson's books on the topic.

Interesting the movie the Conspirator has come in for similar condemnation. Yesterday, I watched Elizabeth Leonard, a Professor of History at Columbia, and author of Lincoln's Avengers and the new highly regarded book on Joseph Holt, say that the movie was chockful of errors and that she had been disappointed. She said that Hollywood wants to play with the facts when the original story is so interesting that the facts will speak for themselves!

Brad
 
Bill will just have to be happy with his "Peabody Award." :D

I wasn't impressed with The Conspirators film for the reason Elizabeth Leonard stated plus numerous mistaken details of uniforms, clothing, military drill, and the railroad engine. The film doesn't bear a repeat watching.
 
I've read the first third of the book and nothing new so far. Written for the massses with "the roar of the cannons and the crack of muskets" to describe battles.

Found the movie both good and historical as far as the plot went. Uniforms, etc may not be accurate but that's minor to me. It was entertaining. Chris
 
Terp152 said:
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Found the movie both good and historical as far as the plot went. Uniforms, etc may not be accurate but that's minor to me. It was entertaining. Chris
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Yeah, I know it's nit picky but the movie used the same re-enactor who owned a Veteran Reserve Corp uniform as if he was always on duty at the Surratts. A nice touch spoiled. Tarnished brass on garrison troops, stuff like that. The movie makers should know that "buffs" go to these films. Jeepers, even "Hell On Wheels" makes an effort at a correct 1860s RR engine even if it's a wood and Styrofoam prop.
 
Terp152 said:
Found the movie both good and historical as far as the plot went.
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For a contrary view from an expert, please see the review by Professor Leonard. By the way I mistake, she is Professor of History at Colby College, not Columbia.
 
jazzeum said:
For a contrary view from an expert, please see the review by Professor Leonard. By the way I mistake, she is Professor of History at Colby College, not Columbia.
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Thanks for the link to the article. I didn't see any sympathy for the defeated Confederacy but more of an alusion to 9/11 and rushing to punish "somebody." Maybe Professor Leonard got that from the script.

BTW, in the attached photo I spotted "green" brass and two different rifles within the guard which I'd assume were in the same unit and issued the same weapons. It's a reenactorism to have mixed weapons in the same unit. Sorry, this stuff jumps out at me.
 
Hmm, not entirely "thrown out of Ford's theater." The Gift Shop on
the first floor still carries the book. The Bookstore [contracted by
the National Park Service] in the basement doesn't. Which place
is the most visible?

I haven't read it, nor do I intend to read it or any other book about
Lincoln for that matter. It's written in a "thriller" style to get the intrest
of a young audience that slept through high school. Not a bunch of old
stoggy pesudo-historians.

O'Reilly is laughing all the way to the bank.:)
 
Probably the best publicity he could ask for. In most cases, when a book is banned the sales jump. This is written largely for the masses. I don't mean that as an insult, just that many people who don't read a lot of history might pick this up because O'Reilly's name is on the cover (and I bet he wrote very little of it). It's not intended to be a serious history as there are several recent and very good books on the subject that more serious readers would buy.
 
Maybe we're looking at this the wrong way. A lot of us know more about the subject than the average person, who may not be interested in history. If a book like this can get people interested in history or the Civil War so that they take the time to look at what's out there, is that such a bad thing?

Brad
 
Maybe not a book for the experts here, but my Wife who has up to now shown zero interest in any historical subject purchased it and discovering that it does interest her after all. It might be for the masses , but if people show an interest in learning anything about their Nations History it seems a positive, even if there are some inaccuracies .
Slept through History class? Yeah, I know of many people over the years that expressed that History class was awful but it's all how it's presented to the students.Dull , boring dates and dead people.Who cares?
In High School We spent about 2 days on the subject of the American Civil War and a month on Mao and the Cultural Revolution!:(
FUBar
 
I read somewhere that the average American spends about 8 hours a day watching TV. If you figure they sleep an equal number of hours and also go to work or school, that about does it. So it's a minor miracle if they read anything. Particularly in the age of cell phones and video games.
 
