Sign-In
Cart
Murder on the Mississippi: The Shocking Crimes That Shaped Abraham Lincoln
Hardcover
Presidents & Heads of State19th Century United States HistoryTrue Crime
Publisher Price: $29.99
Please select the version of book you would like to purchase.
ISBN13: 9798895150214
Publisher: Diversion Books
Published: Oct 7 2025
Pages: 240
Weight: 0.94
Height: 0.99 Width: 6.37 Depth: 9.24
Language: English
Publisher: Diversion Books
Published: Oct 7 2025
Pages: 240
Weight: 0.94
Height: 0.99 Width: 6.37 Depth: 9.24
Language: English
Murder, mob rule, and the making of Abraham Lincoln--the story of three racially motivated murders in Mississippi River towns from 1835 to 1838 that inspired the speech that put Lincoln on the national map--the Lyceum Address. Lynched: Five white gamblers suspected of aiding a slave insurrection in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Burned Alive: A Black man implicated in the death of a constable in St. Louis, Missouri.
Gunned Down: A white abolitionist in Alton, Illinois. These weren't just acts of mob violence--they were warnings of a nation on the edge of collapse. In Murder on the Mississippi, award-winning historian Saladin Ambar unearths the horrors that shaped a young Abraham Lincoln's worldview, pushing him to find his political voice in one of the earliest and most pivotal speeches of his career. Confronted by lawlessness, racial terror, and his own inner demons, Lincoln's battle was political and deeply personal. Amid the string of murders on the American frontier, Lincoln faced the loss of his first love--and a descent into suicidal despair. Yet from this darkness, he emerged with a renewed purpose, one that would define his leadership in the fight for democracy, human freedom, and the rule of law. From the flames of mob violence rose a young Lincoln, forged in fire and soon to contend with a nation at war with itself.
Gunned Down: A white abolitionist in Alton, Illinois. These weren't just acts of mob violence--they were warnings of a nation on the edge of collapse. In Murder on the Mississippi, award-winning historian Saladin Ambar unearths the horrors that shaped a young Abraham Lincoln's worldview, pushing him to find his political voice in one of the earliest and most pivotal speeches of his career. Confronted by lawlessness, racial terror, and his own inner demons, Lincoln's battle was political and deeply personal. Amid the string of murders on the American frontier, Lincoln faced the loss of his first love--and a descent into suicidal despair. Yet from this darkness, he emerged with a renewed purpose, one that would define his leadership in the fight for democracy, human freedom, and the rule of law. From the flames of mob violence rose a young Lincoln, forged in fire and soon to contend with a nation at war with itself.
Also in
19th Century United States History
A Manufactured Wilderness: Summer Camps and the Shaping of American Youth, 1890-1960
Van Slyck, Abigail A.
Hardcover
$12.99
The Wreck of the Mentor: A True Story of Death, Despair, and Deliverance in the Age of Sail
Dolin, Eric Jay
Hardcover
From $19.99
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
Larson, Erik
Paperback
From $11.99
The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
Larson, Erik
Paperback
$20.90
They Stole a City: Wilmington's White Supremacist Coup and the Families Who Live with Its Legacy
Collins, Lauren
Hardcover
$28.80
The Rush: California Gold, the Civil War, and the Making of the Modern World
Philbrick, Nathaniel
Hardcover
$36.10
Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History
Gwynne, S. C.
Paperback
From $11.99
A Perfect Coincidence: The Extraordinary Friendship and Astonishing Deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
Rasenberger, Jim
Hardcover
$27.90
Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West
Ambrose, Stephen E.
Paperback
From $10.99
Empire of Ink: The Printers, Rogues, and Radicals Who Invented the American Newspaper
Wright, Alex
Hardcover
$32.30
Glorious Country: How the Artist Frederic Church Brought the World to America and America to the World
Johnson, Victoria
Hardcover
$31.50
Centennial: The Great Fair of 1876 and the Invention of America's Future
Bordewich, Fergus M.
