Best Selling Books by Thomas Fleming

Liberty! brings to life one of the most important and compelling stories in America''s history: the struggle for independence and the birth of the nation. New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming''s gripping narrative captures the high drama of the revolutionary war years and the unyielding courage and political genius of the men and women who imagined a new set of political possibilities for humankind - laying the foundation for the identity and character of the American people in the process. The companion volume to the PBS television series of the same name, Liberty! traces the evolution of the ideals that inspired a generation of Americans to struggle against Britain - then the most powerful country in the world - to establish the free society and democratic system that is so inherently and uniquely American.

A novel celebrating one hundred years of flight.

"A superb retelling of the story of Valley Forge and its aftermath, demonstrating that reality is far more compelling than myth." - Gordon S. Wood The defining moments of the American Revolution did not occur on the battlefield or at the diplomatic table, writes New York Times bestselling author Thomas Fleming, but at Valley Forge. Fleming transports us to December 1777. While the British army lives in luxury in conquered Philadelphia, Washington''s troops huddle in the barracks of Valley Forge, fending off starvation and disease even as threats of mutiny swirl through the regiments. Though his army stands on the edge of collapse, George Washington must wage a secondary war, this one against the slander of his reputation as a general and patriot. Washington strategizes not only against the British army but against General Horatio Gates, the victor in the Battle of Saratoga, who has attracted a coterie of ambitious generals devising ways to humiliate and embarrass Washington into resignation. Using diaries and letters, Fleming creates an unforgettable portrait of an embattled Washington. Far from the long-suffering stoic of historical myth, Washington responds to attacks from Gates and his allies with the skill of a master politician. He parries the thrusts of his covert enemies, and, as necessary, strikes back with ferocity and guile. While many histories portray Washington as a man who has transcended politics, Fleming''s Washington is exceedingly complex, a man whose political maneuvering allowed him to retain his command even as he simultaneously struggled to prevent the Continental Army from dissolving into mutiny at Valley Forge. Written with his customary flair and eye for human detail and drama, Thomas Fleming''s gripping narrative develops with the authority of a major historian and the skills of a master storyteller. Washington''s Secret War is not only a revisionist view of the American ordeal at Valley Forge - it calls for a new assessment of the man too often simplified into an American legend. This is narrative history at its best and most vital.

"The best spy novel written about the American Revolution." - John Gardner Freezing winds cut across the snowbound landscape. George Washington''s rebel troops shiver in their huts, bellies empty, and carrying resentment sharper than their swords. Across the frozen Hudson, the British carouse in the brothels of New York, while their leaders plot to break the deadlock that threatens to bleed the British Empire dry. Thomas Flemings''s Revolutionary War masterpiece, Dreams of Glory, takes place in the bitter winter of 1780 in the fifth year of the American War for Independence. The British conspire to kidnap Washington and bring the war to an end in one bold and daring raid. A tide of espionage ebbs and flows between the opposing armies. Two very different men are sucked into these vicious currents: young, earnest Caleb Chandler and sleek, self-serving Congressman Hugh Stapleton. Despite their mutual dislike, both are destined to follow the same path, which leads to the heart of Flora Kuyper and the grasp of British spymaster Walter Beckford. Caught amidst the dangerous affections of Flora, the machinations of Beckford, and the bitter patriotism of counterpart Benjamin Stallworth, there is no safety for man or woman. This is a world of plot and counterplot, where a night of love can lead to an act of treason and a man''s ideals can fashion a noose around his neck. "Thomas Fleming is one of my favorite writers because he combines powerful storytelling with the skills of a superb historian." - John Jakes

From Lexington and Concord to Yorktown, Bruce Lancaster''s classic, The American Revolution, covers the story of America''s fight for independence in vivid detail. With an introduction by the critically acclaimed author Bruce Catton, and a new foreword by Thomas Fleming, The American Revolution is a highly readable and engaging volume.

At Yorktown, Virginia, after six and a half years of fighting, General George Washington and his troops and their French allies brought the American Revolution to a victorious end. Here, from New York Times bestselling author Thomas Fleming is the vivid account of the stunning reversal of British fortunes that led to the surrender of Lord Cornwallis and the birth of the American nation.

A classic biography of Benjamin Franklin for young readers in a new, illustrated edition. Benjamin Franklin was a true American original -- an accomplished scientist, athlete, inventor, writer, statesman, diplomat, printer, and philosopher. This classic biography by eminent historian and Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas Fleming paints a lively portrait of Franklin, a self-made man blessed with talent and immense curiosity about the world around him. With charm, humor, and a keen understanding of human nature, Franklin guided the American colonies to independence and nationhood. His remarkable career will inspire readers of all ages.

