This book proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the "good doctor" was completely guilty of conspiring with John Wilkes Booth. Despite the way the Mudd family has manipulated the story and the media for decades, the truth is finally coming out!!!

A True account of Mudd's involvement. Though he cried foul, "The guilty dog barks the loudest".

The Notes' section alone is worth the cost of the book!

This is a very well-written, extremely well- illustrated account of America's 16th President. Contains photographs you won't find elsewhere. Highly recommended for all age groups.

Unlike some Lincoln quote books which rely on dubious sources, the quotes in this book are indeed Mr. Lincoln's. This is a powerful but concise presentation of Lincoln's mastery of the English language.

Much like the Kennedy assassination, the Lincoln assassination has been the subject of more than its share of conspiracy theories. Mr. Steers does an excellent job of debunking most all of these theories by meticulously sifting through the evidence and proving, point by point, that these theories do not hold water. He is able to use the same method to prove most of his own hypothesis concerning Booth and his conspirators. As is mentioned in earlier reviews, Steers does seem to take particular delight in proving the guilt of Mary Surratt and Dr. Mudd. Mudd takes the brunt of Steers' assault, possibly because this is the area of Mr. Steers' greatest knowledge. It is also possible however that the vigor of the author's attacks can be traced to the fact that the Mudd family has done an excellent job convincing most Americans that the good doctor was as much of a victim as was Lincoln. Steers proves that Mudd was indeed involved, and then drives the point home. Make no mistake, he proves it, just as he proves most of his points by doing his research and doing it well.

Please don't be afraid of this book. The writing is clear and easy to follow. Most importantly, it's interesting. There are indeed a lot of names to keep up with but most of those names are going to be pretty familiar to anyone with any knowledge of the period. To make things even easier, Steers gives the reader a good concise history of the conspirators. As a bonus, there is also a chapter devoted to following Lincoln's body on its trip back to Illinois. It's a very interesting chapter at that.

I do have one serious problem with this book. To Steers' credit he does point out that if Jefferson Davis was in on the plot, he had good reason to be. It was the Federals that first broke the rule of not trying to knock off a head of state. The Confederate President had indeed been targeted for death by a group of Union raiders attempting to enter Richmond, and the southerners had the captured orders to prove it. Steers however makes no attempt to link Lincoln with this incident and in fact Lincoln may not have known anything about it. The problem is that Steers uses such flimsy evidence to connect Davis with Booth, that the same line of thought would have to connect Lincoln to the earlier plot. Over and over Steers makes statements such as, "Davis must have known," or, "Davis would have had to know." No evidence is presented to support these statements except that a plot to kidnap the President of the United States could not have been undertaken by the Confederate Secret Service without the approval of the President. If that were the case how could the U.S. Army undertake a plot to assassinate the Confederate President without Lincoln's knowledge. The answer is, it would appear to be very possible that Lincoln did not know what his army was up to just as it would be very possible that Davis had no idea what his spies were up to.

Despite this flaw, this is a fine book. New light is shed on an old subject and maybe a few old myths have been put out of their misery. I may just have to read Mr. Steers book on Dr. Mudd. If this book is any indication, it will be well worth the effort.

This book was obviously well researched. Steers fluently documents the series of events surrounding the Lincoln assasination. His telling of events is easy to follow. After reading this book, I have a better understanding of the people involved in the conspiracy and the roles they played in carrying out this tragic event in American history. This is definitely a book you want to buy for your Lincoln bookshelf. Steers paints a clear picture of the Lincoln assasination, however for a truly enjoyable companion read, I would suggest "Lincoln Assasination" by Swanson and Weinberg. The high quality photos in the Swanson/Weinberg book enhance your undersatnding of the events told by Steers. The two books bring the story to life!

Many years ago I read Jim Bishop's "The Day Lincoln was Shot" and for the first time learned in greater depth about John Wilkes Booth and his accomplices. Edward Steers's new book, "Blood on the Moon", goes much farther in untangling the web of men and women who took part in the Lincoln assassination. Controversy will always surround the events concerning Lincoln's murder but Mr. Steers has done a magnificent job in attempting to set the record straight.

The reader will be reminded that Booth's original plan was to kidnap Lincoln and take him across Confederate lines. It wasn't until late March, 1865 that Booth's plans changed to killing Lincoln and other officials high up in the U.S.government. Mr. Steers writes in a detailed but moving prose, carefully laying out the cases for the guilty. He particularly targets Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, whose name has been attempted to have been cleared by historical revisionists. I felt Mr. Steers's best chapter recounts Booth's escape through the Maryland countryside and his subsequent death in Virginia. The final chapter, too, regarding Lincoln's last trip home to Illinois is moving.

The book is accompanied by some good photos...one taken of Lincoln's death bed moments after his body was removed and one of Lincoln lying in state....the latter only discovered in the twentieth century after being lost for years. However it's Mr. Steers's connecting the pieces of the conspiracy puzzle that set this book apart from the rest. Nicely readable and often riveting, I highly recommend it.