TOW #8 – "Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever"

Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard details the events leading up to and directly following President Lincoln’s assassination. O’Reilly and Dugard focus on the influences Lincoln had on the nation, which gives a particular context to the devastating impacts John Wilkes Booth’s attack on Lincoln had on America. The host of a FOX news show, O’Reilly is famous as a historian (Editors), and as is Dugard for writing historical texts (Dugard). Most relevant to the intention of explaining the impact of the assassination, the authors manipulate syntax by concluding chapters with small sentences to leave a lasting message for the audience. For example, after explaining John Wilkes Booth’s convoluted plotting, the coauthors simply conclude, “John Wilkes Booth is expecting them” (O’Reilly and Dugard 176). Following pages of very detailed information, O’Reilly and Dugard effectively use these short statements to summarize most generally what was happening, as well as to generate an appeal to pathos. This short, albeit complete sentence contributes largely to the authors’ purpose of explaining how large an event Lincoln’s death truly was. Furthermore, following the attack on Lincoln, the coauthors employ anaphora to emphasize the immense impacts Lincoln’s brain (in itself an example of synecdoche) had on the nation: “It struggled with war… It imagined stirring speeches that knit the country together… It guided [the signing of] the Emancipation Proclamation, giving four million slaves their freedom” (O’Reilly and Dugard 229). Including this background information argues the validity of the title, that Lincoln’s death truly did change America. The parallel structure achieved using anaphora contributes to building an extensive list of Lincoln’s impacts, further showing the audience the context of Lincoln’s death. All of the items in the list serve to explain Lincoln’s positive contributions to the American government, helping the authors explain fully why Booth's attack on Lincoln negatively impacted America. Via the multiple devices employed, including the syntax of small sentences and anaphora, the coauthors successfully achieved their purpose of explaining the large, devastating impact that Booth's assassination of Lincoln had on America.

Works Cited

Dugard, Martin. “About.” Martin Dugard, http://www.martindugard.com/about/.

Editors, Biography.com. “Bill O'Reilly Biography.” The Biography.com Website, A&E Networks Television, 2015, http://www.biography.com/people/bill-oreilly-9542547#personal-life.

O'Reilly, Bill, and Martin Dugard. Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever. 1st ed., New York, Henry Holt and Co., 2011.