Books
NEW RELEASE
Midnight on the Potomac:
The Last Year of the Civil War, the Lincoln Assassination, and the Rebirth of America
Dutton, July 15, 2025
The Lincoln presidency was collapsing.
The war in Virginia had ground to a bloody stalemate.
And in the Shenandoah Valley, a forgotten Rebel army was marching on Washington.
Told with a page-turning pace, New York Times bestselling author and historian Scott Ellsworth’s Midnight on the Potomac is a compelling new look at the last, desperate months of the Civil War, when the fate of the United States lay in the balance. A saga of titanic battles, political upheaval, and the long-forgotten Confederate terror war against the loyal citizens of the North, readers will go behind the scenes in the White House, along the battlefronts in Virginia, and into the conspiracies of spies and secret agents. Lincoln walks these pages, as do Grant and Sherman. But so do common soldiers, runaway slaves, and an intrepid female war correspondent named Lois Adams. Rarely, if ever, has a book about the Civil War featured such a rich and diverse cast of characters.
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It will also shatter some long-held myths. For more than a century and a half, the Lincoln assassination has been portrayed as the sole brainchild of a disgruntled, pro-South actor. But based on both obscure contemporary accounts and decades of long-ignored scholarship, Ellsworth reveals that for nearly one year before the tragic events at Ford’s Theatre, John Wilkes Booth had been working closely with agents of the Confederate Secret Service. And the real Booth is far from the one we’ve long been presented with.
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Midnight on the Potomac is a new kind of book about the Civil War. In it you will read about the Confederate attempt to burn down New York City, how Lincoln almost lost the presidency, about the Rebel general who nearly captured Washington, and how thousands of enslaved African Americans freed themselves—and helped secure their nation’s survival. In an age of deep political division such as our own, Scott Ellsworth’s book is an eloquent and gripping testament to the courage, grit, and greatness of the American people.
Advance Praise
“Midnight on the Potomac is a powerful achievement by Scott Ellsworth, blending meticulous research with vivid storytelling. Capturing both the urgency and humanity of the Civil War’s final year, Ellsworth offers a riveting account of courage, sacrifice, and rebirth—the story of how America nearly lost itself—and how it fought to become whole again.”
—Gilbert King, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Devil in the Grove
“With the sense of drama of a novelist but fidelity to facts of a skilled historian, Scott Ellsworth has interwoven stories of the battlefronts and homefronts in the Civil War. . . Even readers familiar with this narrative of triumph and tragedy will encounter new and important material here.”
—James M. McPherson, Princeton University, Pulitzer Prize winning
author of Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era
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"This is a book that unspools before you like a movie. Its accuracy and sheer readability make it eminently teachable. In Midnight on the Potomac, Ellsworth supplies that rarest of gifts: a history with the power to break through and win the heart of all readers."
—Amity Shlaes, New York Times bestselling author of Coolidge
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“Midnight on the Potomac transports readers in the Civil War’s fraught last year that decided the fate of the nation and emancipation. A compelling cast of characters enliven dramatic events on the battlefield and behind the lines, illuminating swings of civilian morale, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and the uncertain foundation of freedom for millions of formerly enslaved people.”
—Gary W. Gallagher, University of Virginia, author of The Enduring Civil War: Reflections on the Great American Crisis
“In Midnight on the Potomac, Scott Ellsworth accomplishes a remarkable feat: turning a Civil War history into a page-turner. Even if you have read many books about this era, you will learn things you never knew before. Its stunning details reminds us of the power of contingency: a shrewder decision here, a better-aimed handgun there, and a whole story could have taken a radical turn for the worse. With sharp prose and meticulous research, the book exemplifies what Faulkner wrote: ‘The past is never dead. It’s not even past.’”
—John J. Pitney, Jr, Claremont McKenna College, author of The Art of Political Warfare
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“This was so well written that I couldn't put it down. I am a history buff, and I was so engrossed by the retelling of such a dark time in our history. The author did an amazing job with the way he presented the material. . . . I highly recommend this book for history lovers.”
—Review by Bitsy M., librarian, The Story Graph
The Ground Breaking
The Tulsa Race Massacre and an American City's Search for Justice
Dutton, 2021
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Longlisted for the National Book Award for Nonfiction
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Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal
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Shortlisted for the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize
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Shortlisted for the Harriet Beecher Stowe Prize
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Winner of the Housatonic Book Award
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And then they were gone.
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More than one thousand homes and businesses. Restaurants and movie theaters, churches and doctors’ offices, a hospital, a public library, a post office. Looted, burned, and bombed from the air.
Over the course of less than twenty-four hours in the spring of 1921, Tulsa’s famous “Black Wall Street” district was wiped off the map—and then erased from history. Official records disappeared, researchers were threatened, and the worst single incident of racial violence in American history was buried for more than fifty years. But there were some secrets that would not die.
