The Assassin's Accomplice: Mary Surratt and the Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln - Hardcover

Larson, Kate Clifford

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0465038158 ISBN 13: 9780465038152

Publisher: Basic Books, 2008

Synopsis

In The Assassin's Accomplice, historian Kate Clifford Larson tells the gripping story of Mary Surratt, a little-known participant in the plot to kill Abraham Lincoln, and the first woman ever to be executed by the federal government of the United States. Surratt, a Confederate sympathizer, ran the boarding house in Washington where the conspirators-including her rebel son, John Surratt-met to plan the assassination. When a military tribunal convicted her for her crimes and sentenced her to death, five of the nine commissioners petitioned President Andrew Johnson to show mercy on Surratt because of her sex and age. Unmoved, Johnson refused-Surratt, he said, kept the nest that hatched the egg.” Set against the backdrop of the Civil War, The Assassin's Accomplice tells the intricate story of the Lincoln conspiracy through the eyes of its only female participant. Based on long-lost interviews, confessions, and court testimony, the text explores how Mary's actions defied nineteenth-century norms of femininity, piety, and motherhood, leaving her vulnerable to deadly punishment historically reserved for men. A riveting narrative account of sex, espionage, and murder cloaked in the enchantments of Southern womanhood, The Assassin's Accomplice offers a fresh perspective on America's most famous murder.

About this title

About the Author:

Kate Clifford Larson teaches history at Simmons College. Her first book, Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero, was described as brilliant” (Smithsonian Magazine), astonishingly good, a better debut than any author has the right to wish for” (Dallas Morning News), and an extraordinary achievement” (Baltimore Sun). Larson lives in Winchester, Massachusetts.

From AudioFile:

John Wilkes Booth did not act alone; eight people were eventually indicted as co-conspirators in Lincoln's murder. Accounts of their lives, nefarious plots, and historical trial fill this audiobook with the details true-crime and Civil War aficionados love. Narrator Laural Merlington reads with a forceful expression, modulating her word emphasis and tone to keep the listener's attention level during the prosecution high and the final moments on the scaffold riveting. Although she sometimes gives a gruff snarl for men and a female squeak for women, Merlington's own distinct voice usually prevails. Because the principal conspirator, Mary Surratt, was a woman, having a female narrator brings a credible authenticity to Mary's wordsand to her screams as she approaches the stairs of the gallows. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0465038158
• ISBN 13: 9780465038152
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288