 | This study strips away the myths and legends which have long surrounded the Lincoln assassination. As the author demonstrates, Booth was hardly a madman but rather a Southern patriot who believed that in killing Lincoln, he
was removing a tyrant. While the assassin died in Garrett's barn (despite many unfounded claims to the contrary), new controversies were generated when his alleged co-conspirators were tried before a Military Commission. The cases of Mary Surratt and Samuel Mudd have created particular sympathy, although recent research indicates that they were both involved in attempts to capture Lincoln. The book concludes with an examination of how historians have dealt with the president's death,
including claims that Secretary of War Edwin Stanton was involved, as well as recent charges that Jefferson Davis concocted plots which led to Lincoln's death. | | | | | "…an ideal introduction to the history of Lincoln's assassination…full of up-to-date commentary on the nature of the Civil War and the motivations of assassin John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators." -- William Hanchett, www.the historynet.com/reviews/bk |
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