LINCOLN AND BOOTH - two men on a collision course, a fate that changed the character of the world for all time. A person cannot understand the death of Lincoln without knowing someone of the life of Booth, and Booth himself would have little meaning to history if not for the life of Lincoln. It is only fitting that biographies of both be published together. This does not suggest that John Wilkes Booth has a reputation, important, or value to history equal to that of the 16th President - but, as the facts of his life are lesser known, he needs to be described. Stephenson's biography of Lincoln is not perfect - some of his conclusions don't match the objective view of the evidence looking back over the decades. Still his personal attachment to the subject and his access to materials that have been since lost to time, make his a valuable addition to our knowledge of the 16th - and perhaps greatest - president.
THE LIFE, CRIME, AND CAPTURE OF JOHN WILKES BOOTH: "The time will come when remarkable incidents of these our times will be a staple of as great curiosity as the issue of Waterloo. It is an incident without a precedent on this side of the globe, and never to be repeated.
"Assassination has made its last effort to become indigenous here. The public sentiment of Loyalist and Rebel has denounced it: the world has remarked it with uplifted hands and words of execration. Therefore, as long as history shall hold good, the murder of the President will be a theme for poesy, romance and tragedy. We who live in this consecrated time keep the sacred souvenirs of Mr. Lincoln's death in our possession; and the best of these are the news letters descriptive of his apotheosis, and the fate of the conspirators who slew him.
"I represented the World newspaper at Washington during the whole of those exciting weeks, and wrote their occurrences fresh from the mouths of the actors."
