Terry Alford's "In the Houses of Their Dead" offers a unique perspective on the intertwined fates of the Lincoln and Booth families, exploring the fascinating intersection of their lives through the lens of Spiritualism. Alford delves into the historical context of the mid-19th century United States, painting a vivid picture of the social, cultural, and spiritual landscape of the time.

At the heart of the narrative lies Abraham Lincoln's fascination with Spiritualism—a belief system that held that the dead could be contacted by the living. Despite Lincoln's reputation as a rational and empirically-minded individual, Alford reveals the president's deep superstitious beliefs and his reliance on Spiritualism for solace in the face of personal tragedies. Through meticulous research, Alford uncovers the connections between the Lincolns and the Booths, both of whom sought comfort and guidance from the same mediums and spiritual practices.

The most important aspect of the book for me was the portrait of John Wilkes Booth's father, Junius Brutus Booth. He seems to have been a narcissist and alcoholic who wreaked havoc in the lives of the women he married (and didn't marry), as well as the 12(!) children he failed to support. His excessive grief over the death of his children is quite disturbing. Not that it excuses what John did later, but it makes his character more understandable.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

I really wanted to love this book but I had a hard time getting into it. From the description, the book is marketed as the first about Lincoln “to focus on the president’s fascination with Spiritualism, and to demonstrate how it linked him, uncannily, to the man who would kill him.” It is well-written and clearly well-researched but it has little detail about each of *their connections* to spiritualism. It includes family members’ involvements such as Mary Lincoln's participation in seances.

A lovely piece of narrative nonfiction that attempts to further entwine the fates of the Lincoln and Booth families through the practice of Spiritualism.

Three cheers for the structure of this book, which is an excellent example of the right way to do narrative nonfiction in the History genre. The pacing and design make the book read like a novel without sacrificing the conveyance of accurate and detailed information.

As a narrative biography of both families, the text is excellent. It’s a great refresher and fleshing out of details for those who are already knowledgeable about the era and easily digestible for those who only know the basics.

The attempt to tie in spiritualism was less successful, though not particularly damaging to my enjoyment of the book. It’s a stretch to link the two families via this particular craze of the era, because while both families did have ties to the practice, neither has an especially unusual link to it, and the practice doesn’t really provide any kind of direct connection between the families, as the book sets out to do.

The attempt to do so is the usual new spin on an old topic to freshen a story we’re largely familiar with, at least in terms of the bones of it. And while I didn’t think the link worked convincingly, I can appreciate the attempt to approach the history of the murder of Lincoln from a different perspective.

In the Houses of Their Dead is a meticulously researched and annotated history of the Lincoln family, their interaction and common themes and the relationship of both families to spiritualism written by Dr. Terry Alford. Released 14th June 2022 by W.W. Norton on their Liveright imprint, it's 320 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.

This was a fascinating look at the general social and economic realities of the USA in the mid to late 19th century. The author has written a much more extensive biography of the wider families and contemporaries of Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, and the relatively newly minted "scientific" study of spiritualism and how it informed their fateful decisions.

The book is layman accessible and extensively annotated. The chapter notes and bibliography will provide many hours of further reading.

The text is liberally annotated and illustrated with line drawings, facsimiles of period documents, and an impressive number of photos. Although the treatment is admittedly academic, there's enough annotation and chapter notation and bibliography to satisfy the staunchest pedant - at the same time, there's a clear and compelling biographical narrative. I'm amazed that there's enough period record to reconstruct the stories of these families after all this time (despite their fame, and in the case of the Booths, their notoriety).

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 9 hours and 14 minutes and is capably narrated by Danny Campbell. The narrator has a rich and rugged voice and reads clearly and distinctly. Sound and production quality are high throughout the recording. The down-side of the audiobook format is the lack of photos and reference notes.

Four and a half stars. It's an interesting synergistic look at a mostly unfamiliar facet of Lincoln and his wife. I would recommend this book to readers of American history, war history, American culture, as a support text for classroom instruction on Civil War history, or allied subjects.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This books tells the story of the Lincoln family and the strange connections between them and the Booths. There are many books out there about Lincoln, however, none of them delves into the supernatural side of the family. The Lincolns were known to be into the Spiritual side of things, but this gives us the many connections with them and the Booths. If you are looking for a different take on Lincoln, then you should definitely pick this one up!

I didn’t know what to expect with his book. However I love history and ghost so this combined the two things I like the most. An interesting historical tale of the ghost haunting the White House. I absolutely think readers will like this particular spin on history.