john willings booth action team. he served in the federal government for a long time.uring the civil war. his role as judge was extremely significant to lincoln. his support for lincoln's policy is very important. and the story has been lost. so i thought it was time somebody brought that story to light. >> what did you learn about him? an interest going in. through the process what did you learn about him that most interested you? >> well, i knew from very early on in my acquaint yens with judge holt as a history -- in connection with with the first book where i was studying women's involvement in the civil war, and he appeared as someone who issued a legal brief from the administration that made sure that one of the women i was studying was not allowed to continue working for the federal government as a doctor. and i was very angry at him. and i knew he was very a complicated and powerful figure. the more i studied him, the more i found that he was even more complicated than i had realized. a very interesting, wise, thoughtful, prickly, difficult, challenging figure