This is the fifth book I've read about John Wilkes Booth including My Thoughts be Bloody about the rivalry between John Wilkes and his brother Edwin.
This book focuses on the Lincoln assassination and its aftermath. I was most interested in Kaufman's accounts of the investigations and trials of the conspirators.
Of course, investigative methods of the 1860s were primitive compared to those of today. But the investigations were sloppy regardless of the era. There was competition rather than cooperation and coordination among the various investigators. Detectives' notes were sloppy and fragmented; evidence was lost.
The trial was held by a military commission whose members initially focused on attempting to tie Booth's actions to Confederate officials. The lead prosecutor was also the commission's legal advisor--conflict of interest much? The defendants had trouble obtaining legal counsel and the counsel once obtained had insufficient time to prepare. The government made all the rules and changed them at will. Testimony was taken behind closed doors. Evidence was withheld from defense attorneys, and some prosecution witnesses were outright lying.
I liked this description of the aftermath of the assassination. "Like a slow-burning flame, awareness of the shooting built momentum as it swept through the house, and the audience, at first at a low simmer, started to boil."
American Brutus is a fascinating, in-depth account of a tragic era of American history--another book I wish I could discuss with my father.
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