terry alford writes about john wilkes booth. how could you write about somebody who really did deserve the term infamous? preconceptions aside, booth has some good qualities. if he had been irredeemably evil i would not have been interested in spending a biographer's share of time with him. when he lost his balance at the end and committed murder he lost everything. kirstin downey, you should be the moderator of this. it is impossible to understand isabella without understanding europe was at war with aggressive islamic fundamentalism in the form of the ottoman turks, caliphate that employs slavery and sex slavery on a large scale, subdued neighboring nations. the turks had the biggest armory in the world and repeatedly demanded that they would seize all of europe. the turks invaded and seized most of southeastern europe, western europe was flooded with refugees. that sounds familiar, doesn't it? charlotte has written on april 12, 1955, the jonas salk vaccine could prevent polio, celebration erupted worldwide and joan assault be

>> including the huckleberry house where john wilkes booth hid out after killing lincoln.l be open on the tour. welcome. i think we recognize this dress. this was a dress of the time of abraham lincoln, 1865? >> it's a civil war civilian dress. it's the same costume that essentially john wilkes books was wearing when he assassinated lincoln. lots of dark colors. >> how did you get so interested? i know you were an histori teacher. how did you get so interested in what john wilkes booth did. >> no one could explain to me why anyone would want to kill him. you don't get in school how there was this big conspiracy and booth was this popular guy and did this terrible thing. i was interested in him and his story. >> and what's the significance of the huckleberry house? >> after wilkes fled to maryland, he went to dr. mud house where he got his leg set and then he hid out in southern maryland in charles county. and the man that helped him during that time was a man by the name of thomas jones and he lived in huckleberry house. >> and he turned down $100,000? that's a lot of mone

of photographs of and about crime ranging from portraits to news photos to the wanted poster for john wilkeser the lincoln assassination which was the 1st to use photographs. i wanted to get the perspective of a detective. we went to new york to take a look at this exhibit. >> from the 1850s, early 1860s, and it is portraits of different criminal types. >> profiling. >> being a curator for 20 years and develop the exhibit along with three colleagues. >> crime and photography have been so closely linked from the beginning, from the mid- 19th century onward. >> they have been together for quite a long time. i asked her why. >> people want to see pictures of criminals and violent crime. it is titillation. the excitement. it is partly a way of saying that is not me. >> the portrait of dick haycock. massacred the clutter family and kansas. >> i think that the way that he photographed him, this intense close-up of his features, supersharp. it is larger-than-life size. it invites the viewer to try to look into his eyes and figure out what made him commit such a brutal crime. >> my favorite photo is

>> when he linked him to john wilkes booth -- wait a minute?t of the line, the establishment -- they are not even giving him a chance. already saying not going. not endorsing. i'm skipping out that. to me feeds donald trump's argument that, you know, these guys are ridiculous. >> and i'm an outsider and i'm carrying your water and these guys don't know what you want and i'm your man. it all feeds his narrative. at the end of the day the republican party needs to guide him and handhold him and show him the way. >> by that definition hillary should put bernie on the ticket. >> no she doesn't need to put bernie on the ticket. but listen, you just made a very good point. >> it happens. >> -- as always. add guy that just said the full credit of the united states that's written on the dollar bill is no longer something he takes very seriously when he wants to renegotiate all these bonds. if your guy paul ryan for example, fiscally conservative. being on the ticket with someone like mitt romney, that is not toxic. being on a ticket with donald trump,

lincoln is at the play and is head by he back of the john wilkes booth in a small lead bullet. that bullet is actually on display here, and you can see it in that small glass globe. the bullet was recovered the next day at an autopsy performed at the white house. n the hours though, just hortly after lincoln is shot, the surgeon general, surgeon barnes, responds to the president's side. this is at the peteron's house from ly across the street ford's theater. barnes calls for something neoton probe, and we've noted that on the back of the display. thatdea with the probe was it would be threaded into the ound, with the idea that depending on how far into the wound the probe would go, might or tify where the fragment bullet was. they weren't able to do so. found later ey lodged behind lincoln's right eye. it was retained and made its way museum's holdings and is part of the exhibit we have on display. general barnes and army medical museum staff john woodward and another surgeon named edward curtis were at the president's bedside in the hours died, which was about 7:22 the next mo