Hardcover
$31.50
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex (National Book Award Winner)
Philbrick, Nathaniel
Paperback
From $9.99
Chasing Lewis's Monkeyflower: The Amazing Afterlife of the Lewis and Clark Expedition's Wild Plants
Adelman, Elizabeth
Hardcover
$30.40
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President
Millard, Candice
Paperback
From $9.99
The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
Larson, Erik
Hardcover
From $12.99
The Flag Was Still There: A History of the American Experiment in Five Anniversaries
McKean, David
Bennett, M. Todd
Hardcover
From $19.99
Jefferson's Wolf: A Founding Father's Troubling Answer to the Problem of Slavery
Dierksheide, Christa
Guyatt, Nicholas
Hardcover
$26.96
The Rush: California Gold, the Civil War, and the Making of the Modern World (Large Print Edition)
Philbrick, Nathaniel
Paperback
$38.00
Brothers of the Gun: Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and a Reckoning in Tombstone
Gardner, Mark Lee
Hardcover
$33.25
The Undiscovered Country: Triumph, Tragedy, and the Shaping of the American West
Hutton, Paul Andrew
Hardcover
$33.25
How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America
Richardson, Heather Cox
Paperback
$22.99
We Pointed Them North: Recollections of a Cowpuncher
Smith, Helena Huntington
Abbott, E. C. Teddy Blue
Paperback
$20.85
The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West
McCullough, David
Paperback
$18.99
The Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City and Sparked the Tabloid Wars
Collins, Paul
Paperback
$23.00
Midnight on the Potomac: The Last Year of the Civil War, the Lincoln Assassination, and the Rebirth of America
Ellsworth, Scott
Hardcover
$30.40
We've Been Here Before: How Rebellion and Activism Have Always Sustained America
Days, Michael I.
Dodson, Angela P.
Hardcover
$28.49
Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt
McCullough, David
Paperback
From $9.99
Ghosts of Gold Mountain: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad
Chang, Gordon H.
Paperback
$18.99
Out Where the West Begins: Profiles, Visions, and Strategies of Early Western Business Leaders
Anschutz, Philip F.
Hardcover
$33.20
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
Larson, Erik
Hardcover
From $12.99
Vengeance: The Last Stands of Custer, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull (Large Print Edition)
Clavin, Tom
Hardcover
$56.55
Mountain Man: John Colter, the Lewis & Clark Expedition, and the Call of the American West
Marshall, David Weston
Paperback
$16.10
America: The Last Best Hope (Volume I): From the Age of Discovery to a World at War
Bennett, William J.
Paperback
$16.14
John Doe Chinaman: A Forgotten History of Chinese Life Under American Racial Law
Lew-Williams, Beth
Hardcover
$42.00
Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant Volume 1/2: Large Print Edition (Large Print Edition)
Grant, Ulysses S.
Hardcover
$43.69
When America First Met China: An Exotic History of Tea, Drugs, and Money in the Age of Sail
Dolin, Eric Jay
Paperback
$31.99
Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth
Burrough, Bryan
Tomlinson, Chris
Stanford, Jason
Paperback
$19.00
The Man Behind the Cane: Preston Brooks, Political Violence, and the Road to the Civil War
Quigley, Paul
Hardcover
$34.99
Wilmington's Lie (Winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize): The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy
Zucchino, David
Paperback
$17.10
Out Where the West Begins, Volume 2: Creating and Civilizing the American West Volume 2
Anschutz, Philip F.
Hardcover
$33.20
Scenes of Subjection: Terror, Slavery, and Self-Making in Nineteenth-Century America
Hartman, Saidiya
Paperback
$19.00
The First to Go West: American Ambition, Bloody Conquest, and the Fateful Journey of Jedediah Smith
Clavin, Tom
Drury, Bob
Paperback
$19.95
Black, White, Colored: The Hidden Story of an Insurrection, a Family, a Southern Town, and Identity in America
Noble, Leeanet
Noble, Lauretta Malloy
Hardcover
$26.99
Contempt of Court: The Turn-Of-The-Century Lynching That Launched a Hundred Years of Federalism
Phillips, Leroy
Curriden, Mark
Paperback
From $10.99
Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869
Ambrose, Stephen E.
Paperback
From $10.99
The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, an American Legend
Drury, Bob
Clavin, Tom
Paperback
$19.95
Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33D United States Colored Troops, Late
Taylor, Susie King
Paperback
$9.95
For the Hope of this Land: A Visual Learner's Workbook for Early American History
Newhouse, Amy
Paperback
$31.25
Wakara's America: The Life and Legacy of a Native Founder of the American West
Mueller, Max Perry
Hardcover
$31.50
An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846-1873
Madley, Benjamin
Paperback
$20.90
Appetite for America: Fred Harvey and the Business of Civilizing the Wild West--One Meal at a Time
Fried, Stephen
Paperback
$19.00
Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America
Nelson, Megan Kate
Hardcover
$9.99
Her Hat Was in the Ring: How Women Won the Right to Run for Office in the United States
Norgren, Jill
Chmielewski, Wendy E.
