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Zusatztext “Serious! intricate . . . gripping . . . Byrd is an expert at linking the products of his own imagination with historical facts.”— The New York Times Book Review “With the license and gifts of a first-rate novelist! Max Byrd has managed in Grant to reveal the man far better than those who have tried before.”— San Francisco Chronicle “A vibrant! stunning story of Grant’s last years! but best of all! a gripping tale of ‘the reborn nation on the other side of the war.’ ”— Civil War Book Review “Splendid . . . nothing less than a visit with greatness.”—Associated Press “Historical fiction doesn’t get any better than this.”— Booklist Informationen zum Autor Max Byrd is the acclaimed author of Jefferson, Jackson, Grant, Shooting the Sun , and many other novels. An authority on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century American history, Byrd lives in Davis, California. Klappentext Max Byrd! the renowned author of Jackson and Jefferson! brings history to life in this stunning novel set in America's Gilded Age. Grant is an unforgettable portrait of a colorful era-and the flawed! iron-willed! mysterious giant at its center. Ulysses S. Grant pursued a tragic war to its very end. But his final battle starts in 1880! when he loses his race to become the first U.S. President to serve three terms! goes bankrupt! and begins a fight against cancer that will prove to be his greatest challenge. Through journalist Nicholas Trist! readers follow Grant's journey-and along the way meet Grant's sworn enemy Henry Adams and Adams's doomed wife! Clover! the old soldiers Sherman and Sheridan! and the always clever! always scheming Mark Twain. Revealed here are not only the penetrating secrets of our eighteenth president! but the intimate power-brokering that led to the end of Grant's career! setting the stage for a new era in American history-one defined by politics! not warfare. "Serious! intricate . . . gripping . . . Byrd is an expert at linking the products of his own imagination with historical facts."-The New York Times Book Review "With the license and gifts of a first-rate novelist! Max Byrd has managed in Grant to reveal the man far better than those who have tried before."-San Francisco Chronicle "A vibrant! stunning story of Grant's last years! but best of all! a gripping tale of 'the reborn nation on the other side of the war.' "-Civil War Book Review "Splendid . . . nothing less than a visit with greatness."-Associated Press "Historical fiction doesn't get any better than this."-Booklist "An author," said Maudie Cameron, aged ten, wearing a crisp white pinafore and an expression of pug-nosed disdain, "is a dreadful person who writes books." Nicholas Trist III scratched his chin stubble with the palm of his hand and studied a crystal decanter of amber-brown whiskey just to the child's left, on a tabletop otherwise uselessly cluttered with little colored porcelain figures of cats and dogs in bonnets. "My father never reads books," Maudie said. "He says books are a damn-blasted waste of time." "That's quite enough, Maudie." The child's governess was knitting or sewing or vivisecting something furry and blue in her lap, and without actually looking up she narrowed her eyes in a professional frown. Trist caught a glimpse of his own red-rimmed eyes in one of the room's six mirrors. He placed his hand on his knee and stood up and dropped his hat. "You wrote a book," Maudie said. "But nobody read it," Trist assured her. Despite himself he licked his lips. Three steps to the decanter. Five steps to the door. Five thousand steps back to the steamship docks at Baltimore. His hat somehow found its way to his fingers again. There were four separate kinds of malarial fever according to the drunken Arab doctor he had ...