The "New York Times" bestselling author presents a classic novel of Irish American history and the Fenian invasion of the English colony of Canada.

Acclaimed historian Thomas Fleming brings to life a flawed and troubled FDR struggling to manage World War II. Starting with the leak to the press of Roosevelt''s famous Rainbow Plan, then spiraling back to FDR''s inept prewar diplomacy with Japan and his various attempts to lure Japan into an attack on the U.S. Fleet in the Pacific, Fleming takes the reader on a journey through the incredibly fractious struggles and debates that went on in Washington, the nation, and the world as the New Dealers strove to impose their will on the conduct of the War. In bold contrast to the familiar, idealized FDR of other biographies, Fleming''s Roosevelt is a man in remorseless decline, battered by ideological forces and primitive hatreds that he could not handleand frequently failed to understandsome of them leading to unimaginable catastrophe. Among FDR''s most dismaying policies, Fleming argues, is his insistence on "unconditional surrender" for Germany (a policy that perhaps prolonged the war by as much as two years, leaving millions more dead) and his often-uncritical embrace of and acquiescence to Stalin and the Soviets as an ally. The New Dealers'' War is one of those rare books that force readers to rethink what they think they know about a pivotal event in the American past.

During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln often learned the results and tolls of battles from reporters, not generals. The newsmen of the time were courageous and dedicated, but the best of them was Henry Wing - at least that was Lincoln''s opinion. Wing never used his position as the president''s favorite reporter to gain access to confidential information. Instead, he became Lincoln''s junior partner in the struggle to win America''s bloodiest war. Here, in this essay by New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming, is his surprising story.

New York Times bestselling author Thomas Fleming tells a haunting love story set against of the more perplexing and least explored chapters of World War II. In Berlin, Berthe von Hoffman dreams of an angel in the depths, embracing her husband''s submarine – and remembers Kristallnacht, when Hitler declared all-out war on the Jews. The stench of evil in that memory draws her to the headquarters of Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, enigmatic head of the German secret service – and guiding spirit of the Schwarze Kapelle, the circle of courageous men and women who comprise the secret dangerous resistance to Nazism. Aboard the USS Spencer Lewis off Iceland, Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Trumbull Talbot is denouncing President Franklin D. Roosevelt''s unconstitutional undeclared war against Germany when a torpedo fired by Berthe''s husband, Kapitanleutnant Ernst von Hoffmann, cut the destroyer in half. Out of this conjunction grows a tormented tangle of love and jealousy and patriotic deceit when the three meet in Spain after Pearl Harbor has catapulted American into the war. By that time, Talbot''s criticism of the president has wrecked both his naval career and his marriage to Annie Richman, daughter of a congressman whose power depends on FDR''s political wizardry. When Talbot returns from Spain to urge negotiations with Canaris and other leaders of the German resistance, Annie, now a powerful journalist, becomes a player in the struggle for the mind of the intransigent, mortally ill president. At its gripping climax, Loyalties draws everyone into an anguished confrontation with the limits of patriotism and God''s baffling role in the middle of human destiny. From murderous contests between rival intelligence agencies in Spain to the labyrinthine political machinations in Washington, London, and Berlin to warfare beneath the North Atlantic, Loyalties is a dazzling mosaic of men and women caught in the crossfire of history – yet finding in the midst of destruction and chaos inexplicable glimpse of meaning and hope.

In this New York Times bestseller, historian Thomas Fleming examines all the dimensions of the memorable year of 1776 - particularly the common, fallible humanity of the men and women of the American Revolution. The year 1776 ended with both the Americans and the British stripped of their illusions. Each side had been forced to abandon the myth of invincibility and confront the realities of human nature on and off the battlefield. For the Americans, it had been a shock to discover that it was easy to persuade people to cheer for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but it was another matter to convince them to make real sacrifices for these ideals. For the British, their goal of achieving proper subordination of America to England was frustrated forever. Seventeen seventy-six was a tragic year: Americans fighting in the name of liberty persecuted and sometimes killed fellow Americans who chose to remain loyal to the old order. Seventeen seventy-six was a year of heroes: It brought forth the leaders who had the courage to fight for freedom. Seventeen seventy-six was a disgraceful year: Americans revealed a capacity for cowardice, disorganization, and incompetence. Here, in this masterful book, is the true story of 1776.

