W. C. Jameson

This, just like the author's other two similar works about Billy the Kid and Butch Cassidy, is poorly written, all but un-documented, and based on theories that have been previously disproven. In this instance the contention is that JWB was not killed at the Garrett farm April 26, 1865. Instead Jameson - who claims to be a descendant of JWB - claims, as have others before, that another man with the same initials - James Wm Boyd - was killed at Garrett's and Booth actually escaped and lived under the assumed names of John St. Helen and David E. George. Although the author contends that "the evidence is compelling and strong" that JWB eluded his pursuers and "evidence is plentiful and mounting and invites more research and investigation" that he went abroad to avoid detection and later returned to the US (p. 199), he cites next to nothing in his text. Although a few statements and assertions are accompanied by in-text references, he provides no detailed information about where his information comes from, even though he does have a bibliography that shows a good familiarity with the extant Assassination literature. Any work that proposes a theory as controversial as Jamesons should be able to provide the documentation to back-up his claims. In this Jameson fails miserably. That said, he does include a good general overview of the Assassination (which takes up about 3/4 of the book), but should a reader unfamiliar with the Assassination read it they might not be able to discern what is accepted fact and what is the author's unsupported claims. But just as with his other famous person who really didn't die books, much of it is wishful thinking, fantasy, and unsupported assertions.… (more)

All too often we take history for granted. Either we sleep through the class in school or we completely swallow whatever is spoon-fed to us. Rarely are we taking the time to research whether these accounts truly happened. 'John Wilkes Booth: Beyond the Grave' causes us to ponder the possibility of something we have generally accepted as historical fact to be completely false. It is difficult to say that all of Jameson's claims are accurate, but it does make one think and desire to dig into the history to find the truth.… (more)