No comments about Twisted Genius: Confessions of a $10 Million Scam Man.

No comments about U-Turn in the Fast Lane.

No comments about The mob murdered the father, others killed the son.

No comments about Prison is not a Holiday Camp (Spear Book Series).

No comments about Spanish Connection (Blake's True Crime Library).

3 comments about Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth: The First True Account of Lincoln's Assassination, Containing a Complete Confession of Booth Many Years Aft.

1. All Lincoln scholars will find this book of interest particularly for when and how it was written. Had to have been a "bestseller" in 1908!



2. When Lincoln was killed he was an old man of 56, while Booth was only 27 at the time of the assassination. I really can't figure why this fiction was written, as the travesty was done when John Wilkes Booth was gunned down from a slat in the barn. He had no way to escape!
   
   It's just like the rumors which spun about Elvis Presley that he was an informant for the FBI and did not die of an overdose of drugs in his mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, that he was relocated to Germany. Do you think that man could have spent all these years hiding and not singing. No Way!
   
   Just like the fiction that Booth lived to confess years later. Could he have gone on with his life without acting on the stage? Whyever would he confess and link the Vice President to the conspiracy. Andrew Johnson was supposed to have been abducted at the same time as Lincoln, only his assailant got too drunk to do the deed. Now, this little myth maker tries to make us think that he was in on the kill of Lincoln so that he could take over. He had his hands full of the reconstruction and other things which were continually going wrong. He was definitely not like Lincoln in any way, but a man from Tennessee who had been governor of this Volunteer State would never have done that. Now Texas is another matter altogether. Why this was written, I'll never know! It's just not worth the bother to look at, or read trash about an honorable assassin. He had health problems and perhaps though he was dying anyway. Who will ever know? No one who reads this volume in history.



3. This book is great and he did act on stage after the assassination. Why the other person wrote that this book is not worth reading I will never know. It shows two pictures of Booth after the assassination when he was living under an alias. It is filled with evidence. If you would like to know who was killed in the barn instead of Booth you should read "Return of the Assassin John Wilkes Booth". It is filled with new evidence. Both of these books are must reads.

No comments about A Putney Plot.

1 comments about Outlaws in Petticoats and Other Notorious Women of Texas (Women of the West).

1. This book brings to light some stories of TX Women. Well written and documented, it's entertaining as well. This was a welcome addition to my Texas History collection. Thanks for writing it!

5 comments about Back from the Dead.

1. As a 'Moderate Conservative', my interest in this book was initially based only on two factors 1) the author was a native San Antonian and 2) the statistical analysis approach appealed to the math major in me.
   
   With that said, I can now say I have rarely read a book that caused me to examine my own deeply held beliefs, prejudices and opinions so honestly. Much like the authors mother, I have allways subscribed to the concept of 'an eye for an eye' and have believed in the good 'ol Texas version of justice.
   
   Mrs. Cheever very carefully and very methodically tracked down, researched and interviewed men that our justice system said should now be dead. She very candidly discusses those that the justice system may have been right about (those that continued to kill and commit crimes). But she also takes us into the homes and lives of men who were in fact 'rehabilitated' and lived (and still live) productive, law-abiding and loving lives. However, she does not glamorize those men, nor does she excuse the crimes they committed. At all times, she keeps the reader aware of the innocent lives that were lost and the family's that still deal with the grief of those losses.
   
   She raises the very valid question -can those sentenced to death as 'no hope for rehabilitation' actually be rehabilitated? While the justice system and arm-chair psychiatrists have strong opinions - Mrs. Cheever has used actual facts to unquestionably prove that 'Yes' it can be done and has been done.
   
   Due to a brief stay of execution afforded these men - the world has the opportunity to see what became of their lives - lives that should not have continued based on the death sentence they received for their crimes.
   
   After finishing the book, I cannot honestly say that I am yet opposed to the death penalty as a set-in-stone rule. However, I can say that I was immensely moved by both her passion, her words and her research. I can also say that I am glad that those men who were 'rehabilitated' were able to live their lives giving back to the communities, schools and church's that believed in them.
   
