5127. The Murder of Jim Fisk for the Love of Josie Mansfield A Tragedy of the Gilded Age, by H. W. Brands (read 1 Mar 2014) This slight volume tells of the shooting of Jim Fisk, New York speculator, by Ned Stokes on Jan 6, 1872, at the Grand Central Hotel in New York. Fisk and Stokes were vying for the affection of a woman. The book, with the help of newspaper accounts and the trial transcripts, tells well of the trial Stokes went through. The author is not a lawyer and makes no attempt to discuss the legal aspects of the trials, Some of the trial procedure and happenings seem quite odd, and are kind of fascinating. There are no footnotes and the bibliography is slim. I would have much preferred a more factual and penetrating discussion of the legal aspects of the trials. I have previously read Brands' The Reckless Decade on 7 Sep 2003 and felt he was an interesting writer, and so I read this book, which is not a very profound effort. ( )

history as an aside. ( )

Personally, I would not call this "riveting" but would agree it is a short story. A pretty cursory view of the life and failings of Jim Fisk, one of the robber barons of the Gilded Age. Since I have more than a passing interest on the subject I have read quite a bit of this period and found this book to be a disappointment, albeit an enjoyable read. I could recommend any number of books over this one about the period or the major characters and actually got the impression that the author dashed this off in about an hour. It's not well documented nor really did I get any new insight from the book. If you are interested in this time period I would recommend that you read just about anything by Ken Ackerman particularly Boss Tweed. If you are specifically interested in James Fisk then I would point you to The Gold Ring. Both are far more interesting and informative.

I find it hard to recommend, give this a pass. ( )