Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James Swanson

The Goodreads description is a smidge lengthy, so I'll just link to it here in case you want a bit more of a synopsis, but the title is pretty descriptive. And you probably already kind of know how it ends. If not, I'm going to spoil it for you a bit here: Lincoln and Booth die (sorry).

Whilst wandering around the National Book Festival we walked by the Children/YA tent while James Swanson was talking about the 3 versions of this book. He wrote Manhunt for adults, then adapted the book into a YA and children's book form. Janssen and I kept looking at each other and saying, "We are totally going to read this book." Janssen actually just posted a review of the YA version on her blog. Swanson had us totally convinced. I don't even remember what he said, but he was really knowledgeable in an interesting and passionate way and as soon as I got home I put the book on hold at the library.

Between the book festival and getting home to put the book on hold though, my mom and I went to Ford's Theater and the Peterson house (the house across the street where Lincoln actually died) on our last day in DC. Having just been there and walked through the places and DC intersections mentioned in the book made it that much more interesting, but I also kind of wish I had read the book first because I think I would have appreciated the basement museum at Ford's theater a little more. I saw Booth's boot and compass and a bunch of stuff the book mentioned and sort of just wandered by without thinking too much about it. Except then I read the book and I was like, "I SAW THAT BOOT!!"

Trips to national landmarks aside, I would have loved this book without visiting DC. Nonfiction can be a tough genre to write interestingly and even tougher to plow through as a reader if it's not done well. But Manhunt is done exceptionally well. I do remember James Swanson saying that he didn't want to make Booth the hero in his books and I kind of thought, "well, duh." But having read the book I could see how it would be hard to make him not the hero. Booth was ridiculously good looking, charismatic, a southern gentleman hanging on to the dying Gone with the Wind ideals. Swanson does a good job of pointing out that he was also vain, not always particularly bright, and a racist on top of being a cold blooded killer. I didn't come away with any sympathy for John Wilkes Booth.

I did, however, totally fall in love with Lincoln. Swanson has said that he's the real hero and he does an excellent job of showing us why. I had to hold it together through the part when he finally died the morning after the shooting. It was pretty heart-rending.

I also want to mention that I had NO IDEA about what has gone on with Ford's Theater since the shooting. I just assumed while I was there that it was more or less the same place Lincoln got shot but it was gutted and used as a government office for a while until a floor collapsed and KILLED 20 PEOPLE. Then they restored it to look the way it did when Lincoln was shot and turned it into a museum. And I'm not really sure why the deaths of 20 people isn't mentioned while you're there because it seems like kind of a big deal to me. It's possible I just missed it though since Wes was ready for a nap at that point.

Also, the book leads us along to Booth getting shot on April 26th, which is my birthday. Which makes my birthday and the book that much cooler. Take THAT Booth.