The political history of the American experience in World War I is a story of conflict and bungled intentions that begins in an era dedicated to progressive social reform and ends in the Red Scare and Prohibition. Thomas Fleming tells this story through the complex figure of Woodrow Wilson, the contradictory president who wept after declaring war, devastated because he knew it would destroy the tolerance of the American people, but who then suppressed freedom of speech and used propaganda to excite America into a Hun-hating mob. This is tragic history: inexperienced American military leaders drove their troops into gruesome slaughters; progressive politics were put on hold in America; an idealistic president''s dreams were crushed because of his own negligence. Wilson''s inability to convince Congress to ratify U.S. membership in the League of Nations was one of the most poignant failures in the history of the American presidency, but even more heartrending were Wilson''s concessions to his bitter allies in the Treaty of Versailles. In exchange for Allied support of the League of Nations, he allowed an unfair peace treaty to be signed, a treaty that played no small role in the rise of National Socialism and the outbreak of World War II. Thomas Fleming has once again created a masterpiece of narrative American history. This incomparable portrait shows how Wilson sacrificed his noble vision to megalomania and single-mindedness, while paying homage to him as a visionary whose honorable spirit continues to influence Western politics.

With the eye of a novelist and the rigor of a historian, New York Times bestselling author Thomas Fleming delivers a fascinating and vivid account of the Siege of Yorktown. Along with French General Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau, George Washington made an astonishing march through New Jersey and trapped British General Charles Cornwallis and his forces in Yorktown, Virginia, where they unleashed a tremendous artillery assault, with the support of the French navy. But victory was never certain - both sides made a series of dramatic attacks and counterattacks. Using the diaries and letters of participants in the siege, Fleming creates a moving and exciting depiction of the days in October 1781 that ended the American Revolution and changed the world.

A son comes of age in a fiercely political world "Thomas Fleming gives us an unforgettable story about an immigrant family—his family—as it struggles to find a place in the American century. He shares with us the dreams and heartaches of his parents, and, in the end, he reminds us of the mysterious and forgiving power of love." —Terry Golway, author of The Irish in America "A truly moving story of a lifelong duel between father and son, Mysteries of My Father also vibrates with the great good humor that grows out of ward politics, and pulses with the heartfelt drama of a family just getting by. There were some bad times in the Fleming family story, but Tom Fleming prevails to the good times, and the best time is left to the reader. What a wonderful time I had reading this book." —Dennis Smith, author of the Report from Engine Co. 82 and Report from Ground Zero "A well-written, fascinating political history." —Margaret Truman, author of Murder at Union Station "With a historian''s fidelity and a poet''s empathy, Tom Fleming has created a textured study of three generations of Irish-Americans, whose clashing spiritual values inform their integration into New Jersey''s social and political hierarchy. Mysteries of My Father is an American classic achieved by a master storyteller''s talents for exploring the tensions and bonds between a father and his sons. Among the literary wonders of this brisk and moving memoir is the father''s emergence as a seminal American character—brusque and pragmatic, yet capable of expected tenderness to his sons." —Sidney Offit, author of Memoir of the Bookie''s Son "If you care about what it means to be an Irish-American, or about New Jersey political history, or about the relationships between fathers and sons, or about wonderful writing, run—don''t walk—out to buy Tom Fleming''s Mysteries of My Father." —Nick Acocella, publisher of Politifax

For many Americans, George Washington is just the face on a dollar bill. This book changes that perception. George Washington, Revolutionary War general, Founding Father, and first president of the United States was a warm and fascinating man. He suffered the agony of adolescent passion, fell in love with his best friend''s wife, and married the wealthy widow Martha Custis. He poured out his political and military woes to his brother Jack in the dark days of 1776, and in the midst of a miserable winter camped with his troops in Valley Forge, he wrote a chatty letter to a friend in England. All these incidents are here in Washington''s own words. Only through what Washington called his "letters of friendship" can we fully understand this complex man. They show him joking with his favorite Frenchman, the Marquis de Lafayette, advising his younger relatives on love and marriage, writing with emotion to the unobtainable woman he loved, and reconnecting with her in his old age. Selected and edited by New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming from the thirty-seven volumes of Washington''s collected writings, this book will be a revelation to all.

