Weirdly Appropos

Strangely, soon after my shockingly limited knowledge of Lincoln's assasination was revealed on this very blog, we get this piece of timely news: Bill O'Reilly is writing a book about it!*

*About Lincoln's assasination, not my poor grasp of American history.

Obviously, Papa Bear has been reading my blog, and felt inspired to help a buddy out. I think I might actually have to read this:

Latest Abe Lincoln biographer? Bill O’Reilly
History book will take readers into mind of assassin John Wilkes Booth

The Fox News host and best-selling author is working on "Killing Lincoln," a history book that will take readers "into Ford's Theater and into the mind of Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth, and on the manhunt to find and bring to justice the killer of one our greatest presidents," according to a statement issued Thursday by Henry Holt and Company.

"Killing Lincoln" is scheduled to come out in the fall of 2011 and will be co-written by Martin Dugard, whose previous works include "The Training Ground," an account of the Mexican War and such future Civil War generals as Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee.

In a recent interview, O'Reilly said he got the idea after [reading a blog called Beebo] learning about Lafayette C. Baker, a 19th-century detective and spy who led the investigation into Lincoln's murder and helped track down Booth. Baker claimed later that he had possession of Booth's diary and that someone had "cut out eighteen leaves." Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, to whom Baker had turned over the diary, was accused of taking out the pages and was suspected of being involved in the assassination plot.

"The more I heard the more exciting and more interesting it became, and I said, 'Look, I can do a good book on this,'" said O'Reilly, who added that "Killing Lincoln" will also provide lessons "for today, for contemporary America, [and for Beebo and her history-impaired friends]" but declined to be more specific.

"I want to keep that as a surprise," he said. [He so is writing it for me.]

Many of O'Reilly's books, including "Culture Warrior" and "A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity" were published by the Random House Inc. imprint Broadway Books. But after his publisher at Broadway, Stephen Rubin, left to run Holt, a division of Macmillan, O'Reilly decided to work with Holt on the Lincoln biography.

"I know Steve will be able to publish this book in a very effective manner," said O'Reilly, who added that he had not made a long-term commitment to Holt or to any publisher.

Note: I found the illustration at a website about vintage dustjackets: "Yo maté a Lincoln a las 10:13 (Reus, 1964): The inevitable illustration for I Killed Lincoln at 10:13! shows the assassinated president right after Booth's fatal shot. Courtesy of Art Scott."