Books by Brian McGinty

A surprising work of narrative history and detection that illuminates one of the most daring-and long-forgotten-heroes of the Civil War.

Supported by a "provisional army" of 21 men, Brown hoped to rouse the slaves in Virginia to rebellion. But he was quickly captured and, after a short but stormy trial, hanged on December 2, 1859. McGinty provides the first comprehensive account of the trial, which raised important questions about jurisdiction, judicial fairness, and treason.

This meticulously researched and engagingly written narrative rescues the story of Abraham Lincoln and the Supreme Court from long and undeserved neglect, recounting the compelling history of the Civil War president's relations with the nation's highest tribunal and the role it played in resolving the agonizing issues raised by the conflict.

This is biography of Agoston Haraszthy, an immigrant who apart from his efforts to establish a wine industry in California, holds other important distinctions: he was the first Hungarian to permanently settle in the United States and author of only the second Hungarian-language book about the USA.

When Chief Justice Taney declared Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus unconstitutional and demanded the release of John Merryman, Lincoln defied the order, offering a forceful counter-argument for the constitutionality of his actions. The result was one of the most significant cases in American legal history-a case that resonates in our own time.