-
American Brutus
- John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 21 hrs and 58 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $39.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Manhunt
- The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer
- By: James L. Swanson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 15 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The murder of Abraham Lincoln set off the greatest manhunt in American history. From April 14 to April 26, 1865, the assassin, John Wilkes Booth, led Union cavalry and detectives on a wild 12-day chase through the streets of Washington, DC, across the swamps of Maryland, and into the forests of Virginia while the nation, still reeling from the just-ended Civil War, watched in horror and sadness.
-
-
Wonderful!
- By Anonymous User on 02-08-20
By: James L. Swanson
-
My Thoughts Be Bloody
- The Bitter Rivalry Between Edwin and John Wilkes Booth
- By: Nora Titone, Doris Kearns Goodwin - introduction/notes
- Narrated by: John B. Lloyd
- Length: 19 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
My Thoughts Be Bloody, a sweeping family saga, revives an extraordinary figure whose name has been missing, until now, from the story of President Lincoln's death. Edwin Booth, John Wilkes's older brother by four years, was in his day the biggest star of the American stage. Without an account of Edwin Booth, author Nora Titone argues, the real story of Lincoln's assassin has never been told.
-
-
Wonderful!
- By Tad Davis on 11-30-10
By: Nora Titone, and others
-
Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
- By: Edward Steers Jr.
- Narrated by: William Coon
- Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The assassination of Abraham Lincoln is usually told as a tale of a lone deranged actor who struck from a twisted lust for revenge. This is not only too simple an explanation; Blood on the Moon reveals that it is completely wrong. John Wilkes Booth was neither mad nor alone in his act of murder. He received the help of many, not the least of whom was Dr. Samuel Alexander Mudd, the Charles County physician who has been portrayed as the innocent victim of a vengeful government.
-
-
Terrific listen.
- By Alan on 02-07-13
-
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume I, Fort Sumter to Perryville
- By: Shelby Foote
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 42 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume 1 begins one of the most remarkable works of history ever fashioned. All the great battles are here, of course, from Bull Run through Shiloh, the Seven Days Battles, and Antietam, but so are the smaller ones: Ball's Bluff, Fort Donelson, Pea Ridge, Island Ten, New Orleans, and Monitor versus Merrimac.
-
-
One of the great literary achievements of all time
- By Judd Bagley on 01-09-09
By: Shelby Foote
-
The Johnstown Flood
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the end of the last century, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was a booming coal-and-steel town filled with hardworking families striving for a piece of the nation's burgeoning industrial prosperity. In the mountains above Johnstown, an old earth dam had been hastily rebuilt to create a lake for an exclusive summer resort patronized by the tycoons of that same industrial prosperity, among them Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and Andrew Mellon.
-
-
A page-turner! HIstory that reads like a novel
- By Susan K Donley on 06-17-05
By: David McCullough
-
Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination
- The Untold Story of the Actors and Stagehands at Ford's Theatre
- By: Thomas A. Bogar
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
April 14, 1865. A famous actor pulls a trigger in the presidential balcony, leaps to the stage, and escapes, as the president lies fatally wounded. In the panic that follows, forty-six terrified people scatter in and around Ford's Theater as soldiers take up stations by the doors and the audience surges into the streets chanting, "Burn the place down!" This is the untold story of Lincoln's assassination: The forty-six stage hands, actors, and theater workers on hand for the bewildering events in the theater that night.
-
-
Stars of an Unrehearsed Impromptu Drama
- By William G. Stuart on 08-17-15
By: Thomas A. Bogar
-
Manhunt
- The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer
- By: James L. Swanson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 15 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The murder of Abraham Lincoln set off the greatest manhunt in American history. From April 14 to April 26, 1865, the assassin, John Wilkes Booth, led Union cavalry and detectives on a wild 12-day chase through the streets of Washington, DC, across the swamps of Maryland, and into the forests of Virginia while the nation, still reeling from the just-ended Civil War, watched in horror and sadness.
-
-
Wonderful!
- By Anonymous User on 02-08-20
By: James L. Swanson
-
My Thoughts Be Bloody
- The Bitter Rivalry Between Edwin and John Wilkes Booth
- By: Nora Titone, Doris Kearns Goodwin - introduction/notes
- Narrated by: John B. Lloyd
- Length: 19 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
My Thoughts Be Bloody, a sweeping family saga, revives an extraordinary figure whose name has been missing, until now, from the story of President Lincoln's death. Edwin Booth, John Wilkes's older brother by four years, was in his day the biggest star of the American stage. Without an account of Edwin Booth, author Nora Titone argues, the real story of Lincoln's assassin has never been told.
