'APRIL 1865' SHOWS POSTWAR AMERICA AT ITS BEST.Byline: David Kronke TV Critic IN THE GRIM DAYS following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush was seen carrying a copy of historian Jay Wilik's best seller ``April 1865: The Month That Saved America.'' One trusts it was more than a symbolic prop, as the book provided an eloquent narrative on how an entire nation - not just its leaders and generals - rescued itself from an ideological trip to the brink. The History Channel's adaptation of Wilik's book is compulsively watchable watch·a·ble adj. 1. Capable of being watched; viewable: watchable wildlife. 2. Good enough to watch: "The fastest modem ... . Employing the input of but two other historians besides Wilik - Gary Gallagher and Donald Miller - the documentary explains just how perilously close America was to collapsing and how the even-handed behavior of key players and the entire citizenry kept the nation united. Here, the title is just a little bit of a cheat, as events before and after that momentous month are essayed as well, beginning with Abraham Lincoln's graceful, elegiac el·e·gi·ac adj. 1. Of, relating to, or involving elegy or mourning or expressing sorrow for that which is irrecoverably past: an elegiac lament for youthful ideals. 2. second inaugural address and his insistence that rebel soldiers not be punished, to the capture of Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president, in May. Wilik captures many telling details: Davis' neat-freak tidying of his desk before Union soldiers stormed his office in Richmond, Va.; the diplomatically respectful fashion in which Ulysses S. Grant treated his conquered combatant, Robert E. Lee; Lee's kneeling with a black man in a Southern church to receive communion. Of course, Lincoln's assassination Assassination See also Murder. assassins Fanatical Moslem sect that smoked hashish and murdered Crusaders (11th—12th centuries). [Islamic Hist.: Brewer Note-Book, 52] Brutus conspirator and assassin of Julius Caesar. [Br. is vividly remembered (as well as his eerily prescient pre·scient adj. 1. Of or relating to prescience. 2. Possessing prescience. [French, from Old French, from Latin praesci dream of his demise), along with the less-remembered coup that was attempted that night by John Wilkes Booth's equally maniacal ma·ni·a·cal or ma·ni·ac adj. Suggestive of or afflicted with insanity. colleagues who attempted what the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. recently tried in Iraq - a thorough decapitation Decapitation See also Headlessness. Antoinette, Marie (1755–1793) queen of France beheaded by revolutionists. [Fr. Hist.: NCE, 1697] Argos lulled to sleep and beheaded by Hermes. [Gk. Myth. of the governmental power structure. (Alas, the film doesn't include the tension-packed, virtually line-by-line account of the play attended by Lincoln that Wilik included in his book.) ``April 1865'' is packed with drama and informed character studies. It would be an important documentary at any time, but has special resonance at a time when it's important to remember the values that have made America great. APRIL 1865: THE MONTH THAT SAVED AMERICA - Three stars What: Documentary examining the anxious days at the end of the Civil War. Where: History Channel. When: 9 tonight. In a nutshell: High drama that resonates even more at this moment in our history. |
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