Nicholas J.C. Pistor's Shooting Lincoln is the story of two pioneers of photography. Matthew Brady and Alexander Gardner began as employer and employee and turned into rivals. The book deals with a variety of topics. It is as much about the Civil War as it is photography and Lincoln. The book is interesting but was a slow read. It covered so many topics including the start of photography in America, Civil War battles, Lincoln's assassination, manhunt for Booth, and the years after the war. I would have enjoyed it more if the story had been more focused. Overall it is a good book for anyone interested in Civil War era history.

Whilst I do not know a lot about photography method from days gone by, I found this to be an interesting book. The author went to great lengths to ensure that the reader understood the different types of photography back then and the plight of the photographers as well.

This book is partly about the life and death of Lincoln and partly about the photographers. There were some areas that came off as a bit dry and technical but other parts of the book were really interesting and drew me in as a reader. I liked learning about the pressures places on those behind the camera and how things changed for them after the assassination of the president.

Overall, this was an interesting look at how things used to be done that I would recommend to others who are interested in Lincoln and photography.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

I received a free Kindle copy of Shooting Lincoln by Nicholas Pistor courtesy of Net Galley and DeCapo Press  the publisher. It was with the understanding that I would post a review to Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and my history book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google Plus pages.

I requested this book as the description sounded very interesting and I have read a great deal about Abraham Lincoln. It is the first book by the Nicholas Pistor that I have read.

The subtitle of the book: Mathew Brady, Alexander Gardner and the Race to Photograph the Story of the Century partially tells the story contained in the book. When the author focuses on the main theme the book is good. The problem is that large sections of the book deal with what was going on in the civil war and there are several other books out there that do a much better job than this one.

Pistor does a very good job of presenting the background on Brady and Gardner and the reasons for their split.

I recommend this book if you have not read a great deal about Lincoln or the Civil War. If you have I would recommend skipping over the parts that do not deal directly with the two main characters on which the book is based.

Shooting Lincoln is a misleading title to this book. It is not part of the canon of the assassination of President Lincoln, rather it is a book about photographs of the era and the reflection these photographs offer of the society in which they were taken.
It is an interesting book with a few original theories about Lincoln's assassination (one chapter only) and the hanging of the people found guilty of conspiring to kill Lincoln.

Matthew Brady and Alexander Gardner were the new media moguls of their day. Together they brought the Civil War and all of its terrible suffering into Northern living rooms. Newspapers sold out when they ran their photos, and, by the end of the war, they were locked in fierce competition. When the biggest story of the century-Lincoln's assassination-broke, their paparazzi-like race intensified. Whoever could take the most sensational-or ghastly-photo would achieve lasting fame.

Shooting Lincoln tells the astonishing behind-the-photograph story of these two media pioneers who raced to "shoot" Lincoln in the days after he died and the assassins on the day they died. The photos they took electrified the country, unlocking the passion of Americans for close-up views of history as it happened.

What I thought of it
Boring, dull, and dry, . Doesn't pull you in to the story, the aspect of the book was and is a good idea but it's not my cup of tea, and I love to read non fiction, but this book won't be finding it's way on to either my book shelf or Kindle books ,with that said I would like to say thinks to NetGalley for at least giving me a chance to read it even if I did ended up DNF it

This was a really interesting look at the role of photography during the time of Lincoln's assassination. At times, it read more like a history book looking more at Lincoln and Booth and the assassination plot and at others it reads more like a in depth analysis of the role of photography. I found the Wanted Posters section really interesting as it had never occurred to me. Living in today's culture and society, when wanted posters are mostly seen on television, the role of rudimentary photography had never occurred to me.
This book specializes in the rivalry between Matthew Brady and Alexander Gardner which was really interesting. I would compare it to the rivalry between Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison for the growing media industry.

The book itself was just fascinating, and the way it showed the media's influence on the public's opinion was amazing.

A very nice exploration of this aspect of Civil War history. It sheds some much needed light on the growth of photography and how it affected the perception of the times. Given today's environment I am not that taken with the title though.

I am a huge history lover, so I was very excited to find Shooting Lincoln. I like to read different author's views on Lincoln, just because everyone has such different views. So, like I said, I was excited. Shooting Lincoln was very well written, informative, and gripping. It gave a different view of the shooting, and I thought that was really great. I would definitely recommend this book!

This is a fascinating look at a little known aspect of a pivotal time in United States history. It humanizes its characters and gives you a glimpse into what life was like at that time. I highly recommend it.