The Darkest Dawn: Lincoln, Booth, and the Great American Tragedy

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Indiana University Press, Feb 16, 2005 - History - 374 pages
The story of the Lincoln assassination and its aftermath, captured with you-are-there immediacy.
 
It was one of the most tragic events in American history: The famous president, beloved by many, reviled by some, murdered while viewing a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington. The frantic search for the perpetrators. The nation in mourning. The solemn funeral train. The conspirators brought to justice.
 
Coming just days after the surrender of the Confederate Army at Appomattox, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln has become etched in the national consciousness like few other events. The president who had steered the nation through its bloodiest crisis was cut down before the end, just as it appeared that the bloodshed was over. The story has been told many times, but rarely with the immediacy of The Darkest Dawn. Thomas Goodrich brings to his narrative the care of the historian and the flair of the fiction writer. The result is a gripping account, filled with detail and as fresh as today’s news.
 
“Among the hundreds of books published about the assassination of our 16th president, this is an exceptional volume.” —Frank J. Williams, founding Chair of The Lincoln Forum
 

Contents

PART II
81
PART III
245
Acknowledgments
299
Notes
301

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About the author (2005)

Thomas Goodrich is author of Black Flag (IUP, 1995) and The Day Dixie Died: Southern Occupation, 1865–1866 (with Debra Goodrich). He lives in Topeka, Kansas.

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