Entertaining at times, but readers seeking a scrupulous account of Lincoln’s relations with the press should look elsewhere.
A study of “fake news” and its suppression during the Civil War era.
On May 18, 1864, two newspapers in New York City published a presidential proclamation calling for a draft of 400,000 men and a day of fasting and prayer. Unfortunately for the gullible proprietors of the New York World and the Journal of Commerce, the proclamation was a forgery concocted by two journalists who hoped to profit from the expected rise in the price of gold subsequent to publication. In her latest, former George executive editor Mitchell provides the first book-length study of this incident. The author begins with a selection of useful background information—e.g., “While hated in Washington, the World, by the end of 1863, boasted three times the circulation of any other newspaper”—and she capably guides readers through the course of the controversy. Ultimately, President Abraham Lincoln shut down the World and Journal of Commerce for several days and imprisoned the main conspirator, a former New York Times reporter named Joseph Howard, for three months. Mitchell suggests that the hoax was based on a never-released presidential proclamation leaked by Mary Todd Lincoln, an intriguing proposition. However, the author undercuts her arguments with prose that features overlong quotations, odd repetition (“Howard caught his first glimpse of fifty-two-year-old Lincoln, who had just turned fifty-two that day”), and mistakes regarding names (George G. Meade, not “George C. Meade”), dates (the Lemmon Slave Case ruling was in 1860, not 1861), and other facts (the phrase “State of the Union” was not used until 1934) as well as temporal inaccuracies: If a New York City–based ship brings information “once a week to Europe,” how can it be a “ten-day journey” to Liverpool?
Entertaining at times, but readers seeking a scrupulous account of Lincoln’s relations with the press should look elsewhere.Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64009-282-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Counterpoint
Review Posted Online: Sept. 8, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
