The most thrilling true crime story never before told-- the breathtaking 12-day hunt and capture of President Abraham Lincoln’s assassin: John Wilkes Booth. The book is currently being adapted for the screen for a movie starring Harrison Ford.

About the author, James L. Swanson
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 Lincoln’s 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.

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Critical praise for Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer
“[A]s gripping a page-turner as anything you’ll find on the mystery shelf…[Swanson] makes the characters in this great American tragedy actually seem human. Even Booth comes across as viscerally real…(Grade: A)” Entertainment Weekly

“[Mr. Swanson] has successfully streamlined the assassination’s aftermath into an action-adventure version of these events. He makes Manhunt very accessible and infuses it with high drama.” Janet Maslin, The New York Times

 “Artfully arranging Booth’s flight with the frantic federal dragnet that sought him, Swanson so tensely dramatizes the chase, capture, and killing of Booth that serious shelf-life…awaits his account of the assassination.” Booklist: January 1 & 15, 2006. Page 36

 “[E]xtraordinary…This is a story as gripping as any tightly scripted crime drama, yet Swanson doesn’t play fast and loose with historical facts.” Boston Globe

“The narrative’s most interesting character – Lincoln himself – is gone after the first act…On balance, thought, Manhunt is a rattling good read. And it’s a surprisingly suspenseful one.” USA Today

 “Mr. Swanson’s moment-by-moment account of the 12-day chase is compulsively readable…Swanson reminds us that history is ultimately governed not by impersonal economic and social forces but by all the emotions that make up individual human beings…” Wall Street Journal

“Swanson’s precise, minute-by-minute account is surprisingly suspenseful…With scrupulous research as the bedrock to an enthralling story, Manhunt will appeal to casual readers of popular history, as well as academic historians,” Charlotte Observer: March 5, 2006

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If you enjoyed MANHUNT: THE TWELVE DAY CHASE FOR LINCOLN’S KILLER
by JAMES L. SWANSON, you may like some of these titles:
 

Lincoln’s Assassins: Their Trial and Execution by James L. Swanson
Non-fiction. Swanson and Weinberg, both Lincoln collectors and scholars, have assembled a remarkable collection of images relating to the assassination and the fate of its perpetrators (whose guilt some historians question today), including many that have not been easily available before.

Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly: The Remarkable Story of the Friendship Between a First Lady and a Former Slave by Jennifer Fleischner
Non-fiction.  A fascinating look at the lives and friendship of two women-one about whom historians have told us much, the other, a person who deserves far more recognition than she has received.

Team of Rivals:  The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin Non-fiction.  Details Lincoln’s political acumen and remarkable leadership style.

 His Name is Still Mudd:  The Case Against Dr. Samuel Alexander Mudd by Edward J. Steers
Non-fiction.  Sometimes in war the only difference between a patriot and a traitor is which side wins.

Killer Angels by Michael Shaara 
Fiction.  Michael Shaara's account of the three most important days of the Civil War features deft characterizations of all of the main actors, including Lee, Longstreet, Pickett, Buford, and Hancock.

Mary Surratt: an American Tragedy by Elizabeth Stegar Trindal 
Non-fiction.  Elizabeth Trindal has chronicled this almost forgotten figure in a key incident in what proved to be virtually the last days of the American civil war.

The Lincolns in the White House:  Four Years that Shattered a Family by Jerrold M. Packard 
Non-fiction.  A divided nation and an equally divided family, this invaluable portrait goes behind the closed doors of one of Americas most captivating presidential families. 

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