What's Left to Say?

Now that my new book The Lincoln-Kennedy Coincidences is finally out, readers have been asking: That’s a really cool topic, but what’s left to say about either assassinations?

It’s a fair question. But one with a surprisingly clear answer.

It’s estimated that about 15,000 books have been written about Abraham Lincoln. In fact, within the lobby of the Ford’s Theatre Center for Education and Leadership stands a tower constructed of a sampling of those books. It’s made up of roughly 6,800 titles, less than half the total count, and stands at a whopping thirty-four feet—a truly amazing monument to the amount of thought and research put into one specific topic.

Believe it or not, the swath of books about John Kennedy is even larger. Upon the fiftieth anniversary of his death in 2013, the New York Times estimated the count at nearly 40,000, with a large percentage of that tally dedicated to his assassination.

Put them together and that’s well over 50,000 books covering a wide range of angles into both men, their presidencies, and their tragic deaths. Yet there’s never been one quite like this.

Even within the subset of books focusing on each president’s assassination, The Lincoln-Kennedy Coincidences remains distinct. Rather than walking through the compelling stories of those tragic events or exploring the motivations or even conspiratorial possibilities behind them, this book grabs hold of a thread running through both presidents and their respective assassinations: the long list of inexplicable similarities and coincidences between the two events. Which is one of those topics that most people are at least vaguely familiar with—one that’s fascinated both casual and serious history buffs for more than half a century.

Chapter by chapter, The Lincoln-Kennedy Coincidences delves into that list and its origins while following the general timeline of each assassination—flying at a different altitude than any of the previous books that have approached these subjects. Along the way, it branches off into side stories and subplots that shine a light into relatively unexplored pockets of each assassination and further tie the two together. From the compilation of the initial list to a campfire story of a curse cast upon the American presidency to the mind-bending metaphysical implications of what all these connections might suggest, this book blends serious historical research with a sprinkle of whimsy.

It began as a simple investigation of that list of eerie coincidences, setting out to decipher which ones are true, which aren’t, and how likely (or unlikely) those similarities really are. Over time and exploration, it branched out into something much more satisfying and evolved into what you’re about to read: a journey along a path filled with colorful people and places making up some truly compelling anecdotes that you won’t believe you haven’t heard.

The end result is a book that will likely feel partially familiar, partially brand new, and totally unlike any of the thousands that have come before.