I recently had the pleasure of reading Bill O'Reilly and his co-author Martin Dugard's wonderful book "Killing Lincoln". This is a sensational book written as a contemporary thriller and takes full use of this technique to avoid being a dull regurgitation of dates,facts and figures. This book is a thoroughly researched and documented effort to accurately describe the shocking and horrifying murder of perhaps America's greatest President.

I must confess my knowledge of the Civil War era is extremely limited (embarrassingly so) and suspect I am not alone. Perhaps we can beseech Mr. O'Reilly to include the list of books that he found germane to the completion of this terrific work and share it with his loyal audio readers on his website (as he does in the print book). I would like to read much more about this critical juncture/time in American history.

The book starts with an overview of the Northern and Southern armies, their maneuver tactics and their respective strategies to prevail. There are wonderfully insightful looks at Lincoln near the battlefields his relationship with Grant and his overwhelming desire to hold and preserve the Union. The strength of the Northern armies eventually forces key Southern cities (Richmond) to succumb and simultaneously surround General Lee forcing him to the unthinkable, the surrender of his army.

Further, it tracks John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators as they initially start with plans to kidnap Lincoln, which would have been remarkably easy given the lax security surrounding him, to assassination. It ends with a touching description of Lincoln's final days after being shot and the capture and killing John Wilkes Booth. Bill's attempt to get into the minds and hearts of the key characters makes for a compelling read and a real page-turner. I highly recommend this book.