This is an overwritten but fascinating book. Stephen Sondheim postulated years ago in Assassins that John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln because of his rivalry with his megastar brother Edwin and "a string of bad reviews." Nora Titone pulls together as astounding wealth of details from social, military, geopolitical, and cultural history, as well as the personal history of the amazing Booth family, to explore this theory. But she badly needed a more active editor. I disliked her habit of reintroducing important characters with their full backgrounds as they appeared chapter after chapter. I became frustrated by her backing and forthing through time because rather than simply referring to previous incidents, she rehashes them in complete detail. And perhaps Titone was influenced overmuch by the fact that the Booth family were famous actors in a time when drama really meant being dramatic, but there was a lot of "But the winter of 1847 was to hold yet more struggle and terror in store than they could have imagined" (I made that one up, but it's typical).

And yet ... there's so much that's interesting and unexpected here that if you have the time and patience, I recommend this book to any lover of American history or culture, or - certainly - Shakespeare.