Combining magnificent historical research with a thrilling story, Manhunt describes the hourndash;byndash;hour details of the twelve days after Abraham Lincoln's assassination when various factions within the U.S. government ndash; and even some outside it ndash; hunted for the President's killer, John Wilkes Booth. The pursuit of Lincoln's assassins is one of the greatest untold stories in American history. From April 14th to 26th, 1865, the hunt for John Wilkes Booth and his accomplices transfixed, thrilled, and horrified a nation of mourners who watched as this onendash;time thespian star led the Union army on a wild chase across the swamps of Maryland and into the forests of Virginia. Manhunt is the first book devoted entirely to these twelve, dramatic days between the murder of the president and the capture and death of his killer. The hunt begins with Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, an imperious and fearsome man whom Lincoln called, "Mars, God of War." From a makeshift command center set up just step from the president's death bed, Stanton took control of the government and the manhunt. An hour by hour account of those twelve days told through the eyes of the hunted and the hunters, Manhunt makes clear why Booth refused to be taken alive and exposes which conspirators, now lost to history, escaped justice and lived to tell the tale. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

In the early days of April 1865, with the bloody war to preserve the union finished, Swanson tells us, Abraham Lincoln was "jubilant." Elsewhere in Washington, the other player in the coming drama of the president's assassination was miserable. Hearing Lincoln's April 10 victory speech, famed actor and Confederate die-hard John Wilkes Booth turned to a friend and remarked with seething hatred, "That means nigger citizenship. Now, by God, I'll put him through." On April 14, Booth did just that. With great power, passion and at a thrilling, breakneck pace, Swanson (Lincoln's Assassins: Their Trial and Execution) conjures up an exhausted yet jubilant nation ruptured by grief, stunned by tragedy and hell-bent on revenge. For 12 days, assisted by family and some women smitten by his legendary physical beauty, Booth relied on smarts, stealth and luck to elude the best detectives, military officers and local police the federal government could muster. Taking the reader into the action, the story is shot through with breathless, vivid, even gory detail. With a deft, probing style and no small amount of swagger, Swanson, a member of the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, has crafted pure narrative pleasure, sure to satisfy the casual reader and Civil War aficionado alike. 11 b&w photos not seen by PW. (Feb. 7) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Small wonder that Manhunt has been optioned as a major motion picture. In this fast-paced, hour-by-hour account of the 12 days following Lincoln's assassination at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865, Swanson (coauthor, with Daniel R. Weinberg, of Lincoln's Assassins: Their Trial and Execution) allows the reader to ride along with the Union cavalry and federal agents through the streets of the nation's capital and the wilds of Maryland and Virginia in pursuit of John Wilkes Booth, his coconspirators, and the host of rebel enablers who constituted a viable Confederate underground railroad. Swanson's eye for detail and his excellent thumbnail sketches of the figures involved bring the chronicle alive. There was the simultaneous assassination attempt on Secretary of State William Seward, and Secretary of War Stanton's pivotal role in keeping the nation together during the unrest, stoked by an irresponsible press, following Lincoln's death. Swanson details the conditions endured by Booth while on the run and the foolish mistakes committed by him and his pursuers during the long chase until the last stand at a farm near Port Royal, VA, on April 26. Swanson concludes with discussions of the trial and execution of the four secondary conspirators, the subsequent squabbling over reward money, and the unfolding of the post-assassination lives of the drama's major personalities. Ably researched and seamlessly written, this engrossing book is recommended for all Civil War and Lincoln collections-and all libraries.-John Carver Edwards, Univ. of Georgia Libs., Cleveland Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

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