Since I share all my movie viewings with you, why not the latest readings? This was an Easter gift from my in-laws.
“Manhunt: The 12-day chase for Lincoln’s assassin” tells the tale of the President’s death and the subsequent “manhunt” for actor/murderer John Wilkes Boothe. Written by famed Lincoln scholar James L. Swanson (contributor to the Wall Street Journal and L.A. Times), it has a matter-of-fact style and an approach more likely found in a thriller than a book of an intrinsic historical nature.
“Manhunt” may gloss over some details in favor of pace and brevity, but remains factual and is a strongly suggested starting point for anyone with renewed historical interest. Swanson’s style is smooth and gives a quickened feel, even to the five-days Boothe and fellow conspirator David Herold sat in a pine forest waiting for a trip across river, painting a picture of Union soldiers just yards away and an urgency to all the proceedings.
Swanson shines a light on many of the characters of the assassination. It tells the tale of the near-murder of Secretary of State William Seward and the bravery of his family and friends, which saved him. It hits on the near farcical attempt on the life of Vice President Andrew Johnson. Amazingly enough, a motley crew of four misfits – a romantic, narcissistic tragedian; a groupie; an overgrown oaf of a man; and a goofish coward – nearly brought down the head of the entire United States government in one swoop.
While not noted by the author, “Manhunt” has no small correlation with a bright, sunny, fearful day seven Septembers ago. With Lincoln dead, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton emerges as leader, taking over the reins of the war, dealing with the death of his close friend and President, while hunting for vengeance all in the same. Gripping doesn’t do well enough to describe Swanson’s descriptions of the horror and shock ridden through a country, already at war with itself, and the men and women who found their place in history due to the resulting actions.
Swanson makes time to describe the historical “what ifs” that captivate. With Boothe’s unreliable pistol, there was a chance he could misfire. Boothe, armed with a knife, would have been fighting a former wrestler and an enraged one, who was still of stout physical condition, and fighting for the life of his wife as well. What if Boothe had said no to his ego and simply fled through his entrance, instead of leaping to stage and making his easily recognizable face apparent? What if Boothe had not broken his leg and not spent days and hours resting instead of running? What if he made the Deep South, which was the goal of his escape? History as we known it would have been irrevocably changed.
The story turns Shakespearian, with Swanson noting Lincoln’s love of the playwright, as well as Boothe’s, whose resulting actions more than befit MacBeth – how appropriate the two – a King and an actor – end up the core characters in our greatest national tragedy.
I will definitely be cracking open this one once my exams are all done and I have time to read something that isn’t a casebook. Although I am being a little dishonest…I stopped reading the casebooks back in February.
You’ll find “Manhunt” much more appealing than the casebooks. I haven’t read history in forever, usually sticking to political non-fiction, and was pleasantly surprised. Definitely a great book.
Swanson also has a follow up planned based on the manhunt for Jefferson Davis, which was taking place at the same of Boothe’s manhunt.
2 1/2 weeks and I’m free…for another week, then my externship starts. I’ve got this on deck and Mark Levin’s Liberty and Tyranny. Also, I’m revisiting 1984 and Brave New World. For some reason I’ve been in the mood for a dystopian examination of oppressive governments, I wonder why.
blackhawk… you should add Children of Men by P.D. James into the mix. The book is much deeper than the movie which used it as a anti-Bush, Bush is a fascist fantasy. James’ book is also a better cultural critique than the film — natch.
You would not be an agent of “hope and change” I presume.
And if you are wanting to stay current, you should probably throw some “Atlas Shrugged” in there as well.
I listened to Manhunt a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. One fact that stuck with me is the origin of the phrase ‘your name is mud’ and one Dr. Samuel Mudd. I don’t recall if Swanson makes the connection between the phrase and Dr. Mudd, but Nicolas Cage certainly did in National Treasure II.
Am I correct in remembering that Swanson hints at the government going a bit overboard on the prosecutions after Boothe was shot in the barn?
I don’t recall the “mud” remark being referred to by Swanson. He did touch on the over zealousness of Stanton in pursuing Boothe’s co-conspirators, mostly Mary Surratt and Ned Spangler. Swanson felt if their trials were not so immediate after the assassination they would have escaped death, maybe even prison time, much like John Surratt did when he ran off abroad.
Stanton was the biggest hero of the book. Like the other characters though, he found himself locked in scandal or some other problems down the line. It’s amazing how even amongst the survivors, tragedy seemed to lurk.
I’ve always wondered,John…suppose Andrew Johnson had been killed as well:who would have been President?
The book briefly touches on the Johnson dilemma, but it was something I wondered about myself in more detail. The book does say that Johnson basically relinquished all command to Stanton for the time being after Ford’s theater, meaning it was on Stanton’s shoulders to run the country, the war, the manhunt’s for Davis and Boothe, as well as plan the Presidential funeral and keep the country from falling apart – talk about a long day. With all this on his shoulders Stanton is definitely an understated American hero, at least in how Swanson portrays his actions, though Swanson was clearly not happy with how some of Boothe’s accomplices of incident ended up on the long end of short ropes.
More amazing, any competent assassin and Johnson would have been dead. He stayed in a public hotel with no guard. For some reason, Boothe choose George Atzerodt for the deed, and to say he was a failure would be an epic understatement. Atzerodt may be the worst assassin in history.
Johnson’s firing of Stanton as S of War was one of the pretext for Johnson’s impeachment and trial.Congress had passed what was known as the Tenure of Office Act,which required Senate approval of any Cabinet dismissals(the SCOTUS later declared this law unconstitutional).
By the way,Blackhawk,good luck on your exams
Sounds good…I’ll give it a whirl .
Sounds good.
I plan on reading the following, by the way.
(1) KILLER ANGELS (In the process)
(2) TOM SAWYER
(3) MORTE D’ARTHUR
Kit, have you heard about a new book titled, “My Jim”?
The Seattle Public Library was promoting this book, big time, as something of a corrective to to be taught alongside Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. I haven’t read “My Jim” nor did I go to any of the SPL events concerning the book (which involved pondering the question if Huck Finn should banned), but I do wonder at the attention “My Jim” is getting. Huck Finn was published in 1884, and continues to be read by folks 125 years after its publication date. I wonder if anyone will care about “My Jim” in 2134, or will they look at it as just another example of the politically correct insanity that infected the late 20th & early 21st centuries.
Daniel,
Never have heard of it.
There was a book I read in the 7th or 8th grade called “When they came to arrest the book” which is a fictionalized account of HUCK FINN being banned at a school. The book is about as anti-censorship as you can get- and preachy.
Sounds good.