{"product_id":"my-thoughts-be-bloody-9781416586067","title":"My Thoughts Be Bloody","description":"\u003cb\u003eHistorian Nora Titone takes a fresh look at the strange and startling history of the Booth brothers, answering the question of why one became the nineteenth-century's brightest, most beloved star, and the other became the most notorious assassin in American history.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe scene\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eof John Wilkes Booth shooting Abraham Lincoln in Ford's Theatre is among the most vivid and indelible images in American history. The literal story of what happened on April 14, 1865, is familiar: Lincoln was killed by John Wilkes Booth, a lunatic enraged by the Union victory and the prospect of black citizenship. Yet who Booth really was--besides a killer--is less well known. The magnitude of his crime has obscured for generations a startling personal story that was integral to his motivation. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eMy Thoughts Be Bloody, \u003c\/i\u003ea sweeping family saga, revives an extraordinary figure whose name has been missing, until now, from the story of President Lincoln's death. Edwin Booth, John Wilkes's older brother by four years, was in his day the biggest star of the American stage. Without an account of Edwin Booth, author Nora Titone argues, the real story of Lincoln's assassin has never been told. Using an array of private letters, diaries, and reminiscences of the Booth family, Titone has uncovered a hidden history that reveals the reasons why John Wilkes Booth became this country's most notorious assassin. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe details of the conspiracy to kill Lincoln have been well documented elsewhere. \u003ci\u003eMy Thoughts Be Bloody \u003c\/i\u003etells a new story, one that explains for the first time why Lincoln's assassin decided to conspire against the president in the first place, and sets that decision in the context of a bitterly divided family--and nation. By the end of this riveting journey, readers will see Abraham Lincoln's death less as the result of the war between the North and South and more as the climax of a dark struggle between two brothers who never wore the uniform of soldiers, except on stage.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNora Titone studied American History and Literature as an undergraduate at Harvard University, and earned an M.A. in History at the University of California, Berkeley. She has worked as a historical researcher for a range of academics, writers and artists involved in projects about nineteenth-century America. She lives in Chicago and this is her first book. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDoris Kearns Goodwin's work for President Johnson inspired her career as a presidential historian. Her first book was \u003ci\u003eLyndon Johnson and the American Dream\u003c\/i\u003e. She followed up with the Pulitzer Prize-winning \u003ci\u003eNo Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Homefront in World War II. \u003c\/i\u003eShe earned the Lincoln Prize for \u003ci\u003eTeam of Rivals\u003c\/i\u003e, in part the basis for Steven Spielberg's film \u003ci\u003eLincoln\u003c\/i\u003e, and the Carnegie Medal for \u003ci\u003eThe Bully Pulpit\u003c\/i\u003e, about the friendship between Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. Her bestselling \u003ci\u003eLeadership: In Turbulent Times \u003c\/i\u003ewas the inspiration for the History Channel docuseries on Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin Roosevelt, which she executive produced. Her most recent book, \u003ci\u003eAn Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s\u003c\/i\u003e, provides a front-row seat to the pivotal people--JFK, LBJ, RFK and MLK--and events of this momentous decade.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Free Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50676207616274,"sku":"9781416586067","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_811930e8-e024-4bad-9df6-7077ac29e508.jpg?v=1733877344","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/my-thoughts-be-bloody-9781416586067","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}