Manhunt, Cont.

Upon even further reflection, I must say how impressed I was by the actual writing of Swanson's Manhunt.  As you know, I had become frustrated with nonfiction books being endless lists repeated again and again, seemingly to merely add weight to the book and thereby seriousness, but Swanson carefully nudges the reader along with Booth every step of the way - it reads like a thriller more than anything else. Of course the story itself as well as the characters it provides make it hard to fuck up too badly, but still. Particularly pleasing to me was whenever Swanson didn't miss an opportunity to co-mingle such historic drama/tragedy with Booth's former occupation ("and in the inferno of the barn, Booth prepared for his final act!") The best non-fiction joint I've read in a while now.

I still say this should be a movie, and a funny one at that.  A mix of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (the British Union soldier who keeps volunteering to take Booth on one-on-one, oh by the way he had also cut his own nuts off), and the Simpsons (Sideshow Bob as Booth, Homer as his doofus companion Herold.) The shit writes itself; including the ongoing joke that no matter how gruesome a scene one is describing, or how much they claim Booth is the devil himself for what he's done to the country, nobody can go too far without off-handedly remarking how incredibly handsome he was. ("The flames whipped around Booth as I set my sight on him a final time, preparing to end this 12-day national nightmare...I closed one eye and focused on his face...which was, I must say, pleasant to look at...luminescent, really...")

On a side note, it's fun to see the name "Jett" pop up in the story once the Northern Neck becomes a part of the stage - where I'm from, you can't swing a dead rat across the Rappahannock without hitting a Jett, and in fact I played against one in high school. John Jett went on to have a long, successful career as a punter in the NFL, but whenever I'd mention to people I had played against him in high school (he also played offense/defense), they'd always ask how great a punter he had been, to which I could only shake my head and admit I never had the pleasure of watching him, or any other team for that matter, be forced by us to punt. Sigh.