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The Ground Breaking not only tells the long-suppressed story of the notorious Tulsa race massacre, but it also unearths the lost history of how the massacre was covered up, and of the courageous individuals who fought to keep the story alive. Most importantly, it recounts the ongoing archaeological and true crime saga of the search for the unmarked graves of massacre victims, and of the fight to win restitution for survivors and their families.
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Both a forgotten account from the nation’s past and a story ripped from today’s headlines, The Ground Breaking is a page-turning reflection on how we, as Americans, must wrestle with the parts of our history that have been buried for far too long.
Reviews
“A skillful narrative of excavating truth about the Tulsa race massacre.... Part of what makes this book so riveting is Ellsworth’s skillful narration, his impeccable sense for when to reveal a piece of information and when to hold something back.”
—The New York Times
“Moving and humane . . . Sends a powerful message.”
—The Washington Post
“Immensely readable and thoroughly engaging, The Ground Breaking is a remarkable blend of history and memoir that could not be more timely and informative. Taut, tense, and meticulously composed, Scott Ellsworth’s elegant narrative is both mesmerizing and enlightening”
—Gilbert King, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Devil in the Grove
“A stunning narrative.”
—NPR’s Code Switch
“This is the kind of book that, once you start it, makes the hours disappear. It’s an emotional one that’ll make you skip dinner and lock the door so you can just read. For sure, The Ground Breaking will shake you up.”
—TheTimesWeekly.com
“Superb . . . beautifully written, instantly engrossing, and deeply empathetic.”
—Irish Examiner
“Indispensible . . . impeccable.”
—The Guardian
“If one of the public historian’s greatest tasks is to make people care, Ellsworth succeeds spectacularly. His character-driven narrative is clear and compelling. . . Perhaps one of the greatest achievements of The Ground Breaking is that it understands the limitations of the historian’s and the media’s role in the project, acknowledging that more political action is needed to sustain a movement that’s only just begun.”
—Foreign Policy
The World Beneath Their Feet
Mountaineering, Madness, and the Deadly Race to Summit the Himalayas
Little, Brown and Company, 2020
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William Hill Sports Book of the Year, 2020, Finalist
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National Outdoor Book Award for History and Biography, 2020
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Amazon Editor’s Pick
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Amazon Best Books of the Month, Nonfiction
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#1 New Release in Mountaineering, Amazon
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#1 Best Seller in Mountain Climbing, Amazon
At the dawn of the 1930s, a handful of courageous amateurs set out to accomplish something that no human being had ever done before—to be the first to set foot on top of the highest mountains on earth. These adventurers had no accurate maps, few photographs of where they were going, and no properly functioning oxygen systems. Clad in cotton parkas and leather hobnailed boots, they pitted themselves against the mighty Himalayas, where they faced murderous storms, rock walls higher than the Empire State Building, and avalanches with blocks of ice the size of houses.
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This is their story.
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Set against the backdrop of the coming of the Second World War, The World Beneath Their Feet tells the remarkable saga of the forgotten British, German, and American mountain climbers who risked everything to climb Mount Everest, K2, and other mighty peaks. Taking place in London and Tibet, Nazi Germany and the British Raj, it brings back to light the iconoclastic English mountaineers who fought their way five miles into the sky with copies of Gone With the Wind and Jane Austen in their rucksacks, the young American daredevils who pioneered radical new ways of climbing, and the lanky New Zealand beekeeper who, along with a brilliant Sherpa then called Tensing, made one final, magnificent walk above the clouds.
Reviews
“Superb.”
—The New York Review of Books
“The dramatic saga of the race between nations to climb the planet's highest mountains.... A captivating, rousing adventure story.”
—Kirkus
“Ellsworth... recasts the era as a Great Himalayan Race, a push for national supremacy in the shadow of Nazism, a kind of Indiana Jones contest in which the prize is not an ark or idol, but a summit. It works brilliantly.”
—The Sunday Times, London
“An exceptional account of trailblazing mountaineers who persevered
during a turbulent time in history.”
—Booklist
“Lively . . . a gripping history”
—The Economist
''Like Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air met Lauren Hillenbrand's Unbroken... an inviting and engrossing read''
—Sports Illustrated
“Packed with eccentrics... detailed and entertaining”
—The Spectator, London
“A thrilling new account of the struggle to conquer the towering Himalayan mountains.... So far as adventure stories go, this book is tops.”
—Winston Groom, author of Forrest Gump, in National Geographic
“It’s a brilliant read!”
—Paul Ross, talkSPORT, London
“A fine piece of writing, filled with drama... If you are interested in human adventure, skill, courage, and ingenuity then seek out a copy of this book—it is all there. A fantastic read. I would give it ten out of five if I could.”
—Soldier Magazine, UK
“Rollicking.”
