When a great-grandson inherits two aging trunks and a stackof meticulously detailed journals penned by his great-grandfather, he sets outto fulfill his great-grandfather's last request: to tell the story of anincredible life replete with adventure, violence, and tragedy. Thegreat-grandfather's name is Billy Battles--a man often trapped and overwhelmedby circumstances beyond his control.
For much of his 100-year-long life Billy is a man missingand largely unknown to his descendants. His great-grandson is about to changethat. As he works his way through the aging journals and the other possessions hefinds in the battered trunks he uncovers the truth about his mysteriousgreat-grandfather--a man whose deeds and misdeeds propelled him on an extraordinaryand perilous journey from the untamed American West to the inscrutable FarEast, Latin America and Europe.
As he flips through the pages of the handwritten journals pennedby his great-grandfather, he learns of Billy's surprising connections to theSpanish-American War, French Indochina, and revolutions in Mexico and otherLatin American countries. But most of all he learns that in finding BillyBattles he has also found a long lost and astonishing link to the past.