   The American Public has been given a great book to explore complex and painful ideas - I only hope that we take the opportunity to learn what lessons lie in it.



2. Tracking down 589 people is no small undertaking. Ms. Cheever not only does justice to any overwhelming task, but delves into the depths of the Class of '72, who received a second chance at life after having been sentenced to death. While on her journey to find what became of the "lottery winners" winners of Furman v. Georgia, Ms. Cheever touched their souls while exposing her own. In the end the author learns the meaning of forgiveness and becomes a "healer" in justice system wrought with injustice.
   The reader learns where and who some of the reprieved convicts are today with the added insight of Ms. Cheever's underpinings through snipets of her colorful Texas family. Just as the reader comes up for air, having met a former death row inmate, having heard the facts of his crime and punishment, the author teases the reader with a preview the next unsavory character. Putting down the book at this point is not an option. In the end there is much to ponder. Kudos to Ms. Cheever whose Notes are as good a read as the book.



3. For most people, the death penalty is a matter of the heart, and whether there are numbers to prove or disprove the belief is beside the point. Thankfully, author Joan Cheever is not most people, and in "Back from the Dead" she has done a masterful job of laying out the facts (documented with a journalist's zeal) and marrying them with a vividly told story of a compelling personal journey. In doing so, she has not only made an important contribution to the national debate on the death penalty, but she has also given us a good read.



4. I found the book interesting, but with some repetition throughout. It didn't fulfill my deeper interest in the psychological side of the subjects in the book. The significant point is to fully evaluate your personal beliefs about capital punishment - has absolute guilt been determined? ...and prisoner rehabilitation...can people change? Overall, an interesting book, but not quite enough substance for me.



5. In all this hyping and moaning over the inhumanity of executions, the fairness of capital punishment, and the redemption of the human soul, we forget that there is a reason that these "people" were sentenced to die, and it was not for stealing girl scout cookies! Each person on death row represents an innocent person who should still be alive. While Ms. Cheever does give some information about the victims, it is not enough! Society has paid a huge price for the Furman V Georgia decision in terms of crimes, destruction, simply the danger of having former death row inmates out on the street, and ultimatley in the death of more innocent victims by people who should already be dead. Let this story illustrate: Daryl Kemp was convicted in the 1957 murder and rape of Marjorie Hipperson in addition to several other rapes in L.A. He was sentenced to die. Marjorie Hipperson was a beautiful 24 year old nurse engaged to a doctor, SHE deserved to live, not Kemp. Kemp's sentence was commuted to life in 1972 and he was paroled in 1978. Four months later, 40 year old wife and mother Armida Wilstsey turned up dead on a jogging trail in Contra Costa County. In 2003 Kemp was tied to the murder and rape through DNA. He was found in Texas serving a Life Sentence for and aggravated rape in 1983 and he was suspected in several additional rapes in Texas. Because Marjorie Hipperson was not given the justice she deserved, Boyd and Jeff Wiltsey lost their wife and mother respectively, in addition to several women forever being scared by the horror of being a rape victim. Jeff was only 10 years old. Boyd Wiltsey hinted that had he not had his son he probably would have killed himself. He described his wife as "the living image of what you would consider a good person." Daryl Kemp is the epitome of evil. Marjorie Hipperson and Armida Wiltsey were the epitome of what is good. They are dead while Kemp is still alive, what is wrong with this picture? There are many other stories like this and it is sickening to think that because we showed mercy we never should have, innocent people died. If we abolish the death penalty today are you ready for these types of consequences? Remember that nearly 60% of everyone on death row in 1972 was eventually released, and only about 1% were exonerated ( which in no way means they did not actually commit the crime they were convicted of). Are you prepared to have 60% of everyone on death row today in YOUR neighborhoods, with your children, with your loved ones? I for one will be damned if thats gonna happen. I wonder if Ms. Cheever would like to have 60% of everyone on death row in her community. Remember the victims that these criminals brutally murdered. When they took innocent human life, they forfitted theirs.

No comments about Branded by Ronnie Kray.