Manhunt, the book
Call it ‘suggested reading’
Who says reading lists are only good for the summer? For many in Arkansas—especially young people and teachers—next week is Spring Break. Boy, do we have a book for you.
The papers say there’s something called Apple TV, or Apple+ or Apple TV+ or something similar. It’s another one of those streaming services. Forgive us for not being hip enough to narrow it down.
Several reviews of a new miniseries on the service hit the press in the last week. The new show is called “Manhunt,” and it’s based on The New York Times best-seller “Manhunt: The 12day chase for Lincoln’s killer,” by James L. Swanson. Although we’re not sure if we’ll be able to find the miniseries, we were able to put our hands on the book fairly quickly. Because we’ve got more than one copy. (This happens to folks who buy books intending them for other people, only to forget to give them away.)
“Manhunt,” the book, is a fast read. Which is how writers compliment each other’s work. It takes a special person with a practiced hand to take a non-fiction event, and one in which the ending is well-known, and create a book that reads like a novel.
When President Abraham Lincoln was shot in Ford’s Theater in April 1865, some in the audience that night thought the smoke coming from the president’s booth was part of the show. And when an actor—John Wilkes Booth—jumped onto the stage, yelling his excuse in Latin, few people rushed him. In the confusion, he was able to get away through the back of the theater, although with a broken leg. Most folks know that much.
But for 12 days—imagine!—the killer of the president of the United States was on the loose, a wanted man, and the whole of the United States government couldn’t locate him. This is where the novel takes off.
Years after the assassination and manhunt, people—notably Confederate agent Thomas A. Jones, as told to journalist George Alfred Townsend nearly 20 years later—began talking about how they helped J.W. Booth lay low. Passions were cooled at that point. (If they would have admitted helping Booth immediately after the assassination, they would have ended up on the gallows like several others.)
But Thomas Jones put Booth and David Herold in a swampy thicket for several days as the Union troops and detectives rolled over the areas just south of Washington. The plan was for Mr. Booth and his toady to lay low long enough for the blue-coats to blow by; then they could ride into the Deep South where they would presumably find help.
“Manhunt” tells the story of narcissist blowhard Booth, eager to get the newspapers even in the swamp, only to find disappointment as the papers dared to find him something less than a national hero. They didn’t even print his letter to the editor that he had sent via trusted messenger announcing his reasons for Lincoln’s shooting. Why, the nerve!
Many people, especially those interested in the Civil War or American history in general, know that Booth remained on the run for 12 days until he was cornered at Garrett’s Farm and shot while standing in a burning barn. The shot paralyzed Booth immediately, and his pursuers dragged him out of the inferno to watch him die slowly on a farm porch.
But those 12 days on the lam make the modern reader understand how different 1865 is from 2024. Imagine the killer of the president being on the run for nearly two weeks. Actually, that might be unimaginable these days. An assassin’s cellphone would track him.
If the streaming miniseries keeps strictly to the book, we imagine it’ll be a hit.
But for those of us who can’t find the show on all these devices and remotes the kids keep bringing into the house, at least we’ll have the paperback. If you haven’t read “Manhunt” yet, we highly suggest doing so.