Consider The Elephant
In this podiobook: The common wisdom is that the men who have attacked American Presidents - Czolgosz, Guiteau, Fromme, Hinckley, Moore, Oswald, Zangara - were disgruntled, disturbed loners. That wisdom includes John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, called a failed actor and a madman.But the truth is that Wilkes was the matinee idol of his time; and the attack on Lincoln was not the act of a maniac, but a part of a plan developed at the highest levels of the Confederacy.In "Consider the Elephant," by Aram Schefrin, the story of Wilkes'life and death is told by his brother, Edwin Booth, called "Ned." Ned was the greatest Shakespearean actor of his age, as was their father Junius in his era; and their brother June was an actor, too, though less successful than his brothers. The story is soaked in the ambiance of life in the American theater in the mid nineteenth century, and full of rich characters. It lays out in detail the path Wilkes took to the top of the celebrity heap, his growing involvement with the Southern rebels and the development in Richmond of the plot to kidnap - and later assassinate - the Union President.
Episodes
-In this episode: Ned writes a letter to Wilkes. Finis.
-In this episode: Bainbridge, Ruggles and Jett
-In this episode: Escape: Thomas Jones gets Wilkes to the Potomac.
-In this episode: Escape: Dr. Samuel Mudd treats Wilkes' broken leg
-In this episode: The assassination
-In this episode: Wilkes learns that Lincoln is going to the theater. He makes his preparations.
-In this episode: Wilkes urges the managers of two Washington theaters to invite Lincoln to a performance on Good Friday night. Surratt tells Wilkes he will have to escape to Canada.
-In this episode: As their cause becomes more desperate, the Confederates decide to kill Lincoln - but without involving Wilkes. Richmond falls, and Wilkes - despondent - disbands his crew. But the Rebel plan is thwarted, and Mary Surratt asks Wilkes to assassinate th
-In this episode: Now Richmond doesn't want Lincoln snatched. Wilkes is devastated.
-In this episode: Wilkes takes his crew to a play at Ford's Theater. An attempt to snatch the President on the Seventh Street Road fails when Lincoln doesn't show.
-In this episode: Wilkes and Surratt decide to snatch Lincoln at his inaugural ball, and Wilkes concocts a clever way to get into the event.
-In this episode: Wilkes goes to the inaugural ball but, out of concern for Lucy Hale, decides not to snatch the President there.
-In this episode: Wilkes gets a tour of John Ford's new theater in Washington, then meets a new conspirator - Lewis Thornton Powell.
-In this episode: Wilkes leaves an envelope with Asia in Philadelphia, then meets the conspirators in Washington.
-In this episode: While the three Booths perform "Julius Caesar", Confederates raid New York City, setting fires on Broadway in the hotels and theaters.
-In this episode: Lincoln is re-elected, and Wilkes meets Dr. Samuel Mudd.
-In this episode: Wilkes tells Asia of the Lincoln kidnap plot.Wilkes meets Patrick Martin in Montreal, makes his first contacts on the route he plans to use to take the kidnapped President to Richmond, and gets details on Lincoln's routine.
-In this episode: In Boston, Wilkes meets with Confederate agents from Canada and signs on to a plot to kidnap President Lincoln.
-In this episode: Lincoln is nominated for a second term, and Wilkes prospects for oil in Venango County, Pennsylvania.
-In this episode: Sick and exhausted, Wilkes tours Southern towns under Union occupation while General Grant cuts a swath through Virginia. In New Orleans, Wilkes hears the story of how his father died.
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