SURRATT HOUSE MUSEUM

books

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The staff at Surratt House Museum recommends these books for more information about the Lincoln Assassination and the Surratt family. Books marked with a check icon are available from the Surratt House Museum Bookstore. See Surratt House Museum Bookstore for ordering details.

A. Lincoln: His Last 24 Hours by W. Emerson Reck. check icon$23.

Abraham Lincoln Assassination Bibliography--A Compendium of Reference Materials by Blaine V. Houmes.

Alias “Paine”: Lewis Thornton Powell, The Mystery Man of the Lincoln Conspiracy by Betty J. Ownsbey. check icon$29 (soft copy).

American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies by Michael W. Kauffman. check icon$27 (hard copy); $15 (soft copy).

American Gothic: The Story of America’s Legendary Theatrical Family -- Junius, Edwin, and John Wilkes Booth by Gene Smith.

April '65: Confederate Covert Action in the American Civil War by William A. Tidwell. check icon$27.

The Assassin’s Accomplice: Mary Surratt and the Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln by Kate Clifford Larson. check icon$25.
Was Mary Surratt guilty? The author thinks so and outlines her reasons in this clear-cut, easy-to-read biography.

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln by Osborn H. Oldroyd. check icon$20 (paperback reprint of 1901 classic).
Considered a classic. Author was instigator of the Lincoln Museum. The last chapter is a 1901 tour of the places where Booth stopped, including Surrattsville.

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln by Thomas R. Turner. The Anvil Series.

Blood on the Moon by Edward Steers, Jr. The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln check icon$21 (soft copy).

The Body in the Barn: The Controversy Over the Death of John Wilkes Booth published by the Surratt Society. check icon$10.

The Catholics and Mrs. Mary Surratt by Kenneth J. Zanca check icon$29.
This book gives an extensive overview of the Catholic Church in America during the crucial Civil War years as well as its reaction to the Lincoln assassination, the role of Mary Surratt, and the church’s -- and the public’s -- reaction to her execution.

Come Retribution by William A. Tidwell, James O. Hall and David W. Gaddy. check icon$24. (soft copy)

Confederate Freedom Fighter: The Story of John H. Surratt & The Plots Against Lincoln by William L. Richter check icon$16.
A work of historical fiction with more fact than fiction concerning the exploits of John Surratt, Jr. in the Confederate underground and as part of the Lincoln kidnap/assassination intrigue.

The Darkest Dawn: Lincoln, Booth, and the Great American Tragedy by Thomas Goodrich check icon$30 (hard copy);$18 (soft copy).

The Day Lincoln Was Shot by Richard Bak. Accompanies Turner television production of the same title. check icon$18 (soft copy).

Devil’s Game: The Civil War Intrigues of Charles Dunham by Carman Cumming. check icon$29.

Dr. Samuel A. Mudd and the Lincoln Assassination by John E. McHale. For young readers. check icon$17 (soft copy).

The Escape and Capture of John Wilkes Booth by Edward Steers, Jr. check icon$6.

new icon The Fall and Redemption of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd by Robert K. Summers check icon$20 (soft copy).

Freedom Rising: Washington in the Civil War by Ernest B. Furgurson. check icon$25 (soft copy).

From War Department Files Surratt Society publication of statements made by the accused under examination. check icon$20.

The Great American Myth by George Bryan (reprint). Excellent work which dispels many of the legends surrounding the assassination. check icon $25 (soft copy).

His Name is Still Mudd: The Case Against Dr. Samuel A. Mudd by Edward Steers, Jr., with foreword by James O. Hall. check icon$22 (hard copy).

In Pursuit of... Continuing Research in the Field of the Lincoln Assassination published by the Surratt Society from newsletter articles (1976-1986). Also see The Lincoln Assassination -- From the Pages of The Surratt Courier. check icon $25. Special pricing is available.

In The Shadows of The Lincoln Assassination: The Life of Confederate Spy, Thomas H. Harbin by Joseph E. Smith III with William L. Richter check icon$16.
A historical novel with a good basis in the facts surrounding this fascinating agent whose full role in the Lincoln conspiracies may never be fully known. Based on Harbin’s 1884 interview with Civil War correspondent George Alfred Townsend.

John Wilkes Booth: A Sister’s Memoir by Asia Booth Clark, edited by Terry Alford. check icon$15 (soft copy).

The Judicial Murder of Mary E. Surratt by David M. DeWitt. Examines the legal injustices of the case.

The Lincoln Assassination -- From the pages of The Surratt Courier (1986 - 1999) Surratt Society publication in two volumes. Also see In Pursuit of... check icon$25 per volume. Special pricing is available.

The Lincoln Assassination Conspirators: Their Confinement and Execution as Recorded in the Letterbook of John Frederick Hartranft edited by Dr. Edward Steers, Jr. and Harold Holzer. check icon$24.
Gen.Hartranft was assigned the task of caring for the accused conspirators and kept a detailed daily record during their imprisonment, trial, and execution. His original work was located decades ago by two Society members, Nancy Griffith and Betty Ownsbey, biographer of conspirator Lewis Powell, at Gettysburg College after researchers had assumed that it was lost to history. The original is now in a Philadelphia branch of the National Archives. Dr. Steers and Mr. Holzer have provided an overview as well as the original text in this edited work.

The Lincoln Assassination: The Evidence compiled by Bill Edwards and Dr. Edward Steers, Jr. check icon$99.
This 1488-page volume contains all of the evidence from the first seven reels of M599 at the National Archives and Records Administration gathered by the government in preparation for the trial of the accused (5007 original pages of documents).

Lincoln Day-by-Day, A Chronology 1809-1865 edited by Earl Schenck Miers and C. Percy Powell. check icon$35.

The Lincoln Murder Conspiracies by William H. Hanchett. Examines the many assassination “theories.” check icon$19 (soft copy).

The Mad Booths of Maryland by Stanley Kimmel. Excellent biography of this fascinating clan.

Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson. check icon$25.95 (hard copy); $15 (soft copy).

Mary Elizabeth Surratt: An American Tragedy by Elizabeth Steger Trindal. Pleads the case for innocence of Mrs. Surratt. check icon$25.

Memoirs of a Lincoln Conspirator: Samuel Bland Arnold edited by Michael W. Kauffman. check icon$19 (soft copy).

On the Way to Garrett’s Barn--John Wilkes Booth & David E. Herold in the Northern Neck of Virginia, April 22-26, 1865 by James O. Hall. check icon$20.

Reveille in Washington by Margaret Leech. Pulitzer Prize winner on Washington City society of the time. Last chapters give a general survey of the assassination.

Right or Wrong, God Judge Me: The Writings of John Wilkes Booth edited by Louise Taper and John Rhodehamel. check icon$23 (hard copy); $19 (soft copy).

The Surratt Family and John Wilkes Booth by James O. Hall. check icon$5.

The Trial: The Assassination of President Lincoln and Trial of the Conspirators. A special edition as arranged in 1865 by Benn Pitman. Edited by Edward Steers. check icon$50.

Twenty Days by Dorothy and Philip Kunhardt. Good pictorial narrative of the dark days after the assassination.

We Saw Lincoln Shot: One Hundred Eyewitness Accounts by Timothy S. Good. check icon$16 (soft copy).

The Web of Conspiracy by Theodore Roscoe.


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