King of America: War was Only Half the Battle

tells the forgotten story of how this scorned woman and her offspring were pulled into a plot to turn the tide of the bloody American Civil War. It posits how two sons of American privilege, Henry Adams, the grandson of Presidents, and Cassius Clay, one of the most hated of Southern anti-slavery abolitionists, join forces to foil the scheme. The novel combines the coming of age story of a 19th Century beauty’s painful lessons in love and seduction, with the violent buddy adventure of two diametrically different American patriots, who learn mutual respect while trying to foil the evil plot. It deals with the earliest days of the Civil War, when the brain trust behind the Confederate government realize their only chance of winning secession is to secure the military support of a foreign ally. France and its Emperor, Napoleon III, emerge as the best hope to extend aid and recognition, which is how a family of American Bonapartes are brought into the intrigue. provides a believable, well-researched scenario for how the Confederate offer was made and how it was foiled. Americans know the details of the Civil War, but tells the story they don’t know, the foreign intrigue and diplomacy that had as much to do with the outcome of that war as any battle.