Illinois Authors

Recounts the 35th president's assassination and details key events while sharing informative back matter and archival photographs.

Harper Audio, New York : ℗2010.

Swanson returns to the Civil War era to tell the epic story of the search for Jefferson Davis and the eventful funeral procession for assassinated president Abraham Lincoln.

"New York Times"--Bestselling author of "Manhunt" returns to the Civil War era to tell the epic story of the search for Jefferson Davis and the eventful funeral procession for assassinated president Abraham Lincoln.

On the morning of April 2, 1865, Jefferson Davis received a telegram from General Robert E. Lee. There is no more time--the Yankees are coming, it warned. That night Davis fled Richmond, setting off an intense manhunt for the Confederate president. Two weeks later, President Lincoln was assassinated, and the nation was convinced that Davis was involved in the conspiracy that led to the crime. Lincoln's murder, autopsy, and White House funeral transfixed the nation. His final journey began when soldiers placed his corpse aboard a special train that would carry him home to Springfield, Illinois. It was the most magnificent funeral pageant in American history.

Collins, New York : ©2011.

On the morning of April 2, 1865, Jefferson Davis received a telegram from General Robert E. Lee. There is no more time--the Yankees are coming, it warned. That night Davis fled Richmond, setting off an intense manhunt for the Confederate president. Two weeks later, President Lincoln was assassinated, and the nation was convinced that Davis was involved in the conspiracy that led to the crime. Lincoln's murder, autopsy, and White House funeral transfixed the nation. His final journey began when soldiers placed his corpse aboard a special train that would carry him home to Springfield, Illinois. It was the most magnificent funeral pageant in American history.

On the evening of April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr., stepped onto the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. What happened next -- a man in a window, a rifle, and a single shot -- was one of the most horrific and tragic events of the twentieth century. But this audiobook is about more than a murder. It is the story of two men set against the backdrop of the turbulent 1960s -- a decade of assassinations, the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, the counterculture, and the race to the moon. It is the story of King's heroic life, his tumultuous last year, and his fateful trip to Memphis. But it is also the story of a mysterious, lifelong criminal -- James Earl Ray -- whose 1967 escape from prison set him on a strange, yearlong journey that unexpectedly climaxed with King's murder and one of the biggest manhunts in American history.--Provided by publisher.

"James Earl Ray and Martin Luther King, Jr. had two very different life journeys -- but their paths fatally collide when Ray assassinates the world-renown civil rights leader. This book provides an inside look into both of their lives, the history of the time, and a blow-by-blow examination of the assassination and its aftermath."--Provided by publisher.

Scholastic Press, New York : ©2009.

Recounts the escape of John Wilkes Booth, Abraham Lincoln's assassin, and follows the intensive twelve-day search for him and his accomplices.

"This story is true. All the characters are real and were alive during the great manhunt of April 1865. Their words are authentic and come from original sources: letters, manuscripts, trial transcripts, newspapers, government reports, pamphlets, books and other documents. What happened in Washington, D.C., that spring, and in the swamps and rivers, forests and fields of Maryland and Virginia during the next twelve days, is far too incredible to have been made up." So begins this story of the pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth and gives a day-by-day account of the wild chase to find this killer and his accomplices. Based on James Swanson's adult book Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer, this young people's version is a look at the assassination of a president, and shows readers Abraham Lincoln the man, the father, the husband, the friend, and how his death impacted those closest to him.

Presents a complete account of the day Kennedy was killed, following the event hour-by-hour, from the Kennedys' arrival in Texas through the shooting in Dealey Plaza to the shocking aftermath.

W. Morrow, New York : 2006.

Traces the 1865 military trial of eight people accused of conspiring with John Wilkes Booth to assassinate President Lincoln and other high officials.

William Morrow, New York : ©2006.

The murder of Abraham Lincoln set off the greatest manhunt in American history. From April 14 to April 26, 1865, the assassin led Union cavalry and detectives on a wild twelve-day chase through the streets of Washington, D.C., across the swamps of Maryland, and into the forests of Virginia, while the nation, still reeling from the just-ended Civil War, watched in horror. A Confederate sympathizer and a member of a celebrated acting family, John Wilkes Booth threw away his fame and wealth for a chance to avenge the South's defeat. Based on rare archival materials, obscure trial transcripts, and Lincoln's own blood relics, this book is a fully documented work, but it is also a tale of murder, intrigue, and betrayal, an hour-by-hour account told through the eyes of the hunted and the hunters.--From publisher description.

A breathtaking and dramatic account of the JFK assassination by the New York Times bestselling author. Swanson transports listeners back to one of the most shocking, sad, and terrifying events in American history. As he did in his bestselling Chasing Lincoln's Killer, he deploys his signature you are there style to tell the story of the JFK assassination as it has never been told before.