Lincoln's Final Hours

Conspiracy, Terror, and the Assassination of America's Greatest President

By: Kathryn Canavan

Narrated by: Todd Curless

Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

When John Wilkes Booth fired his Derringer point-blank into President Abraham Lincoln's head, he set in motion a series of dramatic consequences that would upend the lives of ordinary Washingtonians and Americans alike. In a split second, the story of a nation was changed. During the hours that followed, America's future would hinge on what happened in a cramped back bedroom at Petersen's Boardinghouse, directly across the street from Ford's Theatre. There, a 23-year-old surgeon - fresh out of medical school - struggled to keep the president alive while Mary Todd Lincoln moaned at her husband's bedside.

In Lincoln's Final Hours, author Kathryn Canavan takes a magnifying glass to the last moments of the president's life and to the impact his assassination had on a country still reeling from a bloody civil war. With vivid, thoroughly researched prose and a reporter's eye for detail, this fast-paced account not only furnishes a glimpse into John Wilkes Booth's personal and political motivations, but also illuminates the stories of ordinary people whose lives were changed forever by the assassination.

The book is published by University Press of Kentucky.

©2015 The University Press of Kentucky (P)2016 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"A superior bit of scholarship. Well worthy of inclusion in the pantheon of Lincolniana." ( Georgia Times-Union)

"A valuable addition to the body of published work about Lincoln and his death." (Joan Chaconas, historian at the Surratt House Museum)

"Faced paced, dramatic and exciting, the reader will be hard pressed to put it down. The author, with her exquisite writing, has insured this." (Frank J. Williams, President of the Ulysses S. Grant Association)

An absorbing book

Have always been fascinated with April 14, 1865 and the tragedy that occurred. This book goes into great detail with many details I’ve never heard. I found it to be absorbing and fascinating. Very highly recommend.

Tintillating Tidbits from Tragedy

This book, beautifully written and performed, provides an amazing amount of historical information on the final days of Lincoln and those immediately surrounding him. The information is provided in utterly readable storybook fashion. I was particularly interested in the depiction of Mary Lincoln's grief compared to other purported historical accounts. As well, the incredible self-deception of Booth and his eventual capture was quite interesting.