Manhunt

Combining impeccable historical research with page-turning narration, here is the first book devoted solely to the 12 dramatic days between the murder of President Abraham Lincoln and the capture and death of his killer—one of the greatest untold stories in American history

From April 14th to the 26th, 1865, the hunt for John Wilkes Booth and his accomplices transfixed a nation reeling from the horrors of the newly ended civil war. Manhunt vividly recreates the dramatic days of the hunt—an intensive search that moves from the streets of Washington, D.C., through the swamps of Maryland and into the forests of Virginia.

James Swanson hews sharp portraits of the figures involved, including the imperious and fearsome Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton—dubbed by Lincoln as “Mars, God of War” who took control of the government and the search—and John Wilkes Booth, the talented yet vain member of a celebrated acting family who sacrificed respect and wealth for an assassin’s immortality. Here, too, are the deadly gang of acolytes with whom he conspired. An hour-by-hour eye-witness account, Manhunt is a fascinating true tale of murder, intrigue, and betrayal as riveting as any bestselling thriller.