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This flashed up on my facebook....
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I am a huge fan of The Flashman Papers...They taught me a hell of a lot of british 19th centuary history....and Burr by Gore Vidal is probably one of my most influencing books.. greater effect on me than the bible!.... Taught me to question all the saint hood of the so called great.. so seeing this makes it onto my must readlist!!!! They got me at the first line... This must be the first time I am going to buy something because of an advert on face book......So after 4 years as a member that cant justify the value based on me ???</span>
SCOUNDREL!
The Secret Memoirs
of General James Wilkinson
In the humorous, iconoclastic tradition of George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman novels, Gore Vidal's Burr, and Thomas Berger's Little Big Man, meet real-life scoundrel James Wilkinson as he lies, schemes, backstabs, and seduces his way through our nation's early history.
In Scoundrel! historian and novelist Keith Thompson mixes fact and fiction with intense characterization and riveting story. Scoundrel! is a book for anyone who loves adventure, and will hold special appeal for aficionados of historical fiction, military fiction, and U.S. history.
This first book, subtitled The True Spirit of '76, recounts Wilkinson's misadventures during the momentous year of 1776, starting at the siege of Boston, following him through Benedict Arnold's disastrous Canadian invasion, and ending with Washington's attack on Trenton. Along the way he battles savage Indians, seduces beautiful women, fawns over egomaniacal generals, falls in with British spies, and betrays everyone who strays into his path.
In short, Scoundrel! is "History with Humor", and after experiencing Wilkinson's irreverent spin, the reader will never view the Revolution or the Founding Fathers the same way again.
Keith Thompson's Master's Thesis at the University of Cincinnati focused on historical figure James Wilkinson, who led an extraordinary double-life. Despite plotting against George Washington during the Revolution, Wilkinson rose to become the top-ranking general of the U.S. Army from 1797 to 1812. During this time he conspired with Aaron Burr, lost Canada in the War of 1812, and was secretly a traitor in the pay of Spain, helping them block American expansion into the west.