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The Resource In the houses of their dead : the Lincolns, the Booths, and the spirits, Terry Alford

In the houses of their dead : the Lincolns, the Booths, and the spirits, Terry Alford

Creator
Author
Summary
"The story of Abraham Lincoln as it has never been told before: through the strange, even otherworldly, points of contact between his family and that of the man who killed him, John Wilkes Booth. In the 1820s, two families, unknown to each other, worked on farms in the American wilderness. It seemed unlikely that the families would ever meet-and yet, they did. The son of one family, the famed actor John Wilkes Booth, killed the son of the other, President Abraham Lincoln, in the most significant assassination in American history. The murder, however, did not come without warning-in fact, it had been foretold. In the Houses of Their Dead is the first book of the many thousands written 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. Abraham Lincoln is usually seen as a rational, empirically-minded man, yet as acclaimed scholar and biographer Terry Alford reveals, he was also deeply superstitious and drawn to the irrational. Like millions of other Americans, including the Booths, Lincoln and his wife, Mary, suffered repeated personal tragedies, and turned for solace to Spiritualism, a new practice sweeping the nation that held that the dead were nearby and could be contacted by the living. Remarkably, the Lincolns and the Booths even used the same mediums, including Charles Colchester, a specialist in "blood writing" whom Mary first brought to her husband, and who warned the president after listening to the ravings of another of his clients, John Wilkes Booth. Alford's expansive, richly-textured chronicle follows the two families across the nineteenth century, uncovering new facts and stories about Abraham and Mary while drawing indelible portraits of the Booths-from patriarch Julius, a famous actor in his own right, to brother Edwin, the most talented member of the family and a man who feared peacock feathers, to their confidant Adam Badeau, who would become, strangely, the ghostwriter for President Ulysses S. Grant. At every turn, Alford shows that despite the progress of the age-the glass hypodermic syringe, electromagnetic induction, and much more-death remained ever-present, thus that it was only rational for millions of Americans, from the president on down, to cling to beliefs that seem anything but. A novelistic narrative of two exceptional American families set against the convulsions their times, In the Houses of Their Dead ultimately leads us to consider how ghost stories helped shape the nation"--
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Edition
First edition.
Extent
xvii, 298 pages
Contents
  • If the Fates Allow
  • His Imperfect Self
  • So Old When He Was Young
  • God's Most Precious Truth
  • Love's Sacred Circle
  • Ghost Kisses
  • Why Wake Me?
  • Fatal Vision
  • Are We So Soon Forgot?
  • Death Came as a Friend
Isbn
9781631495601
Instance
Label
In the houses of their dead : the Lincolns, the Booths, and the spirits
Title
In the houses of their dead
Title remainder
the Lincolns, the Booths, and the spirits
Statement of responsibility
Terry Alford
Title variation
Lincolns, the Booths, and the spirits
Creator
Author
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
"The story of Abraham Lincoln as it has never been told before: through the strange, even otherworldly, points of contact between his family and that of the man who killed him, John Wilkes Booth. In the 1820s, two families, unknown to each other, worked on farms in the American wilderness. It seemed unlikely that the families would ever meet-and yet, they did. The son of one family, the famed actor John Wilkes Booth, killed the son of the other, President Abraham Lincoln, in the most significant assassination in American history. The murder, however, did not come without warning-in fact, it had been foretold. In the Houses of Their Dead is the first book of the many thousands written 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. Abraham Lincoln is usually seen as a rational, empirically-minded man, yet as acclaimed scholar and biographer Terry Alford reveals, he was also deeply superstitious and drawn to the irrational. Like millions of other Americans, including the Booths, Lincoln and his wife, Mary, suffered repeated personal tragedies, and turned for solace to Spiritualism, a new practice sweeping the nation that held that the dead were nearby and could be contacted by the living. Remarkably, the Lincolns and the Booths even used the same mediums, including Charles Colchester, a specialist in "blood writing" whom Mary first brought to her husband, and who warned the president after listening to the ravings of another of his clients, John Wilkes Booth. Alford's expansive, richly-textured chronicle follows the two families across the nineteenth century, uncovering new facts and stories about Abraham and Mary while drawing indelible portraits of the Booths-from patriarch Julius, a famous actor in his own right, to brother Edwin, the most talented member of the family and a man who feared peacock feathers, to their confidant Adam Badeau, who would become, strangely, the ghostwriter for President Ulysses S. Grant. At every turn, Alford shows that despite the progress of the age-the glass hypodermic syringe, electromagnetic induction, and much more-death remained ever-present, thus that it was only rational for millions of Americans, from the president on down, to cling to beliefs that seem anything but. A novelistic narrative of two exceptional American families set against the convulsions their times, In the Houses of Their Dead ultimately leads us to consider how ghost stories helped shape the nation"--
Assigning source
Provided by publisher
Biography type
contains biographical information
Cataloging source
DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Alford, Terry
Dewey number
973.7092/2
Illustrations
illustrations
Index
no index present
LC call number
E457.2
LC item number
.A267 2022
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Lincoln, Abraham
  • Lincoln, Mary Todd
  • Spiritualism
  • Parapsychology
  • Presidents
  • Lincoln family
  • Booth family
  • Booth, Junius Brutus
Label
In the houses of their dead : the Lincolns, the Booths, and the spirits, Terry Alford
Instantiates
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 251-285) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
If the Fates Allow -- His Imperfect Self -- So Old When He Was Young -- God's Most Precious Truth -- Love's Sacred Circle -- Ghost Kisses -- Why Wake Me? -- Fatal Vision -- Are We So Soon Forgot? -- Death Came as a Friend
Control code
on1322437054
Dimensions
24 cm
Edition
First edition.
Extent
xvii, 298 pages
Isbn
9781631495601
Lccn
2022005165
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations
System control number
(OCoLC)1322437054
Label
In the houses of their dead : the Lincolns, the Booths, and the spirits, Terry Alford
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 251-285) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
If the Fates Allow -- His Imperfect Self -- So Old When He Was Young -- God's Most Precious Truth -- Love's Sacred Circle -- Ghost Kisses -- Why Wake Me? -- Fatal Vision -- Are We So Soon Forgot? -- Death Came as a Friend
Control code
on1322437054
Dimensions
24 cm
Edition
First edition.
Extent
xvii, 298 pages
Isbn
9781631495601
Lccn
2022005165
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations
System control number
(OCoLC)1322437054

Subject

Genre

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