Comments on: Book Club: Manhunt by James L. Swanson

By: progressiveinsurance

progressiveinsurance — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 06:46:47 +0000

Sounds good.

By: Kit

Kit — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:57:20 +0000

Daniel,

Never have heard of it.

There was a book I read in the 7th or 8th grade called “When they came to arrest the book” which is a fictionalized account of HUCK FINN being banned at a school. The book is about as anti-censorship as you can get- and preachy.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:39:26 +0000

Kit, have you heard about a new book titled, “My Jim”?

The Seattle Public Library was promoting this book, big time, as something of a corrective to to be taught alongside Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. I haven’t read “My Jim” nor did I go to any of the SPL events concerning the book (which involved pondering the question if Huck Finn should banned), but I do wonder at the attention “My Jim” is getting. Huck Finn was published in 1884, and continues to be read by folks 125 years after its publication date. I wonder if anyone will care about “My Jim” in 2134, or will they look at it as just another example of the politically correct insanity that infected the late 20th & early 21st centuries.

By: Kit

Kit — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:22:27 +0000

Sounds good.

I plan on reading the following, by the way.
(1) KILLER ANGELS (In the process)
(2) TOM SAWYER
(3) MORTE D’ARTHUR

By: thud

thud — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:10:38 +0000

Sounds good…I’ll give it a whirl .

By: Scott M.

Scott M. — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:46:53 +0000

By the way,Blackhawk,good luck on your exams

By: Scott M.

Scott M. — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:40:55 +0000

Johnson’s firing of Stanton as S of War was one of the pretext for Johnson’s impeachment and trial.Congress had passed what was known as the Tenure of Office Act,which required Senate approval of any Cabinet dismissals(the SCOTUS later declared this law unconstitutional).

By: JohnFN

JohnFN — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:21:19 +0000

The book briefly touches on the Johnson dilemma, but it was something I wondered about myself in more detail. The book does say that Johnson basically relinquished all command to Stanton for the time being after Ford’s theater, meaning it was on Stanton’s shoulders to run the country, the war, the manhunt’s for Davis and Boothe, as well as plan the Presidential funeral and keep the country from falling apart – talk about a long day. With all this on his shoulders Stanton is definitely an understated American hero, at least in how Swanson portrays his actions, though Swanson was clearly not happy with how some of Boothe’s accomplices of incident ended up on the long end of short ropes.

More amazing, any competent assassin and Johnson would have been dead. He stayed in a public hotel with no guard. For some reason, Boothe choose George Atzerodt for the deed, and to say he was a failure would be an epic understatement. Atzerodt may be the worst assassin in history.

By: Scott M.

Scott M. — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:46:33 +0000

I’ve always wondered,John…suppose Andrew Johnson had been killed as well:who would have been President?

By: Floyd

Floyd — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:57:57 +0000

blackhawk… you should add Children of Men by P.D. James into the mix. The book is much deeper than the movie which used it as a anti-Bush, Bush is a fascist fantasy. James’ book is also a better cultural critique than the film — natch.