Reason.tv: John J. Miller on The First Assassin—Politics, History, and the Future of Publishing
The author of two previous non-fiction books (The Unmaking of Americans and Our Oldest Enemy), John J. Miller has worked for The New Republic and National Review (he has also contributed to Reason). Now he has published a novel, The First Assassin, which bestselling author Vince Flynn has said is "like Day of the Jackal set in 1861 Washington."
Rich in historical detail, the story takes place as "a new president takes office, a nation begins to break apart—and Colonel Charles Rook must risk insubordination to stop a mysterious assassin who prowls a nervous city. He will need the help of an ally he does not even know he has: Portia, a beautiful slave who holds a vital clue, hundreds of miles away."
Reason.tv's Nick Gillespie recently sat down with Miller to talk about contemporary politics, his novel, and his decision to publish the book via Amazon's CreateSpace program, which represents a new step in self-publishing.
Filmed by Dan Hayes and Meredith Bragg; edited by Hayes. Approximately 8 minutes.
Go here for downloadable versions of this video.
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He needs to read DiLorenzo’s works on Lincoln. then he’ll learn that Lincoln was no defender of freedom…
Or “America’s Two Just Wars: 1775 and 1861” by Rothbard…
“a beautiful slave…”
My guess is Colonel Rook and Portia will be banging at some point in the novel.
“Baby, I want to have your octoroon.”
I’m not sure I see the point of the Jackal trying to kill de Gaulle in 1861 Washington.
As much as I hate spoilers, I have to know: does he catch the guy before he shoots the president?
The First Assassin
And here I was looking for a tale involving the Crusades.
My only point is that if you take the Bible straight, as I’m sure many of Reasons readers do, you will see a lot of the Old Testament stuff as absolutely insane. Even some cursory knowledge of Hebrew and doing some mathematics and logic will tell you that you really won’t get the full deal by just doing regular skill english reading for those books. In other words, there’s more to the books of the Bible than most will ever grasp. I’m not concerned that Mr. Crumb will go to hell or anything crazy like that! It’s just that he, like many types of religionists, seems to take it literally, take it straight…the Bible’s books were not written by straight laced divinity students in 3 piece suits who white wash religious beliefs as if God made them with clothes on…the Bible’s books were written by people with very different mindsets
is good