American Gothic
The Story of Ameica's Legendary Theatrical Family--Junius, Edwin, and John Wilkes Booth
by Gene Smith
Pub Date
Description
The dramatic biography of one of the most notorious families in American history.
Junius Booth and his sons, Edwin and John Wilkes, were nineteenth-century America’s most famous theatrical family. Yet the Booth name is forever etched in the history books for one terrible reason: the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865.
In American Gothic, bestselling historian Gene Smith vividly chronicles the triumphs, scandals, and tragedies of this infamous family. The preeminent English tragedian of his day, Junius Booth was a madman and an alcoholic who abandoned his wife and young son to move to America and start a new family. His son Edwin became the most renowned Shakespearean actor in America, famously playing Hamlet for one hundred consecutive nights, but he suffered from depression and a crippling fear of inheriting his father’s insanity.
Blessed with extraordinary good looks and a gregarious nature, John Wilkes Booth seemed destined for spectacular fame and fortune. However, his sympathy for the Confederate cause unleashed a dangerous instability that brought permanent disgrace to his family and forever changed the course of American history.
Richly detailed and emotionally insightful, American Gothic is a “ripping good tale” that brings to life the true story behind a family tragedy of Shakespearean proportions (The New York Times).
Junius Booth and his sons, Edwin and John Wilkes, were nineteenth-century America’s most famous theatrical family. Yet the Booth name is forever etched in the history books for one terrible reason: the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865.
In American Gothic, bestselling historian Gene Smith vividly chronicles the triumphs, scandals, and tragedies of this infamous family. The preeminent English tragedian of his day, Junius Booth was a madman and an alcoholic who abandoned his wife and young son to move to America and start a new family. His son Edwin became the most renowned Shakespearean actor in America, famously playing Hamlet for one hundred consecutive nights, but he suffered from depression and a crippling fear of inheriting his father’s insanity.
Blessed with extraordinary good looks and a gregarious nature, John Wilkes Booth seemed destined for spectacular fame and fortune. However, his sympathy for the Confederate cause unleashed a dangerous instability that brought permanent disgrace to his family and forever changed the course of American history.
Richly detailed and emotionally insightful, American Gothic is a “ripping good tale” that brings to life the true story behind a family tragedy of Shakespearean proportions (The New York Times).
Advance Praise
“A ripping good tale . . . You can’t put the book down.” —The New York Times
“A master of the revealing anecdote . . . Smith is scrupulous and moving.” —Los Angeles Times
“[Smith] does justice to lively show-business stories as well as to the melodrama of John’s deed and his wretched death.” —The New Yorker
“Exemplary scholarship and deep feelings shape this portrait of the Booth family. . . . In vivid detail, Smith reveals the murder’s dreadful impact on the Booths and numerous others, mostly innocent victims of a tragedy Shakespeare might have written.” —Publishers Weekly
“Artful . . . In describing Edwin Booth’s performances . . . [Smith] succeeds as well as anyone in capturing the evanescent art of an actor whose efforts were never recorded by motion pictures and whose voice survives only on a scratchy, century-old wax cylinder.” —The Baltimore Sun
“A master of the revealing anecdote . . . Smith is scrupulous and moving.” —Los Angeles Times
“[Smith] does justice to lively show-business stories as well as to the melodrama of John’s deed and his wretched death.” —The New Yorker
“Exemplary scholarship and deep feelings shape this portrait of the Booth family. . . . In vivid detail, Smith reveals the murder’s dreadful impact on the Booths and numerous others, mostly innocent victims of a tragedy Shakespeare might have written.” —Publishers Weekly
“Artful . . . In describing Edwin Booth’s performances . . . [Smith] succeeds as well as anyone in capturing the evanescent art of an actor whose efforts were never recorded by motion pictures and whose voice survives only on a scratchy, century-old wax cylinder.” —The Baltimore Sun
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781504039765 |
| PRICE | |
Available on NetGalley
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