Blood on the Moon - by Edward Steers, Jr.

The story of Lincoln's assassination cannot be complete without a look at the motives of John Wilkes Booth and the efforts of his accomplices.

Edward Steers - in his book Blood on the Moon - examines primary sources regarding those aspects of the story. Among other things, he tells us:

While historians have recognized that Booth was a racist who hated Lincoln, they have never connected his racism, or that of his associates, directly to Booth's conspiracy to remove Lincoln as president. In Booth's logic, Julius Caesar and Abraham Lincoln were despots of a feather. Caesar was murdered for taking away the civil liberties of his fellow citizens, while Abraham Lincoln was murdered for trying to extend civil liberties to his fellow citizens. In Booth's mind, there was no difference. Both were tyrants who deserved killing.

When Booth entered the presidential box at Ford's Theatre on the night of April 14, 1865, he held a small derringer in his hand. While it was Booth's hand that held the gun, there were many fingers on the trigger.

In his book, Steers attempts to "explain who those people were and why they were so willing to help pull the trigger that changed the course of American history..."