JAMES L. SWANSON

James L. Swanson is the author of the New York Times best-seller Manhunt:The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer. An attorney and Lincoln scholar, he has held a number of government and think tank posts in Washington, D.C. Swanson has written about history, the presidency, the Constitution, popular culture, books, the arts and other subjects for a variety of publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, American Heritage, and Smithsonian. He has lectured widely at the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, the Newberry Library and other scholarly institutions, and at literary, historical and arts clubs across the nation. He is the co-author of Lincoln’s Assassins: Their Trial and Execution, and serves on the advisory committee of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. Born on Lincoln’s birthday, Swanson has studied and collected books, documents, photographs, art, and artifacts from Abraham Lincoln’s life and death since he was 10-years-old. 

Manhunt was an instant best-seller, hitting the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Los Angeles Times best-seller lists. It went on to become an international best-seller, named one of Amazon’s ‘Top 10 History Books of the Year’ and ‘Best 50 Books of 2006,’ and has been included in countless ‘Best Books of 2006’ lists, including the Christian Science Monitor, American Spectator, Denver Post, Chicago Tribune, and more. Swanson also won an Edgar Award in the Fact Crime category for Manhunt.

Combining magnificent historical research with a thrilling story, Manhunt describes the hour-by-hour details of the 12 days after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination when various factions within the U.S. government – and even some outside of it – hunted for the President’s killer, John Wilkes Booth.