-
-
Wonderful!
- By Tad Davis on 11-30-10
By: Nora Titone, and others
-
Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
- By: Edward Steers Jr.
- Narrated by: William Coon
- Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The assassination of Abraham Lincoln is usually told as a tale of a lone deranged actor who struck from a twisted lust for revenge. This is not only too simple an explanation; Blood on the Moon reveals that it is completely wrong. John Wilkes Booth was neither mad nor alone in his act of murder. He received the help of many, not the least of whom was Dr. Samuel Alexander Mudd, the Charles County physician who has been portrayed as the innocent victim of a vengeful government.
-
-
Terrific listen.
- By Alan on 02-07-13
-
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume I, Fort Sumter to Perryville
- By: Shelby Foote
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 42 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume 1 begins one of the most remarkable works of history ever fashioned. All the great battles are here, of course, from Bull Run through Shiloh, the Seven Days Battles, and Antietam, but so are the smaller ones: Ball's Bluff, Fort Donelson, Pea Ridge, Island Ten, New Orleans, and Monitor versus Merrimac.
-
-
One of the great literary achievements of all time
- By Judd Bagley on 01-09-09
By: Shelby Foote
-
The Johnstown Flood
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the end of the last century, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was a booming coal-and-steel town filled with hardworking families striving for a piece of the nation's burgeoning industrial prosperity. In the mountains above Johnstown, an old earth dam had been hastily rebuilt to create a lake for an exclusive summer resort patronized by the tycoons of that same industrial prosperity, among them Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and Andrew Mellon.
-
-
A page-turner! HIstory that reads like a novel
- By Susan K Donley on 06-17-05
By: David McCullough
-
Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination
- The Untold Story of the Actors and Stagehands at Ford's Theatre
- By: Thomas A. Bogar
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
April 14, 1865. A famous actor pulls a trigger in the presidential balcony, leaps to the stage, and escapes, as the president lies fatally wounded. In the panic that follows, forty-six terrified people scatter in and around Ford's Theater as soldiers take up stations by the doors and the audience surges into the streets chanting, "Burn the place down!" This is the untold story of Lincoln's assassination: The forty-six stage hands, actors, and theater workers on hand for the bewildering events in the theater that night.
-
-
Stars of an Unrehearsed Impromptu Drama
- By William G. Stuart on 08-17-15
By: Thomas A. Bogar
-
King Richard
- Nixon and Watergate - An American Tragedy
- By: Michael Dobbs
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In January 1973, Richard Nixon had just been inaugurated after winning re-election in a historic landslide. He enjoyed an almost 70 percent approval rating. But by April 1973, his presidency had fallen apart as the Watergate scandal metastasized into what White House counsel John Dean called “a full-blown cancer.” King Richard is the intimate, utterly absorbing narrative of the tension-packed hundred days when the Watergate conspiracy unraveled as the burglars and their handlers turned on one another, exposing the crimes of a vengeful president.
-
-
As good as it will ever get
- By Siobhan Ricci on 06-19-21
By: Michael Dobbs
-
Battle Cry of Freedom
- The Civil War Era
- By: James Macpherson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 39 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Battle Cry of Freedom vividly traces how a new nation was forged when a war both sides were sure would amount to little dragged for four years and cost more American lives than all other wars combined. Narrator Jonathan Davis powerful reading brings to life the many voices of the Civil War.
-
-
Too liberal for true historians
- By Amazon Customer on 04-06-21
By: James Macpherson
-
What Really Happened: The Lincoln Assassination
- By: Robert J. Hutchinson
- Narrated by: David Marantz
- Length: 8 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After 150 years, many unsolved mysteries and enduring urban legends still surround the assassination of Abraham Lincoln by the popular stage actor John Wilkes Booth. In a new look at the case, award-winning author Robert Hutchinson (The Dawn of Christianity) explores what we know, and don’t know, about what really happened at Ford’s Theatre on the night of April 14, 1865. In addition, he argues that the deep-seated political hatreds that roiled Washington, DC, in the final weeks of the Civil War are particularly relevant to our own polarized age.