From The Louisiana Purchase Like many other major events in world history, the Louisiana Purchase is a fascinating mix of destiny and individual energy and creativity. . . . Thomas Jefferson would have been less than human had he not claimed a major share of the credit. In a private letter . . . the president, reviving a favorite metaphor, said he "very early saw" Louisiana was a "speck" that could turn into a "tornado." He added that the public never knew how near "this catastrophe was." But he decided to calm the hotheads of the west and "endure" Napoleon''s aggression, betting that a war with England would force Bonaparte to sell. This policy "saved us from the storm." Omitted almost entirely from this account is the melodrama of the purchase, so crowded with "what ifs" that might have changed the outcome-and the history of the world. The reports of the Lewis and Clark expedition . . . electrified the nation with their descriptions of a region of broad rivers and rich soil, of immense herds of buffalo and other game, of grassy prairies seemingly as illimitable as the ocean. . . . From the Louisiana Purchase would come, in future decades, the states of Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, and large portions of what is now North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Minnesota, Colorado, and Louisiana. For the immediate future, the purchase, by doubling the size of the United States, transformed it from a minor to a major world power. The emboldened Americans soon absorbed West and East Florida and fought mighty England to a bloody stalemate in the War of 1812. Looking westward, the orators of the 1840s who preached the "Manifest Destiny" of the United States to preside from sea to shining sea based their oratorical logic on the Louisiana Purchase. TURNING POINTS features preeminent writers offering fresh, personal perspectives on the defining events of our time.

In March 1918, the Germans tried to break years of deadlocked trench warfare with new, devastating tactics. One after another, the Allied front lines crumbled under their onslaught. But the success of World War I''s stormtroopers, New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming writes in this essay, brought new problems.

World War II was roaring to a climax. Harry Truman was meeting with the speaker of the House of Representatives and his old friend Sam Rayburn when he was called to the White House: Franklin Roosevelt was dead. Truman was now faced with more problems and decisions than any other leader in American history. While American, British, and Russian armies were smashing into the heart of Nazi Germany and American troops were fighting a ferocious battle with the Japanese in the Pacific, Harry Truman took the oath of office, swearing to “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Suddenly – in the middle of a global war – he had become president of the most powerful nation in the world. Raised in Missouri, the son of a farmer, Truman was destined to make history. After distinguishing himself as an Army captain in World War I, Truman went on to become a judge, a senator, and the vice president before assuming the office of the thirty-third president of the United States. After a forceful victory in the war that raged almost five years, he then served the nation in the tumultuous years that followed: implementing the Marshall Plan, helping to create NATO, ordering the Berlin airlift, and courageously defending freedom in Korea. New York Times bestselling historian and novelist Thomas Fleming, an intimate of Truman and his family, provides a rare glimpse into the life and spirit of a leader often ridiculed for his “just folks” style and modesty but who surprised his critics with his direct and tenacious decision making – and in the process became one of America’s greatest presidents.

Here, from New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming, is the dramatic story of the Boston Massacre and the subsequent trial of nine British soldiers for murder. Never before in the history of the American colonies, writes Fleming, had a trial aroused such intense, complex, political and personal passion. And into this maelstrom stepped John Adams, waging a mighty defense of the British soldiers despite the risk to his law practice and the possible violence against his wife and young children.

1865. The Civil War is over, and the South lies in ruins. But for some people, former slaveholders have not been punished enough. A cabal of powerful men, led by Charles A. Dana, the assistant secretary of war, plot to break the spirit of the South once and for all - by convicting General Robert E. Lee of treason and hanging him like a common criminal. To this end, they have convened a secret military tribunal in Lee''s former home in Arlington, Virginia. Jeremiah O''Brien of the New-York Tribune, a long-time protégé of Dana''s, is the only reporter allowed to attend the trial. His exclusive reports on this momentous event, and the book he intends to write, will surely make his fortune. Yet as the trial proceeds, pitting the general against his accusers, O''Brien finds himself torn between his loyalty to Dana, his love for a Confederate spy, and his growing respect and compassion for Lee himself. The young reporter is supposed to be only an observer, but, in the end, it is O''Brien who must evaluate the evidence and determine the true meaning of honor. Written by New York Times bestselling author and historian Thomas Fleming, The Secret Trial of Robert E. Lee brings to life a fascinating chapter in American history that might well have happened - and perhaps truly did.

Without George Washington''s brilliance at espionage, writes New York Times bestselling author Thomas Fleming, the American Revolution could not have been won. Here''s the little-told story of America''s spymaster-in-chief.

