Bill O'Reilly's "Killing Lincoln" has been accused of inaccuracies. In general, how serious would these accusations be in regards to its credibility?

by MisterBadIdea2

Like, are these minor nitpicks? Is it common for history books to be hit by this kind of criticism? Or are these flaws serious enough to damn the entire project?

topmarx

There are minor issues (identities are confused, names are wrong, locations are wrong, monetary figures are wrong), more prominent issues (many scenes are set in the Oval Office which wouldn't be built for another 50 years, Lincoln apparently refers to several events that took place up to 10 years after his death) and then a few major unforgivable issues, including situations known to be long-debunked urban legends or things freshly fictionalised for the sake of telling a fun story (notably the stories of Ms Surratt being 'shackled and forced to wear a hood in slave-ship conditions').

If this were a serious historical project, yes, it would be more than enough to damn it. But it's not; it's a pop-history book written by a TV host for a TV audience telling a highly simplified and exaggerated story for entertainment. The fact that it has zero footnotes and never cites a source is a good indication of that. I hope that no one is treating it as a serious historical work.