Manhunt

By James L Swanson,

Book cover of Manhunt: The Twelve-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer

Book description

An enthralling hour-by-hour account of the twelve days in 1865 between President Abraham Lincoln's assassination and the capture and death of his murderer, John Wilkes Booth. From 14th to 26th of April 1865, the hunt for Booth and his accomplices transfixed, thrilled and horrified a nation of mourners as Booth…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Manhunt as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I always thought I had a pretty good grasp of the story of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Still, this book is so well-crafted that it managed to keep me on the edge of my seat, full of suspense about John Wilkes Booth and his conspirators' getaway and the government’s attempts to track them down.

I loved the way the author pinned the action-packed story to a backdrop of a nation laid low by the Civil War, with civil liberties temporarily shunted aside under the threat of terror, with some parallels to life after 9/11. A great true crime story.

From Dean's list on a fresh takes on the Civil War.

Get your mind around this: John Wilkes Booth shot and killed President Lincoln in the presidential box at Ford’s Theater, then leapt onstage in front of 1,500 people who had heard the shot, had seen the smoke billow out from Lincoln’s box, had heard Clara Harris scream “He has shot the President!” then ran out the back of the theater, jumped on a one-eyed horse and vanished…for 12 days. 

How Booth could have disappeared so completely after such a public act says a lot about relations between North and South as the Civil War was winding down (he was…

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