The Avid Reader
617 Second Street
Davis, CA 95616
Tel: (530)758-4040
Fax: (530)758-4084
Open Mon-Sun 10am - 10pm
avidreaderdavis@aol.com
The Avid Reader at the Tower
1600 Broadway
Sacramento, CA 95818
Tel: (916) 441-4400
Fax: (916) 443-1345
Open Sunday-Thursday 9am - 9pm
Friday-Saturday 9am - 10pm
avidreadersac@aol.com
Like no one else writing in America today, Max Byrd, the critically acclaimed author of Jefferson and Jackson, makes history come alive. His latest work is an unforgettable portrait of America's Gilded Age and the flawed, iron-willed, mysterious giant at its center who may well be our most uniquely American hero.
Ulysses S. Grant pursued a tragic war to its very end, winning a decisive victory for the North. But his final battle begins 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 conquer the conquering hero.
In this stunning portrayal of a man and a nation, Max Byrd carries us from the troubled drawing room of Grant's sworn enemy Henry Adams and his doomed wife Clover, into the tempestuous Chicago convention halls. We meet the old soldiers Sherman and Sheridan, and the always clever, always scheming Mark Twain, the comic gadfly with a fatal business sense.
Grant not only penetrates the secrets of our elusive eighteenth president but exposes the reader to 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.
Max Byrd is the award-winning author of many detective novels, including the Book-of-the-Month Club selection Target of Opportunity, and two bestselling historical novels. An authority on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century American history, he makes his home in Davis, California, where he is at work on a novel about Mary Todd Lincoln.
"Splendid ... nothing less than a visit with greatness."
— Associated Press
"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
"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
"Historical fiction doesn't get any better than this."
— Booklist
"Serious, intricate ... gripping ... Byrd is an expert at linking the products of his own imagination with historical facts."
— The New York Times Book Review
Also by Max Byrd:
Jefferson: A Novel
"A wonderfully vivid novel that brings the sage of Monticello to life."
— The New York Times
"An intriguing fictional portrait ... a rare and compelling book ... thoroughly enjoyable."
— Associated Press
Jackson: A Novel
"With Jackson, Byrd has vaulted into the front rank of American historical novelists."
— The Wall Street Journal
Available wherever Bantam Books are sold
