Speaking With ... James Swanson, Chasing Lincoln's Killer
Dodie Ownes -- School Library Journal, 1/28/2009
SLJTeen sat down with author James L. Swanson at ALA Midwinter to discuss his first young adult book, Chasing Lincoln’s Killer (Scholastic, Feb. 2009), based on his bestselling title, Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer (Morrow, 2006). Born on the same day as Abraham Lincoln, Swanson’s destiny was sealed when he received an engraving of the pistol that assassin John Wilkes Booth used to shoot our 16th president. Swanson is a legal scholar at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., and serves as a member of the advisory committee of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.What was it like to take the 140,000 word Manhunt, and turn into a book for teens?
It was really a bit painful for me at times to decide what to leave out. This wasn’t a cut and paste job; the whole book was rewritten. The final manuscript for Chasing Lincoln’s Killer came in at 38,000 words, quite a difference. Yet none of the story was lost, and young readers still discover there was more to Lincoln’s death than a single bullet shot.
The pistol used by John Wilkes Booth to assassinate Lincoln is featured on the cover, and is also embossed in gold on the actual hardcover, offering just a hint at all the primary source material that is included in the book.I have a huge collection of Lincoln memorabilia, and wanted to include images and illustrations that would not only help document the 12 day chase for Booth, but could add a sense of place and context to the story. One reason the Route of the Assassins map was included is to give readers a visual way to grasp the sequence of events as Booth fled from Washington.
It is very clear that security was not a major concern for Lincoln and those around him. He and his cabinet made it almost easy for Booth and his conspirators.
Over 100 death threats were found in a drawer in Lincoln’s desk after his death. I believe Lincoln owed it to the country to be safe, but he was actually very nonchalant when it came to security. But he was not an elitist, and saw himself as a man of the people - high visibility was important to him.
Major Rathbone and his fiancé were in the theater box with the president and his wife when Lincoln was assassinated. He later went mad. Any theories on that?
Rathbone may have been suffering from survivor guilt. When Booth entered the theater box, Rathbone didn’t react, nor did he attempt to chase the assassin. Or, he may have been mentally ill - we just don’t know.
Descendants of former presidents seem to pop up frequently, particularly those claiming lineage from Thomas Jefferson. What happened to the Lincoln line?
Lincoln and his wife had four sons, but only one, Robert Todd Lincoln, survived into adulthood. He was not like Lincoln, and tended to be a bit of a snob, put off by his father’s homespun ways. Though he did marry and have children, their descendants did not, and the family line died out. Lincoln’s third son, known as Willie, was Lincoln’s favorite and very similar in temperament and intellect. Lincoln was devastated when Willie died during his first term in the White House, in 1862.
Purportedly, president-elect Obama drank from a ‘Lincoln glass’ that is part of a collection owned by columnist George Will at a dinner party a few days before the inauguration. Any thoughts?
That might be going a bit too far.
Visit Swanson’s Website for more information about his books, author appearances, photo gallery, and links to other Lincoln resources.
