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American Scoundrel

The Life of the Notorious Civil War General Dan Sickles

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American Scoundrel

By: Tom Kenneally
Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
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About this listen

On the last, cold Sunday of February 1859, Daniel Sickles shot his wife's lover in Washington's Lafayette Square, just across from the White House. This is the story of that killing and its repercussions.

Thomas Keneally brilliantly recreates an extraordinary period, when women were punished for violating codes of society that did not bind men. And the caddish, good-looking Dan Sickles personifies the extremes of the era: As a womaniser, he introduced his favourite madam to Queen Victoria while his wife stayed at home; as minister to Spain, he began an affair with the Queen while courting one of her ladies in waiting; and in his later years, he installed his housekeeper as his mistress while his second wife took up residence nearby.

The brio with which Thomas Keneally tells the tale is equal to the pace and bravado of Sickles' life. But, more than this, American Scoundrel is the lens through which the listener can view history at a time when America was being torn apart.

©2002 The Serpentine Publishing Co (Pty) Ltd (P)2004 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd American Civil War Historical Military Politicians Civil War War Marriage
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Critic reviews

"A great piece of storytelling." ( The Guardian)
"A fascinating book...informative and entertaining." ( The Daily Telegraph)

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Overlong

While the story of Dan Sickles is interesting the book is too drawn out and quite repetitive at times.

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