"Impeached  is a fascinating account of the attempt to remove Andrew Johnson from the Presidency. Vigorously written, it is by all means the best account of this troubled episode in our history. It demolishes the myth that Johnson's impeachment was unjustified and that those who defended him were heroes. Stewart proves that impeachment may be an unwieldy tool for recapturing control of the national government but at critical times it can be an essential one. This is a book I highly recommend."

         --David Herbert Donald, author of Lincoln, Charles Warren Professor, Harvard

From the Christian Science Monitor, June 2, 2009

"A lucid and long-overdue reexamination . . . [Stewart] documents this remarkable tale of political bloodletting with skillful aplomb and insight.  His grasp of legal complexities . . . is matched by a good eye for the human dimensions of this continuation of war by other means."

From The Washington Times, May 17, 2009

"David O. Stewart's proven dexterity in handling detail, suspense and melodrama in matters of state are again present here. He brings impressive research to a bizarre episode in American history, the impeachment and trial of President Andrew Johnson, woven into such a vivid story that the reader is in the visitors' gallery. The story has high drama, low farce, unlikely comedy, a stellar cast, hubris, vanity and bad judgment. There is ambition, hostility, personal devotion, patriotism, betrayal and bribery."

From The Washington Post, May 17, 2009

"David O. Stewart's "Impeached" is the fullest recounting we have of the high politics of that immediate post-Civil War period. As the author astutely tells us, the Constitution's impeachment clauses provide a complex legal remedy for enmity between Congress and the president. . . .Stewart's graceful style and storytelling ability make for a good read. The author maintains interest by emphasizing the heavy drinking and hyperbolic oratory in an age of excess."

From Kirkus Review, March 4, 2009 (STARRED)

"A riveting look at one of American history's most dismal episodes.  The [Johnson] impeachment spectacle qualifies as the last battle of the Civil War and the first act of the tawdry Gilded Age. A practicing attorney who has defended a federal judge against impeachment, Stewart demonstrates his legal acumen, explaining the constitutional bases for impeachment and teasing out "the tenacious opacity of the phrase 'high crimes and misdemeanors' . . . Also an adept historian, Stewart stresses the political nature of impeachment, where developments and outcome depend as much on events and the character and convictions of the protagonists. The author also profiles Benjamin Butler, the prosecution's headstrong manager, the surprisingly slippery president-in-waiting, Ulysses S. Grant, and Edmund G. Ross, whose deciding vote against impeachment was likely purchased. Ross falls shockingly short of the profile in courage John F. Kennedy sketched, but the senator was only a small part of the gambling, bargaining, payoffs and bribes surrounding the trial. Stewart vibrantly renders these atmospherics, the poisonous politics, the personal animosities and the unbridled corruption that will leave readers rooting for both sides to lose.  Likely to become the standard version of this historic clash between a president and Congress."

From BookPage, May 2009

"In his magnificent Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy, David O. Stewart, author of the highly acclaimed Summer of 1787, provides an extraordinary narrative that brings the many key players vividly to life while at the same time exhibiting an admirable clarity in discussing issues and events.  . . . Stewart's book splendidly illuminates an important chapter in American history"

From Reviews in American History, June 2010 (R. Owen Williams)

"David O. Stewart has elegantly and engagingly recounted the saga of Johnson's impeachment trial. . . Stewart's version of the impeachment surpasses all the rest; intended for an intelligent lay audience, it is a superb synthesis of existing scholarship and an insightful depiction of the Reconstruction's frailties. . . In all respects, this is a great story and Stewart is a masterful storyteller."

From Washington Lawyer, June 2009 (Joseph C. Goulden)

"[A] sprightly, exhaustively researched, and highly readable account of a dark era in American history. . . . Stewart tells the story of the Senate trial with high drama, as gripping as any legal fiction . . . but all the more riveting because it is factual. . . . Put this one in your beach bag for summer."

From America's Civil War, January 2010 (Peter Cozzens)

"Impeached . . . brilliantly examines the heated passions and sordid politics surrounding the impeachment crisis . . . . Stewart's meticulous research in untapped primary sources suggests new and compelling conclusions about the proceedings in the case.  Among these is the strong possibility that the vote of Senator Edmund Ross, which saved Johnson, had been bought."

"Fresh from his masterful The Summer of 1787, Stewart takes on one of the seamiest events in American history: the vengeful impeachment of Lincoln's successor as president; the Senate failed to convict Andrew Johnson by a single vote.  . . . Stewart takes readers through a tangled web of motives and maneuverings in lively, unadorned prose. He's skilled at characterizing his large cast of characters and, as a lawyer, has a practiced nose for skullduggery, of which there was much. . . . As he sums it up, in 1868 "none of the country's leaders was great, a few were good, all were angry, and far too many were despicable." Stewart . . . tells the story as well as it's ever been told."

From Lincoln (NE) Tribune, July 14, 2009

"The impeachment of President Andrew Johnson in 1868 was one of the most rubulent events in American history. . .  With the expertise of a lawyer and the insight of a historian, Stewart brings this period of history into sharp focus [and] challenges many of hte traditional versions of the event."

From The Oklahoman, July 5, 2009

"Stewart's 445-page book is an excellent primer in a constitutional process, and his analysis of the political and legal maneuvering both entertains and informs. A bonus are the extensive end notes. History buffs will be thrilled."

From Raleigh News and Observer, June 21, 2009:

"David O. Stewart's fast-paced Impeached frames President Andrew Johnson's impeachment trial within . . . Presidential Reconstruction . . . Stewart's greatest contribution is his uncovering of corruption and bribery -- "boodle and payoffs" -- that surrounded both sides of Johnson's Senate trial. His careful sleuthing uncovers "rogues and blackguards" -- tax collectors, Indian agents, financial manipulators, political bosses -- who "brandished fat wads of greenbacks and portfolios bulging with government appointments in order to keep Andrew Johnson in office, or to drive him out." 

From Booklist, April 15, 2009:

"[T]he climax of a life-and-death struggle between Johnson and the "Radical Republicans" in Congress. At stake were competing visions of the path of Reconstruction. . . .Stewart, an attorney, eloquently frames the issues and provides a stirring narrative of this dramatic conflict. . . .The process of impeachment was characterized by hypocrisy and outright bribery."

"David Stewart's Impeached is as riveting and rollicking as the best Washington novel. There is all kinds of intrigue -- from allegations of bribery by a 'whiskey ring,' to a cabinet secretary barricading himself in his office, to an incoming Vice President giving a drunken tirade on Inauguration Day -- all played out at a deadly serious time, with the Union hanging in the balance. Only it's not a novel; it's Stewart's meticulously researched re-rendering of a time in our history that, he argues persuasively, has been distorted to turn a racist and incompetent Andrew Johnson and his anti-impeachment supporters into courageous defenders of Abe Lincoln's legacy." -

Steven Brill, author of The Teamsters and After; founder of The American Lawyer and Court TV

"Anyone who thinks American politics has lately been at a high level of viciousness should read this gripping story of Andrew Johnson's impeachment trial. There are fewer angels than we have thought, and more political hatred and knife work-all with fundamental underlying issues of justice and race."

Anthony Lewis, former New York Times columnist and author of Gideon's Trumpet