In a dry but meticulous examination of the events leading up to and following Lincoln’s assassination, Zeinert (The Amistad Slave Revolt and American Abolition, 1997, etc.) profiles many of the people involved and refutes 20th-century reinterpretations of evidence that supposedly reveal a Machiavellian conspiracy. In her view the episode was characterized on all sides by bad judgment and too-hasty action; the assassination began as an inept kidnapping plot, hundreds were detained in the ensuing massive investigation, and in the end three men and a woman were hanged on the strength of very questionable testimony. The author goes on to describe a later, abortive attempt to hold Lincoln’s body for ransom, refers to several hoaxes, and finishes with a critical analysis of various modern conspiracy theories. The trial records are largely paraphrased rather than quoted; nearly all of the illustrations are contemporary photos, accompanied by side boxes containing background information or passages from letters and diaries. This serviceable study of a pivotal event in US history is heavy reading, but makes an edifying cautionary tale on the perils of the rush to justice. (index, not seen, notes, bibliography, further reading) (Nonfiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Jan. 15, 1999
ISBN: 0-208-02451-4
Page Count: 110
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A blend of fact and fiction in both text and pictures add up to a resistible invitation to create coded messages by substituting Egyptian hieroglyphics for plain language. In the perfunctory plot, an archeologist acquires a mysterious, veiled helper who guides him from one simple written clue to the next, leading ultimately to an artifact that was stolen and hidden away thousands of years ago. Along the way there’s plenty of opportunity to explain ancient Egyptian writing and funerary customs, to fill page space with small photos or images of surviving or reconstructed tombs, sarcophagi, painted murals and statuary and to practice translating the aforementioned clues. The historical information is easily available elsewhere, and though the downloadable typeface on the embedded CD will make the creation of new messages much less tedious than having to draw hieroglyphics by hand, even dedicated fans of codes and ciphers aren’t likely to give this more than a quick once-over. (Fact/fiction blend. 11-13)
Pub Date: June 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7534-6411-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Kingfisher
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
trike” in New York City and the fate of the sharecroppers in the southern cotton industry, the garment and coal mining industries loom as the real villains in child labor issues. Bartoletti provides numerous examples of how debilitating poverty drove entire families to work in utter squalor and suffer cruel treatment at the hands of profit-driven conglomerates. Personal stories illuminate the wretched conditions under which many of these children labored, with a focus on the instances when a child mobilized fellow workers to demand their rights. The grit and determination of these children who, in the face of police abuse, bureaucratic negligence, and governmental (even presidential) indifference, banded together for a common cause, and the startling black-and-white photographs, ensure that readers will be alternately awed and appalled by this stunning account of child labor in the US. (bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-88892-1
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
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