Shooting Lincoln

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.