Staff Recommendation - Good Brother, Bad Brother

Good Brother, Bad Brother: The Story of Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth
by James Cross Giblin [jB B6439]

Truth is stranger than fiction in this very complete work by Giblin. The author goes well beyond the cursory history book summary of the Wilkes family and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, exposing nine people in the plot against him. Many of the sources he uses are handwritten correspondences between the major players in this true drama. Much of the text is brought to life with photographs, paintings, and playbills. Giblin orchestrates his writing in such a way as to give a clear picture of the chronology of events. The reader gets to know Junius Brutus Booth and his sons well enough that they must be viewed as the real people they were, rather than textbook villains. The power of his story was such that I was fascinated to locate Edwin Booth's voice on the internet, as recorded onto Thomas Edison's new invention, the phonograph. A wonderful resource for grades 6 and up. -- recommended by Kay V. - Bennett Martin Public Library - Youth Services

[ official Good Brother, Bad Brother web site ] [ Publisher's page for James Cross Giblin ]

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