Hardcover
$46.20
Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant Volume 2/2: Large Print Edition (Large Print Edition)
Grant, Ulysses S.
Hardcover
$43.69
Last Seen: The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families
Giesberg, Judith
Hardcover
From $12.99
Slavery by Another Name (Pulitzer Prize Winner): The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II
Blackmon, Douglas A.
Paperback
From $11.99
Native American History: Accurate & Comprehensive History, Origins, Culture, Tribes, Legends, Mythology, Wars, Stories & More of The Native Indigenous
Alive, History Brought
Paperback
$19.94
Glitz, Glam, and a Damn Good Time: How Mamie Fish, Queen of the Gilded Age, Partied Her Way to Power
Wright, Jennifer
Hardcover
$27.00
I Am Murdered: George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson, and the Killing That Shocked a New Nation
Chadwick, Bruce
Paperback
$14.24
African American History: A Captivating Guide to the People and Events that Shaped the History of the United States
History, Captivating
Paperback
$16.60
The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn
Philbrick, Nathaniel
Paperback
$19.00
Bandit Heaven: The Hole-In-The-Wall Gangs and the Final Chapter of the Wild West
Clavin, Tom
Paperback
$18.05
Last Seen: The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families
Giesberg, Judith
Paperback
$19.00
Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing That Divided Gilded Age America
Green, James
Paperback
From $10.99
The Improbable Victoria Woodhull: Suffrage, Free Love, and the First Woman to Run for President
Collinsworth, Eden
Hardcover
$27.00
American Infidelity: The Gilded Age Battle Over Freethought, Free Love, and Feminism
Green, Steven K.
Hardcover
$29.99
Until Justice Be Done: America's First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction
Masur, Kate
Paperback
$33.99
Ghosts of the Wild West: Stories from Deadwood, Tombstone, and the Old Frontier
Fowler, Natalie
Freeburg, Jessica
Paperback
$9.45
Trail of Tears: A Captivating Guide to the Forced Removals of Cherokee, Muscogee Creek, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations
History, Captivating
Hardcover
$28.49
Acts of Love: Black Performance and the Kiss That Changed Film History
Field, Allyson Nadia
Paperback
$35.94
Promised Land, Crusader State: The American Encounter with the World Since 1776
McDougall, Walter
Paperback
$18.99
Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West
Stegner, Wallace
Paperback
$17.10
The Apache Wars: The Hunt for Geronimo, the Apache Kid, and the Captive Boy Who Started the Longest War in American History
Hutton, Paul Andrew
Paperback
$20.90
Thunder in the Mountains: Chief Joseph, Oliver Otis Howard, and the Nez Perce War
Sharfstein, Daniel J.
Paperback
$18.00
Nineteen Reservoirs: On Their Creation and the Promise of Water for New York City
Sante, Lucy
Paperback
$18.95
Vested Interests: Trusteeship and Native Dispossession in the United States
Connolly, Emilie
Hardcover
$52.50
The Undiscovered Country: Triumph, Tragedy, and the Shaping of the American West
Hutton, Paul Andrew
Paperback
$19.80
The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States During Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896
White, Richard
Paperback
$28.49
The Man from the Train: Discovering America's Most Elusive Serial Killer
James, Rachel McCarthy
James, Bill
Paperback
$19.95
The Wizard of Menlo Park: How Thomas Alva Edison Invented the Modern World
Stross, Randall E.
Paperback
$22.00
Where Custer Fell: Photographs of the Little Bighorn Battlefield Then and Now
Brust, James S.
Pohanka, Brian C.
Barnard, Sandy
Paperback
$28.45
The War on Illahee: Genocide, Complicity, and Cover-Ups in the Pioneer Northwest
Carpenter, Marc James
Hardcover
$45.60
The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860-1920
Sinha, Manisha
Paperback
$17.99
No God But Gain: The Untold Story of Cuban Slavery, the Monroe Doctrine, and the Making of the United States
Chambers, Stephen
Paperback
$29.95
How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America
Richardson, Heather Cox
Hardcover
$31.34
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
Kendi, Ibram X.
Hardcover
From $11.99