Bill O’Reilly’s best-selling new book, Killing Lincoln, is rife with factual errors. Justin Elliott summarizes a scathing review from the deputy superintendent at Ford’s Theatre:
“Killing Lincoln” makes multiple references to the Oval Office; in fact, Emerson points out, the office was not built until 1909. … The book says that Ford’s Theatre “burned to the ground in 1863.” In fact, the fire was in 1862, according to the review.
The November issue of North & South, the official magazine of the Civil War Society, continues the assault:
A farm where John Wilkes Booth hid after the killing was not 500 acres, as O’Reilly says. It was 217 acres, according to the review. O’Reilly refers to John Ford’s chief carpenter as John J. Clifford. In fact, according to the review, his name was Gifford. “Lewis Powell, the man assigned to kill secretary of state William Seward, did not speak with ‘an Alabama drawl.’ He was from Florida,” the review notes.
Mark Liberman analyzes whether O'Reilly's use of "furling one's brow" as opposed to furrowing one's brow is wrong. Heh. But look: all O'Reilly cares about is what his boss, Roger Ailes, cares about: ratings and money. Facts are inconvenient at times. It hasn't stopped them before; and it never will again.
The Dish 