—The Times, London
“Solid research and a touch of panache . . . There’s plenty to sink your teeth into, and plenty of new insights, in this absorbing and eminently readable book.”
—National Outdoor Book Award Citation, 2020
The Secret Game
A Wartime Story of Courage, Change, and Basketball's Lost Triumph
Little, Brown and Company, 2015
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PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing
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New York Times Sports Book Best Seller
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#1 Best Selling Basketball Book on Amazon
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#1 Best Selling African American History Book on Amazon
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Chicago Tribune Top Ten Books of the Year
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Sports Illustrated Books of the Year
In the fall of 1943, Coach John McLendon was on the verge of changing basketball forever. His North Carolina College for Negroes varsity was the highest scoring basketball team in America, a fast-breaking, high-octane juggernaut that left the referees winded and beat their opponents by as many as fifty points a game. There had never been anything like them.
But in the American South of the Jim Crow Era, as they travelled to away games, danger lurked everywhere on crowded, segregated buses and trains. “Whenever we went on the road,” McLendon later recalled, “I was prepared to lose my life.”
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Across town, meanwhile, at Duke University, the best basketball squad on campus wasn’t the Blue Devils, but an all-white military team from the Duke medical school. Composed of college all-stars from across the country, the team dismantled everyone they faced, including the Duke varsity. They were prepared to take on anyone—until an audacious invitation arrived, one that was decades ahead of its time. What happened next wasn’t on anyone’s schedule.
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Based on years of research, The Secret Game brings back to life a proud, long-buried moment in basketball history. But more than just a story about two courageous teams, and one incredible season, it reminds us of a forgotten generation of Southerners who waged their own war against segregation years before the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement.
Reviews
“Ellsworth has unearthed a brave moment in basketball, forgotten to history, which resonates far beyond the court.”
—New York Post
“A compelling tale told in the author’s impeccably clear prose.”
—Library Journal
“Scott Ellsworth has unearthed the facts of this little-known but hugely important moment. His research is as overwhelming as his story-telling style is accessible and engaging. If you love basketball, truly love the game and all that it means in terms of this country and its civil rights history, you'll want to read and reread The Secret Game. Ellsworth has presented us with a keeper, one that future generations will return to when they want to understand the many ways that African Americans empowered not just their own lives but the nation itself.”
—Roland Lazenby, author of Michael Jordan: The Life
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“Fascinating . . . humane and deeply researched”
—Boston Globe
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“Beautifully paced, its eloquence cloaked with a common touch, The Secret Game is Ellsworth’s revealing account of the segregated home front during World War II, when ‘the first whisperings of a rising wind’ became audible in the modernizing South.... poetic.”
—Jeff Calder, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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“It’s a book that . . . reminds us that there were trailblazers who existed years before Dr. King, Rosa Parks, and other familiar Civil Rights narratives. Scott Ellsworth’s exhaustive reporting excavates this precious moment in American history, one that has the power to illuminate the present. It is sportswriting at its most impactful.”
—2016 PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing, Judges’ Citation
Death in a Promised Land
The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921
LSU Press, 1982
For fifty years, Scott Ellsworth has been researching, writing about, and telling the story of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. In print since 1982, Death in a Promised Land remains the classic account of the single worst incident of racial violence in the history of the United States.
When a mob began to gather outside the county jail in Tulsa, Oklahoma on the evening of May 31, 1921, the fate of one of its prisoners, a young Black male, seemed assured. Accused of attempting to rape a white woman, Dick Rowland was about to be lynched.
But in another part of town, a small group of African American men, many of them World War I veterans, decided to risk their lives for a different vision of American justice. Before it was all over, Tulsa had erupted into one of the nation’s worst racial nightmares, leaving scores dead and hundreds of homes and businesses destroyed.
Deeply researched, Death in a Promised Land is the compelling true story of racial politics, boom town justice, and of Tulsa’s remarkable Greenwood community—aka “Black Wall Street”—and its fight to hold on to its land and its destiny. More than just the chronicle of one of the nation’s most devastating disasters, this slender, critically acclaimed volume is, above all, a gripping story of terror and lawlessness, and of courage, heroism, and human perseverance.
Reviews
“A useful reminder of America’s tradition of race discrimination at a time when the nation clearly would rather ignore such unpleasant matters.”
—Washington Post
“An exemplary social history case study of American race relations and racial ideologies. This splendid book belongs in any library serving readers in American history.”
—Library Journal
“the definitive account”
—Project MUSE
“Ellsworth has treated this complex and emotional story with great care and sensitivity. . . .This volume will no doubt merit the rare distinction of having considerable value to general readers and specialists alike.”
—Journal of American History
“This is a fine book, well worth reading, on a part of our history that should never be permitted to escape the minds of historians and students for generations to come.”
—Western Historical Quarterly