The Murder of Abraham Lincoln (Treasury of Victorian Murder) (v. 7) [Hardcover]

Rick Geary (Author)

Book Description

Series: Treasury of Victorian Murder | Publication Date: June 1, 2005

The most famous assassination of the Victorian era. The details he reveals are fascinating. Booth worked with a group of disgruntled Southern sympathizers out to decapitate much of the US Executive branch, not just the President! Geary also details the flight of the culprits and the hot pursuit of federal agents.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This latest volume of Geary's series A Treasury of Victorian Murder is a must-read for those who are only familiar with cursory details of Lincoln's assassination. Geary's meticulous research and vivid illustrations create a fascinating narrative that covers the 62 days between March 4 and May 4, 1865, and provide a wealth of information on murderous thespian and Southern loyalist John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators, some of whom backed out of the assassination plot. Geary paints Booth as a man with an exorbitant need for attention and aggrandizement. History shows he achieved the attention he sought, but rather than being hailed as a hero to the South, Booth found himself regarded as an utter villain by those whose favor he hoped to garner. Geary also gives much attention to the bizarre elements of the case, such as Lincoln's ominous dreams of his own death, the strange actions of Secretary of War Edwin McMasters Stanton and the shockingly lax security around the president, all the more alarming when coupled with obvious hints beforehand that something foul was afoot in the capital. With his elegant pen-and-ink art and knack for sifting memorable and unusual details from history, Geary renders this familiar true story in riveting and thorough detail.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up–This book will have even reluctant readers immersed in history. It covers Lincoln's assassination, the events that led up to it, and the aftermath. Geary also makes a point of bringing up still-unanswered questions, like the whereabouts of the missing pages of John Wilkes Booth's journal. Readers will learn many unusual facts, including why the Grants might have declined the Lincolns' invitation to Ford's Theatre and how Booth's body was identified after his death by the initials he had carved into his right hand. Many of the black-and-white drawings are very striking, some filling all or most of a page. Notable images include those of Lincoln's prophetic dream about being assassinated, the removal of Lincoln's brain dislodging the flattened bullet, and Booth being shot while the tobacco barn burned around him. This last image is one of the few instances of fictionalizing (we can't know what Booth looked like at that moment since we don't even know who shot him), but otherwise this is as factual as any book a student would use for research. Readers who were fascinated by the engrossing story of Booth and his family in James Cross Giblin's Good Brother, Bad Brother (Clarion, 2005) will enjoy this graphic novel, but even teens who know nothing about the tragedy will find their heads chock-full of information when they're finished reading this book.–Andrea Lipinski, New York Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 80 pages
• Publisher: NBM Publishing (June 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561634255
• ISBN-13: 978-1561634255
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,033,166 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Popular" history as it ought to be done, March 10, 2006

By 

Michael K. Smith (South Louisiana) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Murder of Abraham Lincoln (Treasury of Victorian Murder) (v. 7) (Hardcover)

This is the seventh in a very high-quality series that includes Lizzie Borden, Jack the Ripper, H. H. Holmes, and Charles Guiteau. Think of it as "Classics Illustrated" for adults. Geary's black-and-white crow-quill drawing style fits perfectly his carefully narrated history of the sixty-two days between Lincoln's second Inauguration and his entombment in Springfield, by way of the assassination plot, the unsuccessful attacks on Johnson and Seward, Booth's convenient escape, and his death in Garrett's tobacco barn. I've long thought there was more there than meets the eye, with the focus on the peculiar actions of Stanton, both before and after Ford's Theater, and the author mentions those points in passing, but he sticks pretty close to the official train of events. An excellent piece of work.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars another winner, June 11, 2005

By 

D. MacGowan "Hopeless Bibliophile" (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Murder of Abraham Lincoln (Treasury of Victorian Murder) (v. 7) (Hardcover)

Once again, Geary takes a complicated crime and presents it in an understandable -- and very enjoyable & redable -- level.

5.0 out of 5 stars Lincoln, Lincoln what were you thinking?, May 17, 2010

By 

Sam Quixote - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Murder of Abraham Lincoln (A Treasury of Victorian Murder) (v. 7) (Paperback)

On April 14, 1865 Abraham Lincoln along with his wife and some guests went to Ford's Theatre in New York to see the play "Our American Cousin" and was shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate who was also an actor. Booth shouted "Sic Semper Tyrannis" or "Thus Always to Tyrants" after leaping from the balcony, breaking his foot in the jump, and escaping. Lincoln died shortly after and a few days later Booth was found and shot by Federal Marshals.

That was all I knew of the most famous assassination in 19th century history. What I found out was fascinating. Booth's assassination was part of a larger conspiracy where other members of Lincoln's administration would be murdered that night, such as Andrew Johnson the Vice President (and later of course President) and William Seward, the Secretary of State. The men sent to kill William Seward got in, they only managed to cut the man's face before being hauled off. Seward survived while his assassin fled only to be caught later. The man who was charged with murdering Andrew Johnson lost his nerve and went from bar to bar drinking. Later he too was caught and all the conspirators were hanged.

I was amazed at the lack of security given to Lincoln. Nowadays we see Presidents and Heads of State having armies of bodyguards, snipers on rooftops, armed motorcades and choppers. Lincoln was receiving death threats daily and had a single bodyguard! Not only that but on the night of the murder his bodyguard was in the bar drinking instead of guarding the President! I always imagined Booth sneaking into Lincoln's balcony secretly and then shooting him but apparently all Booth had to do was show his ID to Lincoln's PA, a man called Forbes sat on a chair outside the balcony, to say he was an actor at the theatre (which he was) and then wait. Booth chose the moment in the play when a joke is uttered that gets a big laugh and then taking out his single shot Derringer and shooting. It's amazing that after this, he leaps down, breaks his leg, and still manages to get away! The theatre had no security either! Geary also mentions how Booth earlier in the day had ridden right up to General Grant's carriage and stared in, twice, at Grant and his wife, before riding off. Grant had no security either! It's astonishing how at such a turbulent time, such an important figure like Lincoln could be quite so cavalier in his lack of self protection.

Geary once again produces a mesmerising book of true crime, written well with a mounting sense of dread and tension despite the reader knowing what is going to happen, and drawn with accuracy and skill. A wonderful addition to his "Treasury of Victorian Murder" series and a fantastic read.