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

This is the true story of Mary Surratt, the first woman to be executed by the US government and a key member of the plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln."The Assassin's Accomplice" tells the gripping story of Mary Surratt, who played a starring role in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Surratt, a Confederate sympathizer, ran the boarding house in Washington where the conspirators - including her rebel son, John Surratt - met to plan the assassination. Although she was executed for her role in the conspiracy - the first woman ever executed by the American government - Surratt's story has remained little-known, despite the proliferation of books about the Lincoln assassination plot.Set against the backdrop of extreme tensions between northern and southern interests as the Civil War drew to a close, "The Assassin's Accomplice" tells the intricate story of the Lincoln conspiracy through the eyes of its only female participant. The depth of Surratt's complicity has been debated since the day of her arrest, three days after John Wilkes Booth murdered Lincoln as he sat watching a play at Ford's Theater.Based on long lost interviews, confessions and recently-discovered court testimonies, Larson builds a powerful case that Surratt's role in the assassination plot was much more significant than historians have been willing to acknowledge, showing that Surratt was no innocent bystander duped into complicity by her co-conspirator son, John, or the wily and handsome John Wilkes Booth - as many, even at the time, argued. Mary was, in fact, a deliberate and willing co-conspirator."The Assassin's Accomplice" offers a gripping narrative account of sex, espionage and murder. The story of Lincoln's assassination cannot be properly understood without taking this mysterious and powerful woman into account.

About this title

About the Author

Kate Clifford Larson is an Adjunct Professor of History at Simmons College. She lives in Winchester, MA.

Edition details

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0465038158
• ISBN 13: 9780465038152
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288