Review:
Politician, man about town, war hero, and murderer: Dan Sickles led many lives, some of them improbable, turning disaster to advantage. Thomas Keneally, whose novels have been populated by heroes and outlaws alike, vividly captures Sickles's life and times. A Tammany politician, for good and ill, Sickles earned national notoriety for gunning down his friend Philip Barton Key, the son of Francis Scott Key, in what his peers in Congress took to be an excusable crime of passion. Sickles made a glorious comeback with the Civil War, when the regiment he raised distinguished itself time and again under fire at places such as Chancellorsville and Gettysburg--where, defying orders in a bold maneuver, Sickles helped secure the Union victory. "His tendency toward berserk and full- blooded risk was partly characteristic of the city he had grown up in, the age he lived in, and his own soul," writes Keneally. Admired by no less than Mark Twain, Sickles figures only as a footnote in many histories. Ably recounting his triumphs and defeats, Thomas Keneally brings him front and center in a tale that will delight Civil War buffs. --Gregory McNamee
From the Back Cover:
“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.” –The Oregonian
“Keneally’s writing is flawless. . . . He tells Sickles’ story in a rich voice that is perfectly pitched for this tale of 19th-century excess.” –San Antonio Express-News
“Keneally is joyfully inquisitive. . . . He deserves real praise. He enters naturally and sympathetically into the hearts of his protagonists–his own prose takes on the flavour of the period he invokes.” –The Times Literary Supplement
“Fast-paced, smooth-as-silk. . . . Remarkable and colorful. . . . Keneally is a gifted writer who captures the mood and manner of an age in succinct verbal portraits.” –BookPage
“[An] ambitious work encompassing nearly a full century of American political, financial, cultural and social life. . . . [Sickles’s is] a life Keneally nails with sureness and scholarship.” –Daily News (New York)
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