From the Publisher:
The murder of Abraham Lincoln set off the greatest manhunt in American history -- the pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth. From April 14 to April 26, 1865, the assassin led Union cavalry troops on a wild, twelve-day chase from the streets of Washington, D.C., across the swamps of Maryland, and into the forests of Virginia.
At the very center of this story is John Wilkes Booth, Americas notorious villain. A confederate sympathizer and member of a celebrated acting family, Booth threw away his fame, wealth, and promise for a chance to avenge the Souths defeat. For almost two weeks, he confounded the manhunters, slipping away from their every move and denying the justice they sought.
Manhunt is a fully documented work, but it is also a fascinating tale of murder, intrigue, and betrayal. A gripping hour-by-hour account told through the eyes of the hunted and the hunters, this is history as youve never read it before.
Critical Praise: "James Swanson has written a terrific narrative of the hunt for Lincoln’s killers that will mesmerize the reader from start to finish just as the actual manhunt mesmerized the entire nation. It is a triumphant book." — Doris Kearns Goodwin
"Brilliant! Absolutely haunting. The medical, investigative and historical details of Lincoln’s assassination make you feel as if you were there, watching every second of John Wilkes Booth’s cunningly calculated violence and a great president’s inevitable and horrific death. Swanson’s amazing account places you in the room as Lincoln lies dying and carries you across the countryside as Booth escapes. This historical book is almost impossible to put down." — Patricia Cornwell
"James Swanson has written a terrific narrative . . . a triumphant book." — Doris Kearns Goodwin
"Brilliant! Absolutely haunting. . . . This historical book is almost impossible to put down." — Patricia Cornwell
"A gripping page-turner . . . Riviting . . . Booth comes across as viscerally real." — Entertainment Weekly (Grade: A)
"Told expertly . . . Swanson’s moment by moment account of the 12-day chase is compulsively readable." — Wall Street Journal
"Extraordinary . . . Brilliant . . . As gripping as any tightly scripted crime drama" — Boston Globe
About the Author:
James L. Swanson, an attorney and Lincoln scholar, has held a number of government and think-tank posts in Washington, D.C. He has written about history, the Constitution, popular culture, and other subjects for a variety of publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and American Heritage. He is the coauthor of Lincolns Assassins: Their Trial and Execution. Swanson is a member of the advisory committee of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. He lives in Washington, D.C.
Annotation:
James L Swanson brings history to life in his highly charged narrative account of the events surrounding the assassination of President Lincoln in April 1865, and the 12 days that followed, during which his killer eluded capture by a veritable army of angry police and military officials while a shocked nation grieved.||Swanson's minutely detailed account fills in our sometimes sketchy knowledge of John Wilkes Booth, his motivations and thought processes, and the preparation and execution of his deed, which was made possible by the actor's thorough knowledge of the Ford Theatre. In flight, Booth finds allies, dashes across land and water, and both he and his pursuers make gross mistakes and errors of direction before he is trapped in a burning barn and shot. Swanson has drawn on the large number of documents, trial transcripts, newspaper and other accounts, as he focuses on the crime and the pursuit to tell a fast-paced story.
|
