O'Reilly, Bill, and Martin Dugard. Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever. New York: Henry Holt and, 2011. Print.

Killing Lincoln is a book written by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard. The information about Martin Dugard on his website says that he is a running enthusiast and a successful cross country coach. He has written several novels on his own, as well as co-authored books with Bill O’Reilly and James Patterson. Bill O’Reilly is much more well known as a talk show host for FOX. Before his success in television O’Reilly was a high school history teacher, which could explain his background for writing a book like this. Of the two, O’Reilly would certainly have the resources to do extensive research to write a historically accurate book. Before the prologue, O’Reilly gives a note to the readers. He gives two key reasons as to why he is writing this book. The first is, “You will learn much in these pages, and the experience, I believe, will advance your understanding of our country, and how Lincoln’s murder changed it forever,” and the second is, “For those of us that want to improve the United States and keep it the greatest nation in the world, we must be aware of the true heroes who have made the country great as well as the villains who have besmirched it” (p 1-2). This is the purpose of the book and I feel that this is what O’Reilly is intending, so there does not seem to be any main thesis that he is arguing to prove. In my own words, I would say the purpose of this book is to give an exciting and readable retelling of the events before, during and after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, so that people who do not care all that much for reading boring, factual non-fiction could also experience and learn about this important time in our nation’s history. The way the book is structured makes it organized and easier to read. He has the book split into 4 parts that focus on different points in time during the last few weeks of Lincoln’s life. It also has relatively short chapters in each of these 4 parts that help to make for a quicker read. O’Reilly is writing in the present tense, and in a more informal way than a normal historic non-fiction. In his note to the readers he states that this book is written as a thriller, which I do believe he accomplishes by getting into the thoughts and emotions of each character rather than just stating the facts. Overall the structure and writing style make this 336 page book read quickly and enjoyably. O’Reilly starts off with his first section being called “Total War.” This part of the book begins on April 1, 1865 which is two weeks before Lincoln is killed. In this sections he covers the ending of the civil war, and the final battles between General Robert E. Lee and General Ulysses S. Grant. He also credits some of the other significant players in these last battles, such as Sheridan, Custer, and Longstreet. Instead of just giving facts about these battles, O’Reilly gives us a possible insight into what these soldiers were thinking and feeling towards the end of the war. During this first part of the novel, the author is intentionally foreshadowing the death of lincoln by showing that Lincoln would refuse extra security, and would even do things by himself. He almost seemed to know that he was going to be killed, and just refused to be afraid of it. The second part of this novel picks up in Washington D.C after the war has been declared over. This part is called “The Ides of Death.” Lincoln is focused on repairing the nation after this devastating war. Lincoln, who is widely considered a great speaker gives a speech that is somber and factual, not gripping and emotional like he usually gives. This section of the book is focused on Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth, and their thoughts and actions after the war. Booth originally planned to kidnap Lincoln and not engage in “Black Flag” warfare, which would have meant killing the president. Eventually though, his hatred for Lincoln becomes too strong, and the confederate cause seems almost completely lost, so Booth decides that assassination is the only course of action that remains available to him. “The Long Good Friday” covers the span of time between April 14, until Lincoln is pronounced dead on April 15. This is a part of the book that has some parts of the conspiracy that will probably never be fully understood. There are guards that are not at their post, and bridges being left open that should not have been. The same theme persists here that Lincoln knows that he will not live until the end of his second term, but he probably did not expect that killer to come so soon. This section ends with a famous quote by Edwin Stanton after the silver coins had been placed over Lincoln’s eyes. He said, “Now he belongs to the ages” (232). Part four of the book is called “The Chase,” and covers the time after Booth has shot Lincoln on April 14 until he is killed at Garret Farm on April 26. This section covers the chase of John Wilkes Booth down through Virginia, as well as the capture of some of the other known conspirators, including Mary Surratt. O’Reilly spends a lot of time in Booth’s head, trying to pick apart his thoughts as he was fleeing for his life. One thing in particular that I enjoy is that O’Reilly spends a little bit of time presenting possible conspiracies, that have not been and may never be proven true. I think one of the more intriguing conspiracies is that surrounding Edwin Stanton and Lafayette Baker as having a part in the assassination. O’Reilly presents some more information on their possible involvement in the plot during his afterword, where he addresses the lives of some of the more central characters to the book. He talks about a possible hidden message in an article that Lafayette Baker wrote in England that could have indicted Stanton and Baker. There has been no solid evidence to prove this conspiracy, but it is interesting nonetheless. I like that O’Reilly is bold enough to address these conspiracies, although he does not give them any merit without research to back them up. One thing that is certain though is that Stanton and Baker both had possession of the Booth diary, and then the diary disappeared. Things like this make me really wonder what all we do not actually know about April 15, 1865. I think that Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard set out to complete a very specific task with this book and that they have succeeded in doing so. In November of 2011 there was a big fuss going on about some of the inaccuracies in the book. It was so bad that certain tourist sites including Ford’s Theater had decided not to sell the book. While I do believe that having all of the facts straight is very important for anyone writing a novel, I do not believe that having a few inaccuracies detracts from the overall purpose of this book. I think that the people criticizing O’Reilly’s work were biased because of their opinions of him, and did not take into consideration what was really trying to be accomplished here. Although there is no way for O’Reilly to really know what was going on in these people’s heads during this time, It provides a different experience for the reader to have an idea of the thoughts and emotions of the characters. The book is very detailed but remains fast-paced and exciting. It is safe to say that O’Reilly has succeeded in writing a historical thriller. I am not going to say that this book should be the authority on the Lincoln assassination, because there are so many other books out there that only deal with the factual side of this event. I would say that this book should be read more as an introduction to the broad spectrum of writings surrounding the civil war. If this book had been written with the purpose of being a fully factual discussion of the events surrounding the Lincoln assassination, I would say that they failed. But, because of the style of the book and the way it was written, I am confident that this was not the intention of the authors, and should not be critiqued in the way that some people have done. I personally enjoyed reading the book, and am interested in reading some of the other works by O’Reilly and Dugard.