it is the house where john wilkes booth was a teenager. there are homes or you can go and step into places where these events occurred. >> thank you all. i have to say, it is a great honor to have people come and listen to biographers talk about their craft and be interested in it, and it means a great deal to all of us who work in seclusion all these years. we appreciate your being here. [applause] >> you're watching book tv on c-span2, television for serious readers. here is a look at what is on prime time tonight. [inaudible conversations] >> hi, everybody. thank you so much for coming out. thank you so much for coming before we get started, a few housekeeping notes. if you take the time now to silence your cell phones. you have to turn it off. you can facebook and twitter and instagram. we would love for you to visit kramer .com. you can see all the great events. like tonight with steve olson with "eruption". in his book steve interweaves the history and science behind the eruption of mount saint helens in the account of what happened

assassination he doesn't describe it, it's one chapter in the marvelous history of the civil war era which john wilkes booth swearing he's going to kill lincoln after he makes a speech saying maybe we should allow african-americans to vote and it starts the next chapter with the aftermath of the assassination.e impact o one of the great dramatic moments of the civil war era isn completely off stage. it's a a powerful effect, it makes it more powerful. about t so i want to have the impact of little big horn there but i don't want to focus on it, don't want to get swallowed up by such a huge and important event and make my book about that, how do i do that? having it take place off stage is a way of saying yeb it's important and also saying i can never take you there. not only only is this book not about that, but it is such a complex and difficult to understand event so let's not even try, let's just show how american struggled with it. and. h and then lee people with an incomplete understanding because that is all we will ever have.ce >> there saying custer is a downer. but that is part of the unique

when they found out that john wilkes booth had killed lincoln, they were in double morning, the wholedwin boots estate off the stage for a long time and that kind of fell apart. >> how many of her works, either plays or poetry had her name on it at the time of their publication? >> that's an interesting question. let's see, i think by the end of her life probably several day because a lot of them were reprints and it was a collected poems and so on. in the early part of her life, the first two were anonymous and then they would published by the author of, sort of thing. by the end of her life they did have her name on them. sadly, and i think inevitably, the poetry really decline toward the end because after passion chevron really crackdown. any kind of growth that she was developing as a poet and i think she was basically really talented and gifted as a poet. i don't think she had any chance to develop that gift. she he really crackdown in terms of subject matter. she really did not know any poets, if if she had known emily dickinson, can you imagine what would've happened. longfello

john wilkes booth gasped and said that means citizenship. that is the last speech he will ever give. he tried to get the guy next to him to try to shoot lincoln on the spot and when he refused then i will do it and two days later he went to ford's theater. that set off the spark. we all know the story, the tragic story of what happened next. the republican party, devoted to voting rights act, more than the democrats in most of the country's history pushed through the 15th amendment to give voting rights to former slaves. there was a flowering of democracy in the south. turnout rates among african men in the south approached 90%, hundreds of african-americans served in congress or the legislature even as governor. but a violent response from the ku klux klan and cynical and cowardly deals pulling the army back to the barracks ended that. we know there was a brutal crackdown on voting in the south. it didn't happen right away but by the end. enfranchisement of african-americans. in the north similar things happened. the cities of the north wer

going to get in trouble again for repeating it, the greatest tragedy of the 19th century was of john wilkes booth's conspiracy against lincoln. the second greatest tragedy was the failure of his conspiracy against andrew johnson. [laughter] mr. smith: so much for andrew johnson. the point is, johnson, for a long time, was seen by historians who were themselves the pathetic to the south, who for years told us about the carpetbaggers and the like. well, now you have john tyler, who likewise benefited for a long time for his decisiveness or the leadership he showed upon torning the first president so learn that the president was dead. tyler wasted no time in asserting his belief that he was he was notpresident, caretaker president, he was president of the united states, and he let harrison's cabinet no and he basically bullied his way through. and ever since, historians have recognized him and by and large, admired him for his show of force, if you will. that does not excuse him from the fact that from then on, it was all downhill. , to bentury presidents sure, were judged more as administrato