-
-
The Erratic Behavior of a Murderer
- By Dr. Rob on 04-12-20
-
The First Conspiracy
- The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington
- By: Brad Meltzer, Josh Mensch
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Taking place during the most critical period of our nation’s birth, The First Conspiracy tells a remarkable and previously untold piece of American history that not only reveals George Washington’s character, but also illuminates the origins of America’s counterintelligence movement that led to the modern day CIA. In 1776, an elite group of soldiers were handpicked to serve as George Washington’s bodyguards. Washington trusted them; relied on them. But unbeknownst to Washington, some of them were part of a treasonous plan.
-
-
So much forced drama
- By Ryan on 01-24-19
By: Brad Meltzer, and others
-
Gettysburg: The Last Invasion
- By: Allen C. Guelzo
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 22 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the acclaimed Civil War historian, a brilliant new history–the most intimate and richly readable account we have had–of the climactic three-day battle of Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), which draws the reader into the heat, smoke, and grime of Gettysburg alongside the ordinary soldier, and depicts the combination of personalities and circumstances that produced the greatest battle of the Civil War, and one of the greatest in human history.
-
-
A Fresh Look at a Famous Battle
- By W. F. Rucker on 07-03-13
By: Allen C. Guelzo
-
With Malice Toward None
- A Biography of Abraham Lincoln
- By: Stephen B. Oates
- Narrated by: T. Ryder Smith
- Length: 21 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The definitive life of Abraham Lincoln, With Malice Toward None is historian Stephen B. Oates's acclaimed and enthralling portrait of America's greatest leader. In this award-winning biography, Lincoln steps forward out of the shadow of myth as a recognizable, fully drawn American whose remarkable life continues to inspire and inform us today.
-
-
the perfect voice for an inspiring story
- By Matthew Martell on 07-02-21
By: Stephen B. Oates
-
Who Killed Jane Stanford?
- A Gilded Age Tale of Murder, Deceit, Spirits and the Birth of a University
- By: Richard White
- Narrated by: Christopher P. Brown
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1885 Jane and Leland Stanford cofounded a university to honor their recently deceased young son. After her husband's death in 1893, Jane Stanford, a devoted spiritualist who expected the university to inculcate her values, steered Stanford into eccentricity and public controversy for more than a decade. In 1905 she was murdered in Hawaii, a victim, according to the Honolulu coroner's jury, of strychnine poisoning.
-
-
A Bay Area Story
- By Matt Javier on 05-30-22
By: Richard White
-
Eyes of a Monster
- A Detective's Relentless Pursuit of a Serial Killer
- By: Ron Peterson Jr.
- Narrated by: Kyle Tait
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Schoolteacher Olivia Dare Christian was murdered in her Hampton, Virginia, apartment in 1981. Her killer left few clues and the murder went unsolved. Three decades later, in 2011, next-generation detective Randy Mayer re-opened Olivia's dusty cold case file and began unraveling the mystery. Mayer located a reluctant witness who was a teenager back in 1981. She recalled a suspicious man lurking outside Olivia's apartment the morning of the murder and provided a detailed description of the man.
-
-
A riveting, well paced true crime story
- By Brenda646 on 04-03-22
By: Ron Peterson Jr.
-
The Assassin's Accomplice
- Mary Surratt and the Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln
- By: Kate Clifford Larson
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Assassin’s Accomplice, historian Kate Clifford Larson tells the gripping story of Mary Surratt, a little-known conspirator in the plot to kill Abraham Lincoln, and the first woman ever to be executed by the federal government. A Confederate sympathizer, Surratt ran the boarding house where the conspirators met to plan Lincoln’s assassination. 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, offering a fresh perspective on America’s most famous murder.
-
-
Did She or Didn't She
- By c a cornelius on 06-04-21
-
Destiny of the Republic
- A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President
- By: Candice Millard
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
James A. Garfield may have been the most extraordinary man ever elected president. Born into abject poverty, he rose to become a wunderkind scholar, a Civil War hero, and a renowned and admired reformist congressman. Nominated for president against his will, he engaged in a fierce battle with the corrupt political establishment. But four months after his inauguration, a deranged office seeker tracked Garfield down and shot him in the back. But the shot didn’t kill Garfield. The drama of what happened subsequently is a powerful story of a nation in turmoil.
-
-
Marvelous, Magnificent, Millard
- By Mel on 02-08-12
By: Candice Millard
-
Killers of the Flower Moon
- The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
- By: David Grann
- Narrated by: Will Patton, Ann Marie Lee, Danny Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1920s the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, they rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe. Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. Her relatives were shot and poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more members of the tribe began to die under mysterious circumstances.
