Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln (Hardcover)

by Edward Steers Jr. (Author) "The voice came over the loudspeaker announcing that the next talk on the assassination of Abraham Lincoln would begin in two minutes..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, United States, White House (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
"Hurrah! Old Abe Lincoln has been assassinated!" wrote a South Carolina girl in her diary in 1865, giving palpable voice to the intense anti-Lincoln sentiments of the slaveholders and the South in general. This well-argued, often exciting account of an organized Confederate plot behind John Wilkes Booth's murder of the president both finely synthesizes traditional Lincoln assassination scholarship and proposes new proof and twists on already acknowledged possibilities. Steers, an avocational historian who has written several other books on Lincoln and the assassination, has a sharp ear for historical discordance and a novelist's eye for illuminating detail. Carefully filling in background (from Booth's relationship to theater and politics to the fascinating, complicated trial of co-conspirator Mary Surratt) for the nonspecialized reader, Steers gracefully disentangles a clutter of characters, historical details and hypotheses to prove his own conspiracy theory. Much of this material will be new to the common reader a Confederate plot to use yellow fever as a form of biological warfare against the North; the flight to the Vatican of Mary Surratt's son in an effort to escape prosecution after the assassination but Steers never loses his firm grip on his exciting primary narrative. Although he inclines toward purple prose in his more dramatic moments ("The deed was done. The tyrant was killed. Abraham Lincoln could burn in hell. Sic semper tyrannis!"), his theory is forthrightly and convincingly presented. Less a book for professional historians than U.S. history buffs and Lincoln diehards, this engaging expos‚ makes for provocative reading. 50 b&w illus.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review
"Offers a highly useful narrative of the Lincoln murder conspiracy." -- Civil War Book Review

"Presents a tale taht needs to be told-the real story behind the assassination of the 16th president." -- Kentucky Monthly

"Punctures the myths and misrepresentations that have so long been part of the history." -- Political Bandwagon

"Puts many of the myths and misconceptions to rest." -- WTBF Radio

"Steers has written a detailed, scholarly account based on original sources as well as newly discoverd evidence concerning the assassination." -- Virgina Quarterly Review

"Steers proves that Mrs. Surratt's tavern in Maryland and boarding house in D.C were both safe houses for Confederate agents." -- Easton (MD) Star-Democrat

"This should be the end-all of Lincoln assassination books." -- Louisville Courier-Journal

"What Steers has done is go back to trial testimony and eyewitness memoirs." -- Baltimore Sun

"What separates Blood on the Moon... is the depth and breadth of Steers' research." -- Morgantown Messenger

Steers has studied the Lincoln assassination intensively and had accumulated a formidable database." -- Washington Times

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky (November 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813122171
• ISBN-13: 978-0813122175
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #234,849 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A terrific book by Edward Steers, Jr., March 26, 2002

By	Jon Hunt "musician, teacher" (Old Greenwich, Ct. USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Many years ago I read Jim Bishop's "The Day Lincoln was Shot" and for the first time learned in greater depth about John Wilkes Booth and his accomplices. Edward Steers's new book, "Blood on the Moon", goes much farther in untangling the web of men and women who took part in the Lincoln assassination. Controversy will always surround the events concerning Lincoln's murder but Mr. Steers has done a magnificent job in attempting to set the record straight.

The reader will be reminded that Booth's original plan was to kidnap Lincoln and take him across Confederate lines. It wasn't until late March, 1865 that Booth's plans changed to killing Lincoln and other officials high up in the U.S.government. Mr. Steers writes in a detailed but moving prose, carefully laying out the cases for the guilty. He particularly targets Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, whose name has been attempted to have been cleared by historical revisionists. I felt Mr. Steers's best chapter recounts Booth's escape through the Maryland countryside and his subsequent death in Virginia. The final chapter, too, regarding Lincoln's last trip home to Illinois is moving.

The book is accompanied by some good photos...one taken of Lincoln's death bed moments after his body was removed and one of Lincoln lying in state....the latter only discovered in the twentieth century after being lost for years. However it's Mr. Steers's connecting the pieces of the conspiracy puzzle that set this book apart from the rest. Nicely readable and often riveting, I highly recommend it.

33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughly Researched and Detailed Account of Lincoln Plot, August 25, 2002

By	Wayne A. Smith (Wilmington, DE) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This meticulously researched and reasoned book by Edward Steers both tells the story of Lincoln's Assassination and builds the case against those involved.

Much of the book reads like a detective story. Since Lincoln's death, various publicity seekers, conspiracy buffs and doubters have disputed various aspects of the story. The issues Steers deals with -- and convincingly -- are ones that have plagued the assassination story for a long time. By assembling documentary evidence from a vast array of sources, Steers builds strong cases that: Dr. Mudd was a part of the conspiracy to capture Lincoln and was a confederate of Booth -- and was expecting to help Booth escape from Washington; Mary Surratt was also a part of the conspiracy and thus justly convicted; the harebrained conspiracy theories involving Vice President Johnson or Sec. of War Stanton in the assassination are just that; The Confederate Secret service was active in supporting a kidnapping of Lincoln, knew Booth and provided him with resources; the top levels of the Confederate government (including Jefferson Davis) were aware of kidnap schemes (though no claim is made that Davis or others in the Confederate high command knew of or supported the assassination plot).

The book deftly does several things. While telling the story of the assassination plot and Confederate secret service activities, it builds the case implicating individuals found guilty by the government but whose involvement has been questioned over the years. Steers also tells of and demolishes notions that Booth really escaped and that an imposter was buried in his tomb -- notions that had some currency in the early Twentieth Century. Steers provides a thorough examination of the case of Dr. Mudd -- proving his complicity in the Lincoln conspiracy and rebuking those family members who to this day try to exonerate Mudd as an innocent doctor who executed his Hippocratic Oath for the lame Booth when he came calling to his home after the murder. (Steers has also written a book solely on this topic "His Name Is Still Mudd")

This is an impressive work. Steers deftly melds both the story of Lincoln's assignation plot with the detective work proving the case against those who claim mistake or cover-up. It is well written and makes good use of primary sources. Although I have read and enjoyed "The Day Lincoln Was Shot," I'd have to rate this as the Lincoln assassination book to read.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The definitive book on the Lincoln Assassination, December 23, 2004

By	H. N. Dohe (My Sanctum Sanctorium) - See all my reviews

This is an incredibly well written book. Mr. Steers weaves a logical, thorougly understandable trail of events that lead to Lincoln's assassination, and the hunt for J. Wilkes Booth afterwards. His writing also shows how the attitudes towards Lincoln changed with his murder. Lincoln was not well loved in the North, and many there were wary of his suspension of civil liberties and his desire to franchise African-American soldiers. No wonder Booth thought he would be a hero. Mr. Steers also makes a strong case against Dr. Mudd, whom many nowadays want to paint as an innocent person caught up in post-assassination hysteria.

I have had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Steers talk, and he is a fascinating speaker as well as an excellent writer.

This book, along with "Twenty Days", belong in every Lincoln collection.