Brad Meltzer, Josh Mensch Books

When Abraham Lincoln won the presidency in November 1860, it was a victory celebrated in some parts of the country and considered a catastrophe in others. The Republican Party’s triumph represented to many Southern states the final confirmation that slavery’s days were numbered. Even before Lincoln ...

From The Lincoln Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill President Lincoln—and Why It Failed

Baltimore in 1861 was a city split in its loyalties. Though part of a Union state, its population leaned heavily toward the South, harboring deep sympathies for secession. It was a breeding ground for radical talk, a place where taverns echoed with resentment and secret societies flourished under lo...

From The Lincoln Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill President Lincoln—and Why It Failed

By 1943, World War II had entered a dreadful stalemate. Hitler’s armies occupied much of Europe, though they had begun to falter after the crushing German defeat at Stalingrad. Across the oceans, Roosevelt’s America was straining its industrial might to its limits, seeking to turn the tide against t...

From The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill

The Nazi state thrived on conspiracy. Its intelligence branches—ranging from Admiral Canaris’s Abwehr to Himmler’s SS—were as much rivals as collaborators. Amid the chaotic competition, one plan began to crystallize: a direct strike against the Allied command structure at the Tehran Conference, know...

From The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill