Main description:

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 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.

At the very center of this story is John Wilkes Booth, America's notorious villain. A Confederate sympathizer and a member of a celebrated acting family, Booth threw away his fame and wealth for a chance to avenge the South's defeat. For almost two weeks, he confounded the manhunters, slipping away from their every move and denying them the justice they sought.

Based on rare archival materials, obscure trial transcripts, and Lincoln's own blood relics, 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 you've never read it before.

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“A gripping page-turner . . . Riviting . . . Booth comes across as viscerally real.”

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“An action-adventure . . . infuse[d] with high drama. . . . A multifaceted chronicle.”

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“Brilliant! Absolutely haunting. . . . This historical book is almost impossible to put down.”

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“Extraordinary . . . Brilliant . . . As gripping as any tightly scripted crime drama”

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“James Swanson has written a terrific narrative . . . a triumphant book.”

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“Told expertly . . . Swanson’s moment by moment account of the 12-day chase is compulsively readable.”

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“Vividly readable example of the you-are-there genre . . . managed with ‘CSI’ immediacy.”