The Lincoln Assassination: Crime and Punishment, Myth and Memory

"Here is an informative and provocative collection of essays about Lincoln's assassination and the place it occupies in American history and culture. The authors are not only in full command of their special approaches to the subject, but they fully command our interest and respect, as well. This is a must."---William Hanchett, author of The Lincoln Murder Conspiracies and the documentary Black Easter

"These essays offer concise versions of the latest and best scholarship on the Lincoln assassination and the trials of the conspirators, written by the foremost historians of these events. Of special interest are the varying perspectives on the legitimacy of the trial by a military court, which are relevant to the current debate over trials of accused terrorists by military courts."---James M. McPherson

"A bonanza of penetrating, insightful and thoughtful essays on multiple aspects of Lincoln's assassination that will be warmly welcomed by scholars and amateurs alike."---Anthony S. Pitch, author of "They Have Killed Papa Dead!": The Road to Ford's Theatre, Abraham Lincoln's Murder; and the Rage for Vengeance

"A remarkably fresh series of nine essays on the familiar topic of Lincoln's murder by John Wilkes Booth, The Lincoln Assassination: Crime and Punishment, Myth and Memory ranges from the legal aspects of the assassination to the effects of the loss of their president on the American people. Well-illustrated and conceived, every one of these nine contributions suggests new ways in which the Lincoln assassination can be evaluated by thoughtful historians. Make room for this book on your Civil War and Lincoln shelves."---Jean H. Baker, Goucher College

"Once again, The Lincoln Forum has assembled some of the finest historians and most compelling historical writers, this time to produce a lively collection of essays that manages to challenge many of our assumptions about Lincoln's assassination and the subsequent military trials of the conspirators. I learned a great deal from this volume and expect that every reader will come away with something new."---Matthew Pinsker, author of Lincoln's Sanctuary: Abraham Lincoln and the Soldiers'

President Abraham Lincoln remains one of the most prominent events in U.S. history. It continues to attract enormous and intense interest from scholars, writers, and armchair historians alike, ranging from painstaking new research to wild-eyed speculation. At the end of the Lincoln bicentennial year and the onset of the Civil War sesquicentennial, the leading scholars of Lincoln and his murder offer in one volume their latest studies and arguments about the assassination, its aftermath, the extraordinary public reaction (which was more complex than has been previously believed), and the iconography that Lincoln's murder and deification inspired. Contributor's also offer the most up-to-date accounts of the parallel legal event of the summer of 1865---the relentless pursuit, prosecution, and punishment of the conspirators. Everything from graphic tributes to religious sermons, to spontaneous outbursts on the streets of the nation's cities, to emotional mass mourning at carefully organized funerals, as well as the imposition of military jurisprudence to try the conspirators, is examined in the light of fresh evidence and insightful analysis.

The contributors are among the finest scholars who are studying Lincoln's assassination. All have earned well-deserved reputations for the quality of their research, their thoroughness, their originality, and their writing. In addition to the editors, the contributors are Thomas R. Turner, Edward Steers Jr., Michael W. Kauffman, Thomas P. Lowry, Richard E. Sloan, Elizabeth D. Leonard, and Richard Nelson Current.

Harold Holzer, Senior Vice President for External Affairs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, is one of the nation's leading authorities on Lincoln and the political culture of the Civil War era. He served as co-chairman of the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. He has written, co-written, or edited thirty-five books.
Craig L. Symonds is Professor Emeritus at the U.S. Naval Academy and the author of ten previous books, including Lincoln and His Admirals, which won the 2009 Lincoln Prize.
Frank J. Williams, a renowned Lincoln scholar, is a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, a member of the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, and author or editor of many books, including Judging Lincoln.