April 2009 Archives

In February 1861, Abraham Lincoln's private train steamed from Illinois to Washington, DC, where he would be inaugurated as the sixteenth president of the United States. In Baltimore, where Lincoln's train was scheduled to make a final stop before arriving at the capital, the renowned detective Allan Pinkerton had uncovered evidence of a conspiracy to assassinate the president-elect. A border state with pro-Southern sympathies, Maryland was on the verge of leaving the Union and joining the Confederacy. Abraham Lincoln wanted desperately to restore a divided Union; eliminating him would tear the country irreparably apart. Long a site of civil unrest, Baltimore--the home of John Wilkes Booth (who may have been among the conspirators)--provided the perfect environment for a strike. Wearing a disguise, in the dead of night, and under armed guard, Lincoln did pass through Baltimore without incident, but at a steep price. Although Pinkerton was able to identify some of the conspirators, the case was never brought to trial. Ridiculed by the press for "cowardice" and the fact that no conspirators were charged, Lincoln would never hide from the public again. Four years later, when he sat in full view in the balcony of Ford's Theater, another conspiracy succeeded.

One of the great mysteries of the Civil War and long a source of fascination among Lincoln scholars, the Baltimore Plot has never been critically investigated until now. In The Baltimore Plot: The First Conspiracy to Assassinate Abraham Lincoln, Michael J. Kline turns his legal expertise to sifting through primary sources in order to determine the extent of the conspiracy and culpability of the many suspects surrounding the case. Full of memorable characters and intriguing plot twists, the story is written as an unfolding criminal investigation in which the author determines once and for all whether there was a true plot and if the perpetrators could have been brought to trial.

Cabell Library E457.2 .K55 2008

Note: Quick Picks are new to the collection. Some may not yet have reached the shelves. If you want to check out an item that is not yet available, click the "Is this item available?" link in the catalog record, then click the "Request" link.

Reviewed by John Glover, Reference Librarian for the Humanities

R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country is a combination book-and-compact disk set featuring various musicians from early in the era of recorded music, some well known, some less so. It had its genesis in a limited edition of "trading cards" illustrated by R. Crumb in the 1980s. These trading cards feature Crumb's unique cartooning style, depicting these musicians based on existing photographs.

Studying the images, in conjunction with the music from the CD, is a pleasurable experience. The capsule biographies of each musician lend backstory to songs that crackle and pop audibly. Listening to them, one gets something of the experience of the record collector listening to obscure glories, but without the concerns of heat warping, lamination crack, and so on. The images can be seen in various places, the songs heard in many formats, but getting the two of them at the same time is a trip back to the early 20th century.

Cabell Library ML394 .C35 2006
Cabell Media and Reserves Compact Discs ML394 .C35 2006

Reviewed by Jason Morris, Reference and Instruction Specialist

Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.
He played a few chords then he sang some more--

"I got the Weary Blues
And I can't be satisfied.
Got the Weary Blues
And can't be satisfied--
I ain't happy no mo'
And I wish that I had died."

And far into the night he crooned that tune.
The stars went out and so did the moon.
The singer stopped playing and went to bed
While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.
He slept like a rock or a man that's dead.

- from 'Weary Blues' by Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes was the Poet Laureate of the Harlem Renaissance. While his words are beautiful on the written page, they are enhanced by hearing him read his work. Hughes first performed his poems with a live jazz accompaniment in the 1920s.

When the 'Beat' poets of the 50s revived this art, Hughes returned to reading at jazz clubs. This lead to the recording of the 'Weary Blues' LP in 1958 (reissued on CD in 1990).

It's interesting to hear his delivery, which ranges from relaxed to tongue-in-cheek. It makes a listener wonder what he thought of the poems on this album, since most of them were written 30 years before the recording. Hughes is backed by world-class jazz musicians, including legendary bass player/composer Charles Mingus.

Cabell Media and Reserves Compact Discs PS3515.U274 A6 1990b