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| | Location: Home » Crime » General AAS » Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer (P.S.) | January 9, 2009 |
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| Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer (P.S.) | 
 enlarge | Author: James L. Swanson
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy New: $4.25
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (238 reviews)
Sales Rank: 22313
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 496
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.3 x 1.3
ISBN: 0060518502
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.1524097309034
EAN: 9780060518509
ASIN: 0060518502
Publication Date: February 1, 2007
Release Date: February 6, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The murder of Abraham Lincoln set off the greatest manhunt in American history. From April 14 to April 26, 1865, the assassin, John Wilkes Booth, led Union cavalry and detectives on a wild twelve-day chase through the streets of Washington, D.C., across the swamps of Maryland, and into the forests of Virginia, while the nation, still reeling from the just-ended Civil War, watched in horror and sadness. James L. Swanson's Manhunt is 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 you've never read it before.
Amazon.com Review
The Greatest Manhunt in American History For 12 days after his brazen assassination of Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth was at large, and in Manhunt, historian James L. Swanson tells the vivid, fully documented tale of his escape and the wild, massive pursuit. Get a taste of the daily drama from this timeline of the desperate search. | April 14, 1865 | Around noon, Booth learns that Lincoln is coming to Ford's Theatre that night. He has eight hours to prepare his plan.
10:15 pm: Booth shoots the president, leaps to the stage, and escapes on a waiting horse.
Secretary of War Edwin Stanton orders the manhunt to begin. | | April 15 | About 4:00 am: Booth seeks treatment for a broken leg at Dr. Samuel Mudd's farm near Beantown, Maryland. Cavalry patrol heads south toward Mudd farm.
Confederate operative Thomas Jones hides Booth in a remote pine thicket for five days, frustrating the manhunters. | | April 19 | Tens of thousands watch the procession to the U.S. Capitol, where President Lincoln lies in state. Wild rumors and stories of false sightings of Booth spread. | | | | April 20 | Stanton offers a $100,000 reward for the assassins, and threatens death to any citizen who helps them.
After hiding Booth in Maryland, Jones puts him in a rowboat on the Potomac River, bound for Virginia. More than a thousand manhunters are still searching in Maryland. In the dark, Booth rows the wrong way and first ends up back in Maryland. | | April 20-24 | Booth lands in the northern neck of Virginia, and Confederate agents and sympathizers guide him to Port Conway, Virginia. | | April 24 | Booth befriends three Confederate soldiers who help him cross the Rappahannock River to Port Royal and then guide him further southwest to the Garrett farm.
Union troops in Washington receive a report of a Booth sighting. They board a U.S. Navy tug and steam south, right past Booth's hideout at the Garrett farm. | | April 25 | The 16th New York Calvary, realizing their error, turns around and surrounds the Garrett farm after midnight that night. | | | | April 26 | When Booth refuses to surrender, troops set the barn on fire, and Boston Corbett shoots the assassin. Booth dies a few hours later, at sunrise. | | April 26-27 | Booth's body is brought back to Washington, where it is autopsied, photographed, and buried in a secret grave. | | |
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| Customer Reviews: Read 233 more reviews...
 this was a quick read, and a very good book January 5, 2009
A friend loaned me this book shortly after I had finished reading Doris Kearn Goodwin's book "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln", thinking it would provide a little bit of closure (one of these books quotes someone as having said that Booth "robbed" us of the rest of the story of Lincoln's life, and Kearns book ends rather abruptly following the assasination).
Like many of the other reviewers, I had only a cursory knowledge of Lincoln's presidency, and his assasination. These two books together really made that period of history come alive to me. I didn't mind that Swanson took quite a bit of literary license in his narrative. The only thing that I found a little bit creepy about this book is that, at times, it seemed to elevate the stature of Booth.
A little bit repetive, with a fair amount of conjecture, but overall this was really a very good (and fast) read.
A Captivating 19th C. Police Chase January 5, 2009
While all Americans know the name John Wilkes Booth, Swanson's page turner introduces the man and chronicles his adventures from the planning of Lincoln's assassination to his eventual secret burial.
I couldn't put the book down as I craved to know what Booth and his companion would do next. It's rare that I can know how a story will end but be as captivated as if it's a complete mystery.
Others have argued over trivial details but I thought the author did a wonderful job in really minimizing speculation and relying on actual accounts to tell the tale. It's very rare that we find Sawnson speculating on what the subject was thinking or doing.
One criticism that I do have of his writing is his constant reminders that Booth was an actor. Each encounter is repeatedly referred to as a new stage, audience, and performance. Swanson could have been a little more creative in his writing.
An Historic Thriller January 3, 2009
James Swanson's "Manhunt" reads like a thriller rather than history. From the very beginning-- as it describes Lincoln's second inauguration-- until the very end, where the author describes one of the relics of Booth's 12-day effort to avoid capture (his compass)where it remains in the museum in the reconstructed Ford's Theater, Swanson's engrossing novel commands the reader's attention and keeps him or her hungry for more. Despite the monstrosity of Booth's crime, one comes away from this book with a three-dimensional picture of this complex and in many ways tragic figure, who was delusional enough to believe to the bitter end that his assassination of our greatest President would ultimately be seen as an act of heroism in behalf of the oppressed people of the Confederacy and against the tyrannical northern oppressors represented by Lincoln. As an actor, Booth certainly had a flair for the dramatic, so that even during the commission of his heinous crime he cried out for all to hear, "Sic Semper Tyrannis" (thus always to tyrants) and "The South is avenged."
Swanson also fleshes out the other conspirators, including Lewis Powell, who undertook the effort to assassinate William Seward, Lincoln's Secretary of State and his closest confidante; the hapless George Atzerodt (who failed to undertake his assignment to assassinate Vice-President Johnson); and the young David Herold, who remained with Booth from the assassination until Booth's death 12 days later. Along the way we meet a number of interesting characters, most notably Thomas Jones, a Confederate secret agent and river boatman who assisted Booth and Herold in their efforts to elude capture and provided them with the boat to get across the Potomac River to Virginia.
This is a book that also teaches us that mob justice is most often not justice at all. Some of those who were hung in connection with the conspiracy were most likely treated unjustly by a nation thirsty for vengeance.
In any event, this is a book well worth reading, and which is guaranteed to keep you up late at night.
 Relive the Chase for Lincoln's Assassin December 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
James Swanson creates a moment by moment account of the chase for President Lincoln's assassin and his accomplices that is a tour de force. It is difficult to imagine a more compelling, thorough or historically accurate rendition of the period before and the 12 days after Booth's infamous crime. Swanson covers all the ground and answers all the questions, including the little details that history has largely forgotten, such as where Booth was initially interred following his execution and where he is buried today. This book is utterly fascinating and compelling. Through Swanson's captivating style, you can travel back in time and relive this historical event.
What They Don't Teach in History Class December 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I just read this book while cruising the Mexican Riviera. This is a book that I couldn't (didn't want to) put down. I have always had a love of history especially American history but sadly so much is missing in the first 12 years of school. I never fully realized the extensiveness of the plot to kidnap or to assassinate President Lincoln until reading this book. Extremely well written by a author who has done his homework. This is highly recommended as there are many books as well as programs on television who have many inaccuracies. Read this if you want to know the truth about the roll that Dr. Mudd played. Where was Mr. Booth for that missing week?
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