john wilkes booth, he said that means citizenship. that is the last speech people ever do. he tried to get the guy standing next them to shoot lincoln on the spot. when the man refused he said well then, i'll do it. two days later he went to forge the. that's what set off the sport. we all know the story, the tragic story of what happened next. the republican party devoted to voting rights as has been with the democrats through most of the country's history, pushed through the 15th amendment to give voting rights to the former slaves. it was a flowering of democracy in the south. are not rates among african-american men in the south approached 90%. hundreds of african-americans served in congress or legislatures even as governor. but a violent response from the ku klux klan and cynical and cowardly deals pulling the army back to barracks into debt. we know of course that was a brutal crackdown on voting in the south. it didn't happen right away but by the end of the 19th century it had erased the gains in almost entire disenfranchisement of african-americans. and in the nor

dtq ásjá$totxdxd with sirt((é@ and 0lcruz's dad did john wilke booth's taxes. >> mcgurt has been a trump gutfeld. do you have mixed emotions? >> i'm deeply distraught, bill. i don't know what i'll do with control her e-mails and trump gets all of his information from forwarded e-mails from cat ladies. m allç!zez hisÑi information lqhe doesn't dook any research. but he proves one important fact. he can get away with anything. think he's going to shoot m(5k prove that in the next couple od months. >> i don't. i thj you'll be real surprised about the pivot donó,u)umpfá takes. >> pivot is a good word. is he going to pivot to be presidential deshle1 or to alex jones? p. >> he's going try to build thee coalition of dissatisfied democrats, independents and÷ tr to woo the republicant( establishment through the appointments of thef ]eople i justc mentioned, mxdcguirk. >> absolutely. >> you're praying for that. have to unify the republican party. hillary clinton will do it for them. that's a fact. the only per#w clinton'sxd indictment more tha ñ -- he'll unite the party. feelings are hurt. people

edwin booth who lived in boston and went to almost all his performances and when they found out john wilkesed lincoln they were in double morning. the whole town collapsed, edwin booth stayed off the stage for a long time and that fell apart. >> how many of her works, plays or poetry, had her name on it at the time of their publication? >> interesting question. by the end of her life probably several did because a lot of them were reprints, collected poems and so on. in the early part of her life, the first two were anonymous and then they would be published by the author of sort of thing. by the end of her life they did have her name, and sadly and i think inevitably the poetry declined towards the end because after passionflower's she really cracked down. any kind of growth she was developing as a poet, i think she was really talented and gifted but i don't think she had any chance to develop that gift. he really cracked down in terms of subject matter and she really didn't know any poets. if she had known emily dickinson imagine what might have happened. the poets she knew, longfellow, f

when they found out that john wilkes booth had killed lincoln, they were in double morning.d edwin boots estate off the stage for a long time and that kind of fell apart. >> i was wondering how many of her works, either plays or poetry had her name on it at the time of their publication. >> i think by the end of her life probably several day because a lot of them were brief prints and they were to be collected, in the early part of her life, the first two were anonymous, then then they would be published by the author of sort of thing. but by the the end of their life they didn't have her name on it and sadly, and i think inevitably, the poor tree really decline toward the end, after passion flowers chevrolet crackdown, any kind of growth that she was developing as a poet and i think she was talented and gifted as a poet but i don't think she had any chance to develop that gift, he really crackdown in terms of said strict matter. she really did not know any poets, if she had known emily dickinson, can you imagine what might've happened. the point she knew, longfellow, whitti

he has -- ended one chapter in this marvelous hoyt of the civil war era, we john wilkes booth sayinge is going to kill lincoln after he makes a speech saying maybe we should allow african-americans to vote, and starts the next chapter with the aftermath of the assassination, so one of the great dramatic moments over the civil war era is off stage, and makes it more powerful, and i thought i want to have the impact of the little big horn there but i don't want to focus on it. i don't want to get swallowed up by huge and important event and make my book about that. how die do senate? so having it take place offstage was back way of both say, yes, it's important, but also you can -- i can never take you not only is this book not about that but it's such a complex event so let's not try. let's show how americans struggled with and it then leave people with an incomplete understanding because that's all we'll ever have. >> i can almost see a movie producer, why other do we want to do cust center everybody knows how its end and