On the last Sunday of February 1859, Dan Sickles, a charming young congressman from New York, murdered his good friend Philip Barton Key (son of Francis Scott Key) -- who was also his wife's lover -- in Washington's Lafayette Square. The shooting took place directly across the street from the White House, the home of Sickles's friend and protector, President James Buchanan.
Sickles turned himself in; political friends in New York's Tammany Hall machinery, including the dynamic criminal lawyer James Brady, quickly gathered around. While his beautiful young wife was banned from public life and shunned by society, Dan Sickles was acquitted.
American Scoundrel is the extraordinary story of this powerful mid-nineteenth century politician and inveterate womanizer, whose irresistible charms and rock-solid connections not only allowed him to get away with murder -- literally -- but also paved the way to a stunning career.
Once free to resume his life, Dan Sickles raised a regiment for the Union political elite and went on to become a general in the army, rising to the rank of brigadier general and commanding a flank at the Battle of Gettysburg in a maneuver so controversial it is still argued over by scholars today. After losing a leg in that battle, Sickles fought on and after the war became military governor of South Carolina, and later was named minister to Spain, where he continued astonishingly to conduct his amorous assignations.
With great brio and insight -- and a delight in bad behavior -- Thomas Keneally has brought to light a tale of American history that resonates with uncomfortable truths about our politics, ethics, and morality.
"Spellbinding.... Riveting.... Mesmerizing."
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
"Brilliant.... Rollicking, captivating.... Engrossing, entertaining.... Keneally brings Sickles back to life in every colorful and scandalous detail."
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
"Panoramic.... For anybody who savors ripely old-fashioned storytelling with a side of modern hindsight."
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
"Lively and evocative.... Keneally's prose, as usual, is vivid and his research is thorough; he displays an impressive command of the minutiae of 19th-century American politics."
THE WASHINGTON POST
"Entertaining.... Fast-paced."
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
"An especially lively and compelling account of an extraordinary life."
THE SEATTLE TIMES
"Provocative.... [Keneally] shows himself... adept at biography.... [He] breathes full and controversial life into a famous military engagement."
THE ECONOMIST
"Engaging.... Keneally deftly conveys the atmosphere of fervent in pre-civil war Washington.... [He] has the advantage of a novelist's sense of pace, a mellifluous prose style and a profound sympathy for both his main characters."
SUNDAY TIMES (LONDON)
"A fascinating look at a time when powerful men could get away with virtually anything."
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
"A memorable account of Sickles' life, and the political, social and military world in which he lived. Keneally has given us an engaging biography."
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