Graeme Donald. The Man Who Shot the Man Who Shot Lincoln, and 46 other stories of unknown players from history. Long Island City, New York: Osprey, 2010. 288 pages.
Most people have an inkling of the major players in history: they know the name of John Wilkes Booth, the man who shot Lincoln. But how many people know about Boston Corbett, the man who shot Booth? If Graeme Donald has his way, more people will, since THE MAN WHO SHOT THE MAN WHO SHOT LINCOLN is all about those who inhabit the peripheries of major historical events.
The result is an interesting book. Donald shares 47 stories, most of them dealing with military history, that will enhance the understanding of those who already know the “real story” of what happened. His style is informal, even chatty at times, in a slightly didactic way. There are frequent diversions from the story to share the details of what happened to a bit player in the story, which breaks the narrative flow but does give the reader a lot of information. It’s not altogether a bad technique, and it comes across as listening to a history buff ramble on about the stuff that excites him.
The material covered ranges roughly from the Civil War to the Vietnam War, with a big emphasis on World War II. There’s tons of Hitler material, including some insight into his rather unusual boudoir predilections. There’s a good deal of debunking, but Donald is no killjoy–for each myth he shoots down, he provides two or three lively anecdotes that enliven our understanding of history.
For the most part, the tidbits that Donald shares seem to be sourced to secondary sources, works by other authors that draw on original documents and eye-witness accounts. At times, he refers the reader to primary source documents that are available online, which does a great deal to bolster the credibility of what he’s saying. Some of the stories, particularly the account of Lucky Luciano’s cooperation with the US Government during World War II, would benefit from a more vigorous use of primary sources, and less reliance on the work of others; it seems there might have been more (or less) to the story than what Donald gives us.
On the whole, THE MAN WHO SHOT THE MAN WHO SHOT LINCOLN is an irreverent look at military history that, at the very least, will provide a different perspective on what you know–or think you know.