Booth by Karen Joy Fowler

April 7, 2022

Booth by Karen Joy Fowler

In 1822, the Booth family (yes, the parents and siblings of John Wilkes Booth) moved to a farm in a remote area of Maryland. There would eventually be ten children. Father Junius was a renowned Shakespearean actor who traveled frequently for his work, and has both a remarkable talent and terrifying instability. As the country draws closer to war, the Booth family side with the Union, which makes Wilkes' radical politics all the more disturbing (he was called Wilkes by his family and friends). When Wilkes executes his deadly conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln, his mother and siblings are left to deal with the aftermath.

The Booth acting dynasty was forever tarnished by John Wilkes Booth's actions, completely overshadowing their contributions to American theater. The storyline is about the Booth family and told by them, rather than about Wilkes himself, and narrative is ultimately about family, even with that family is left to pick up the pieces after a national tragedy.

Junius Booth and his son Edwin

In the Houses of Their Dead: the Lincolns, the Booths and the Spirits by Terry Alford

September 12, 2022

In the Houses of Their Dead: the Lincolns, the Booths, and the Spirits by Terry Alford

Two of the most famous families in the 19th century, the Lincolns and the Booths, were both fascinated by spiritualism. Although Abraham Lincoln saw John Wilkes Booth act on a number of occasions, the two men never met personally, although John Wilkes and his brother Edwin both came in contact with Lincoln's sons. Ironically, the two men had much in common: both adored their mothers but had difficult relationships with their fathers; they loved children; they got along well with other men but were uncomfortable with women; they enjoyed poetry and theater, particularly Shakespeare; neither had much formal education and were largely self-educated; and both were ambitious in their chosen professions. For a time, their families even consulted the same medium.

Mary Todd Lincoln had always been drawn to the spirit world and tended to surround herself with like-minded individuals. After the death of her son Willie, she spent most of her time with mediums, spirit photographers, and clairvoyants. Abraham was more skeptical but went along with Mary's visitors, since she could be very difficult to live with. Many who held government posts were firm believers, and Lincoln even helped several spiritualists obtain government jobs. John Wilkes' brother Edwin frequently consulted mediums to contact the spirit of his beloved first wife, Mary Devlin.

Lately I've had a lot of fantasy, sci fi, and dystopian books come in, so I needed something different as a kind of mental sorbet. I decided to try Terry Alford's study of the Lincoln and Booth families' fascination with spiritualism. This was exactly what I needed. I knew something about the practice of spiritualism (mostly that they were all charlatans) but I had no idea that the practice was so widespread. The author discusses how the practitioners carried out their effects and fooled so many people. Very readable and entertaining.

Seances in the 19th century were often a family affair