Fubar said:
Maybe not a book for the experts here, but my Wife who has up to now shown zero interest in any historical subject purchased it and discovering that it does interest her after all. It might be for the masses , but if people show an interest in learning anything about their Nations History it seems a positive, even if there are some inaccuracies .
Slept through History class? Yeah, I know of many people over the years that expressed that History class was awful but it's all how it's presented to the students.Dull , boring dates and dead people.Who cares?
In High School We spent about 2 days on the subject of the American Civil War and a month on Mao and the Cultural Revolution!:(
FUBar
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The presentation in HS and down is key, as is the knowledge of the teacher. If either are inadequate, the student will find something else to do. I got sent to the principal's office during 9th grade history. The course finally got to the ACW, and the teacher was hopeless, just dates and names. I got tossed for correcting the mistakes and asking about this or that on a non-stop basis. I guess I was causing a distraction, but he got the dates for Gettysburg wrong, for crying out loud! It wasn't much of a history class.:rolleyes2: -- Al
 
jazzeum said:
For a contrary view from an expert, please see the review by Professor Leonard. By the way I mistake, she is Professor of History at Colby College, not Columbia.
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Brad, read the review and I stand by my comments. THe movie did put a "slant" on some aspects of the story, as the professor claims. What movie, especially historical based, does not? Most historians don't agree on the level of complicity of Mary Surratt. THe movie does portray events from which one may at least suspect her guilty. And, as others point out, the movie may bring people an introduction to something they missed in school. Same can be said for the generally panned film "Pearl Harbor." I found Conspirator a plausible depiction of events. Again, IMO.

The book does the same thing, brings history to those who otherwise have not been educated of those momentous issues in our country's past. I found it rather simplistic, but that's only my perspective. If others enjoy, great, the book served its purpose. Chris
 
Funny that I found out that my 7th Grade History teacher was engrossing us all with lessons taken from historical novels! The Iron Mistress about Jim Bowie was one of them. The teacher's lesson on the Alamo and San Jacinto was blood curdling! Later the teacher pulled out a toy cap firing Derringer at the end of his lesson on the Lincoln assassination. We jumped!
 
Chris,

About the only good thing we can say about the book and the movie is that it might draw people in. She also made the point, about the movie, that the facts are so interesting that Hollywood doesn't need to dress it up but that's what Hollywood does.

She went more into the movie during her appearance on the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop on Saturday. If you go to Virtual Book Signing, you should be able to see her comments in a few days. All author appearances, which relate to the Civil War, are archived. The link is http://www.virtualbooksigning.net and go to the archives. The latest program they have is with Amanda Foreman.

Brad
 
Scott said:
Funny that I found out that my 7th Grade History teacher was engrossing us all with lessons taken from historical novels! The Iron Mistress about Jim Bowie was one of them. The teacher's lesson on the Alamo and San Jacinto was blood curdling! Later the teacher pulled out a toy cap firing Derringer at the end of his lesson on the Lincoln assassination. We jumped!
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I tried watching a movie last night called "The Last Command" about Jim Bowie. It was horrible in a way that only 1950's movies can be. I fell asleep about 10 minutes after it started but it's interesting to compare the various actors who play these roles and how they form our impression of the actual participants and events.
 
Scott said:
Funny that I found out that my 7th Grade History teacher was engrossing us all with lessons taken from historical novels! The Iron Mistress about Jim Bowie was one of them. The teacher's lesson on the Alamo and San Jacinto was blood curdling! Later the teacher pulled out a toy cap firing Derringer at the end of his lesson on the Lincoln assassination. We jumped!
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She'd probably be arrested today and sued by the parents. :rolleyes2:
 
Combat said:
Probably the best publicity he could ask for. In most cases, when a book is banned the sales jump. This is written largely for the masses. I don't mean that as an insult, just that many people who don't read a lot of history might pick this up because O'Reilly's name is on the cover (and I bet he wrote very little of it). It's not intended to be a serious history as there are several recent and very good books on the subject that more serious readers would buy.
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I am interested in reading up on this. Coudl you, Brad or Scott perhaps list some recent good books on the assasination of President Lincoln.
Thanks in advance
 
Damian,

The Steers book, Blood on the Moon, is considered the best. If you're going to read only one book, this is the one. Another good one is William Hanchett's The Lincoln Murder Conspiracies.

James Swanson, a huge Lincoln fan, has written some very well received books.

I will try to think of some others but I would go with the Steers book.

Brad
 
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