James Swanson is the Edgar Award-winning author of the New York Times bestsellers Manhunt and its sequel, Bloody Crimes.
"Gripping -- sometimes even gruesome -- and heartrending.... Brilliant." -- USA Today"With the publication of Bloody Crimes, James L. Swanson emerges as one of America's greatest historians. Swanson recounts the closing drama of the Civil War with hair-raising precision and the vivid narrative drive of a top-tier novelist. A grand tour de force!" -- Douglas Brinkley, author of The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America"James Swanson is a master storyteller. Bloody Crimes is not only a thoroughly terrific read; it is a valuable contribution to history. Swanson's brilliant decision to weave together the final days of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis provides fresh and compelling insights on both familiar figures." -- Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln"Striking ....Full of vigorous prose and dynamic stories about the period immediately following the end of the Civil War." -- Kirkus Reviews"Swanson's account of Lincoln's death pageant is moving, but Davis' flight lends the book enough suspense to drive a Hollywood thriller.. . Swanson knows how to keep his audience breathlessly entertained. It's Davis' surprising turn as a tragic figure in Bloody Crimes, however, that might prove most memorable." -- Richmond Times-Dispatch"Page-turning....Swanson again creates page-turning suspense out of historical events. . . .Gripping.... Swanson has the gift to make [history] compelling." -- Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers"A haunting masterpiece. James Swanson has written a thrilling book of death and longing, of defeat and resurrection." -- Harlan Coben, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Caught and Tell No One"A brilliant narrative that keeps the reader spellbound from beginning to end. James Swanson's vivid style and historical accuracy are unsurpassed, and he makes the parallel journeys of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis come magically alive. I wish I had written this book." -- Edward Steers, Jr., author of Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln and The Lincoln Assassination Encyclopedia"James Swanson is a giant. With his instant classic Manhunt, and its triumphant follow up Bloody Crimes, Swanson proves beyond all doubt that he is a master of historical true-crime epic.....Bloody Crimes is irresistibly captivating. I highly recommend it." -- Vincent Bugliosi, Edgar award-winning author of Helter Skelter and Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy"James Swanson has done it again. Bloody Crimes is a moving, evocative trip back in time to the tumultuous spring of 1865. Swanson's meticulous research and sparkling prose make it an essential companion to his award winning bestseller, Manhunt." -- Michael Burlingame, author of Abraham Lincoln: A Life
The disparate fates of contending presidents make an odd juxtaposition in this ungainly history of the Civil War's last gasps. Swanson recounts the April 1865 odyssey of Abraham Lincoln's funeral train as it wound through the North, intercutting it with Jefferson Davis's flight south from Richmond through a disintegrating Confederacy. The intertwined narratives lack the drama of the John Wilkes Booth saga Swanson told in his bestselling Manhunt. Lincoln's progress is a vividly described but lugubrious study in Victorian pomp, with giant hearses, trackside bonfires, choruses of white-robed young women, and huge crowds filing past the slow-moldering corpse. Davis's journey is a deluded, lackadaisical picaresque as he tries and fails to rally demoralized Southerners-his own cavalry escort pillaged the accompanying treasury wagons-until his anticlimactic capture by Union forces. Swanson works hard to make Davis a noble (no, he was not captured wearing his wife's dress, just her shawl) worthy of the Dixie-wide memorial procession with which the book closes. But Davis's story is incomparably less resonant than the martyred Lincoln's; in Swanson's best sections, outpourings of grief-Lincoln's own and those of his mourners-make for a moving evocation of wartime loss. B&w photos. (Sept. 28) Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.
"Gripping -- sometimes even gruesome -- and heartrending.... Brilliant." -- USA Today"With the publication of Bloody Crimes, James L. Swanson emerges as one of America's greatest historians. Swanson recounts the closing drama of the Civil War with hair-raising precision and the vivid narrative drive of a top-tier novelist. A grand tour de force!" -- Douglas Brinkley, author of The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America"James Swanson is a master storyteller. Bloody Crimes is not only a thoroughly terrific read; it is a valuable contribution to history. Swanson's brilliant decision to weave together the final days of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis provides fresh and compelling insights on both familiar figures." -- Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln"Striking ....Full of vigorous prose and dynamic stories about the period immediately following the end of the Civil War." -- Kirkus Reviews"Swanson's account of Lincoln's death pageant is moving, but Davis' flight lends the book enough suspense to drive a Hollywood thriller.. . Swanson knows how to keep his audience breathlessly entertained. It's Davis' surprising turn as a tragic figure in Bloody Crimes, however, that might prove most memorable." -- Richmond Times-Dispatch"Page-turning....Swanson again creates page-turning suspense out of historical events. . . .Gripping.... Swanson has the gift to make [history] compelling." -- Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers"A haunting masterpiece. James Swanson has written a thrilling book of death and longing, of defeat and resurrection." -- Harlan Coben, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Caught and Tell No One"A brilliant narrative that keeps the reader spellbound from beginning to end. James Swanson's vivid style and historical accuracy are unsurpassed, and he makes the parallel journeys of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis come magically alive. I wish I had written this book." -- Edward Steers, Jr., author of Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln and The Lincoln Assassination Encyclopedia"James Swanson is a giant. With his instant classic Manhunt, and its triumphant follow up Bloody Crimes, Swanson proves beyond all doubt that he is a master of historical true-crime epic.....Bloody Crimes is irresistibly captivating. I highly recommend it." -- Vincent Bugliosi, Edgar award-winning author of Helter Skelter and Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy"James Swanson has done it again. Bloody Crimes is a moving, evocative trip back in time to the tumultuous spring of 1865. Swanson's meticulous research and sparkling prose make it an essential companion to his award winning bestseller, Manhunt." -- Michael Burlingame, author of Abraham Lincoln: A Life
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
