The Lincoln assassination, told between the Booth brothers.
Consider The Elephant presents a historical novel chapter by chapter, following John Wilkes Booth from Good Friday in Washington to a broken leg, a night at Mudd's door and a crossing of the Potomac. Much of it is Wilkes speaking straight to his brother Ned, and in the final chapter Ned answers in a letter of his own.
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Consider The Elephant is a historical novel presented in audio chapters, and it stays close to one man: John Wilkes Booth. It tells the story of the Lincoln assassination from inside the plot and inside the Booth family. That framing is what sets the book apart. Long stretches are Wilkes speaking directly to his brother Ned, admitting things he hid at the time. On Good Friday he tells Ned he was shaking, and that he leaned on a mantelpiece so the woman he was visiting would not notice. Other passages switch to the third person and watch him from outside, whether he is leaving a sobbing Ella in the morning or racing past as a bay mare clatters into Baptist Alley. The plot is full of small, concrete details. Lewis Weichman is around when Wilkes would rather he were not, Wilkes sends word that Grant will be at Ford's Theatre, and in a desk clerk's office at the National he writes a letter meant for an editor named John Coyle. Then comes the escape, told in hard physical detail. A broken leg. Mudd, woken in his nightgown, telling the fugitives they were not supposed to come to him. A trek through a swamp lit by the greenish glow of the water, with no markers to follow. A crossing of the Potomac on a moonless night, Harold rowing while Wilkes holds the course. Along the way a man named Stuart turns them away, and when they plead to reach Mosby he answers that he has surrendered. Wilkes describes the manhunt with a wry, rueful edge: sightings reported from Ohio to Maine, his room at the National raided, his trunk and cipher found along with a letter from Sam Arnold. The final chapter reverses the voice. Ned writes back, describing Ford's Theatre locked up, souvenir hunters carrying off whole stairways, and a body hidden where only Stanton knows. He also describes going back on stage as Hamlet with police inside and out, expecting to be threatened or worse. Family news runs through the letter, including Asia's twins and a baby named Creston who looks so much like his uncle. The effect is as much family drama as escape story. Several chapters end with a note that the novel rests on extensive research, with a link to a site that collects the facts behind it. The serial runs in order and at least one chapter breaks off mid-journey with 'To be continued', so it is best heard from the beginning.
Made for: Suits a listener who likes historical fiction read aloud as a serial and wants the Lincoln assassination from the assassin's side, with plenty of period detail and attention to the Booth family.
What sets it apart: It frames the plot and the escape as Wilkes speaking to his brother Ned, and closes with Ned writing back, so a familiar event becomes a family story. Chapters also point to the research behind the fiction.
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…
A broken leg crashes Wilkes's victory lap; you get historical fiction with terrible timing and theatrical nerves.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A night escape narrows around lantern light, false trails, bloodstained clothing, and a final boat from the bank.
Lantern light in a tobacco farmer's hovel draws Wilkes and Harold toward Zakiah's Swamp, where two dollars buy bread, whiskey, and a guide to Bill Birtle's place.
Wilkes tries to explain the deed while the road and the stage keep carrying him onward.
Chapter 33 holds Wilkes in the strained interval between action and explanation. At the National, he spends an hour drafting a letter to editor John Coyle, stumbling over the year and his spelling before deciding the mail is too foolish to trust.
Tamil historical fiction with royal stakes.
Wilkes writes that “the manner in which kindness is extended” matters more than the substance received.
Chapter 35 of Consider The Elephant tracks John Wilkes Booth and Davy Harold through Zakiah's Swamp after Lincoln's assassination.
Chapter 34 follows John Wilkes Booth and Davy Harold through an overnight escape after Booth shoots President Abraham Lincoln and injures his left leg.
["Chapter 33 of Consider The Elephant follows John Wilkes Booth's movements through Washington on the night he reaches Ford's Theatre.", "He writes a letter for John Coyle, refuses to trust the mail, and uses an actor friend, Grant's carriage, and a stop at the Kirkwood House to check the city.", "Mary Surratt reports that the Surrattsville pickets will be withdrawn after eight, Lloyd promises the conspirators' shooting irons will be ready, and Booth leaves Lucy at 7.30 after telling her not to go to Ford's.", "The chapter then moves through Taltavoo's, Powell's derringer work, and Booth's last approach to Lincoln's box at Ford's Theatre."]
John Wilkes Booth’s April 14, 1865 itinerary turns Lincoln’s planned Ford’s Theatre appearance into a coordinated 10 p.m.
John Wilkes Booth moves from mourning the Confederacy’s surrender to organizing a plot against Abraham Lincoln and other Union leaders.
John Wilkes Booth hears that Richmond has been evacuated and sees reports of its ammunition stores, warehouses, and bridges being destroyed.
Aram Shepherd's Chapter 28 of Consider the Elephant opens with Lewis Powell and George Atzerodt arriving at Mary Surratt's boarding house before a night at Ford's Theatre.
A fictional narrative from John Wilkes Booth's perspective, exploring his relationship with his sister Asia and his motivations for assassinating Lincoln.
This episode dramatizes the arrival of actress Maggie Mitchell and her interaction with John Wilkes Booth, setting up the conspiracy behind Lincoln's assassination.
A fictionalized account of the Lincoln assassination conspiracy, told from the perspective of Asia Booth, John Wilkes Booth's sister.
A dramatic monologue from John Wilkes Booth's perspective, lamenting the fallout from his brother's actions and reflecting on his own role in Lincoln's assassination.