-
-
All Should Know this Little Recorded History
- By L. O. Pardue on 08-26-18
By: David Grann
-
The Impending Crisis
- America Before the Civil War: 1848-1861
- By: David M. Potter, Don E. Fehrenbacher
- Narrated by: Eric Martin
- Length: 22 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David M. Potter's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Impending Crisis is the definitive history of antebellum America. Potter's sweeping epic masterfully charts the chaotic forces that climaxed with the outbreak of the Civil War: westward expansion, the divisive issue of slavery, the Dred Scott decision, John Brown's uprising, the ascension of Abraham Lincoln, and the drama of Southern secession.
-
-
Great History Book
- By Jose on 10-07-17
By: David M. Potter, and others
Publisher's Summary
In American Brutus, popular historian Michael W. Kauffman delivers a history that reads more like a best-selling novel. This definitive masterwork dispels commonly held myths and reveals the truth about John Wilkes Booth.
Luring Southern sympathizers into a “noble” presidential kidnapping, Booth stunned his puzzled pawns by murdering Lincoln. From Booth’s early life and acting career to his escape and death, this meticulously researched book re-examines it all using a wealth of primary sources.
Critic Reviews
More from the same
What listeners say about American Brutus
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sue Ogle
- 11-27-20
informative
I've read dozens of books on Lincoln, the assasination, civil war, and it was interesting to get a detailed look at JWB and the man and his plan behind the assasination
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- terri eller
- 03-19-22
the narrator nearly ruins the book
greatly enjoyed learning more about the Lincoln assassination but the long pauses from the narrator (in no seemingly logical place) coupled with the sound of him rolling his tongue and clicking his teeth was enough to drive anyone crazy.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- John Christopher Quillen
- 02-28-22
narrator is slow and takes unusual pauses...
The narrator is slow. he takes unusual pauses and There is some background noises... I would suggest reading this book rather than having it read to you
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anthony W. Gibbs
- 02-17-22
A Killer and his Excuses
I enjoyed this book and narration. It is thorough and insightful. One of interesting things is how different the law was then and how that trial got set rup and went down. Booth's self serving final letter sounds like many killers I've read and studied.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer1_Old_Salt
- 08-30-20
I struggled with the story
Recommended as the best story regarding Lincoln's assassination and the hunt for Booth. Not sure of the veracity of that but there are far too many inconsistencies in the narrative to prove the claim. Lots of details-mostly inconsequential in nature and that is truly distracting to enjoy or consider for a serious historical chronical. Cautiously recommend to others.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mike in NC
- 08-03-20
Fascinating account of this character
If you this you would like a very well researched story of one of the most notorious killers in American history, look no further. The details are plentiful and the story well researched and entertaining IMHO. The story was compelling and at no point was I bored with the details as written into the story.
If I did have any complaints it's with the mispronunciation of a few iconic characters and places. This is really unsull as Nelson Runger is one of my personal favorite narrators. The only other complaint I had was with the production. Between chapters they had an awkwardly on pause before the next chapter started. Both minor annoyances over a 22 hr book
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Scott
- 06-30-18
Excellent
Terrific exploration of the events and people surrounding the Lincoln assassination, both before and after. Remarkably well researched. I also thought that the narration was quite good.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Gioacchino
- 06-25-13
Good content ruined by bad narrator
Would you try another book from Michael Kauffman and/or Nelson Runger?
Michael Kauffman, yes. Nelson Runger, never.
Would you recommend American Brutus to your friends? Why or why not?
Yes but I would recommend the print version.
Would you be willing to try another one of Nelson Runger’s performances?
Never, worst I've ever listened to.
Could you see American Brutus being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?
Not really
Any additional comments?
The content of this book is well researched and detailed. I enjoyed learning about the goings on of the time and about Booth's motives. I live in the Washington, DC area and many of the places were familiar to me so there was added interest to me personally.
Now for the negatives:
I could not get passed the narrator. I have listened to many audio books over the years and have never heard a worse narrator. I had to ask myself is this guy really a professional reader? Through out the whole reading you could hear constant lip smacking, swallow, and breathing. I always knew when a paragraph would end because Runger would pause for a solid 5+ seconds and lick his chops. It reminded me of when I give my dog peanut butter. After a while I felt ready to barf listening to it.
I would highly recommend the printed version of this book over the audio book.
2 people found this helpful