All school children know the story of the fatal duel between Hamilton and Burr - but do they really? In this remarkable retelling, Thomas Fleming takes the reader into the post-revolutionary world of 1804, a chaotic and fragile time in the young country as well as a time of tremendous global instability. The success of the French Revolution and the proclamation of Napoleon as First Consul for Life had enormous impact on men like Hamilton and Burr, feeding their own political fantasies at a time of perceived Federal government weakness and corrosion. Their hunger for fame spawned antagonisms that wreaked havoc on themselves and their families and threatened to destabilize the fragile young American republic. From that poisonous brew came the tangle of regret and anger and ambition that drove the two to their murderous confrontation in Weehawken, New Jersey. Readers will find this is popular narrative history at its most authoritative, and authoritative history at its most readable.

Engulfed in the tremendous struggle to prevent the Civil War from dividing the Union between North and South, Abraham Lincoln was equally determined to prevent the seeds of separation from ever appearing in the vast American West. Between the Mississippi River Valley and California lay a 2,000-mile emptiness known as "the Great American Desert." Lincoln was determined to bridge this unknown expanse and bind the West to the East with the same iron rails that had already done so much to link the Midwest and the Northeast. Here, in this essay, New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming tells the dramatic story of the building of the Transcontinental Railroad and Lincoln''s little-told role in it.

In 1970, Margaret Truman and bestselling author Thomas Fleming spent eight days with her father, President Harry Truman, as part of their research for a biography of the thirty-third president of the United States. Truman had personally chosen Fleming as Margaret''s collaborator. He had read and admired Fleming''s biography of Thomas Jefferson. In this essay, Fleming recounts that amazing time, during which the elder statesman sets the record straight on Douglas MacArthur, Charles de Gaulle, Lyndon Johnson, John Kennedy, Joseph Stalin, the atomic bomb, and, most important, the American presidency.

Sally Fairfax stole George Washington''s heart long before he met Martha. Here, in this essay by New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming, is their love story.

This vivid, deeply moving book begins in London in 1620 as Pilgrim representatives sign a contract to purchase the freighter Mayflower. We accompany them on their harrowing voyage across the Atlantic, through the rigors of the first New England winter and the threat of Indian attack as they desperately search for the home they eventually find at Plymouth. Once there, they must continue the struggle against brutal weather and disease. With masterly skill, New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming gives us life-size portraits of the Pilgrim leaders. The Pilgrims'' unique achievements - the Mayflower Compact, their tolerance of other faiths, the strict separation of church and state - are discussed in the context of the first year''s anxieties and crises. Fleming writes admiringly of the younger men who emerged in that year as the real leaders of the colony - William Bradford and Miles Standish. And he provides new insights into the humanity and tolerance of the Pilgrims'' spiritual shepherd, Elder William Brewster. On the first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims are already aware that they are the forerunners of a great nation. It is implicit in William Bradford''s words, "As one small candle may light a thousand, so the light kindled here has shone unto many. . . ."

In 1902, America found itself fighting a war in the Philippines - a dirty, vicious guerrilla affair rife with assassinations and ambushes. To its astonishment, the United States was forced to commit 120,000 men - two-thirds of its armed forces - to calm the country. Here, in this essay by New York Times bestselling author Thomas Fleming, is the dramatic story of what became known as General John J. Pershing''s war.

In this swift, insightful book, New York Times bestselling author Thomas Fleming brings vividly to life the remarkable youth of Thomas Jefferson, one of America''s greatest presidents. Here are all of Jefferson''s early triumphs and tragedies - from his inspired design and construction of Monticello and election as Virginia''s second governor to his achievement as the author of the Declaration of Independence and the devastating loss of his wife.

Thomas Fleming is best known as a historian of the American Revolution and a biographer of America''s founding fathers. But, as the following collection shows, this award-winning writer, whose career spanned more than fifty years, also explored with equal passion and curiosity the history of other, later eras. Spanning the generations from the beginnings of the United States to modern times, these chronicles explore events and decisions that continue to have an impact the nation to this day - from the battles of Jefferson and Hamilton and trials of Aaron Burr and John Brown to the sinking of the Maine and John Kennedy at war to the high cost of unconditional surrender in World War II and what America''s presidents say about each other.

What were the French up to in the Ohio Valley in 1753? Setting out in search of an answer, a bold young major from Virginia named George Washington soon found himself skirting catastrophe, writes New York Times bestselling author and historian Thomas Fleming.

A compelling, intimate look at the founders—George Washington, Ben Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison—and the women who played essential roles in their lives With his usual storytelling flair and unparalleled research, Tom Fleming examines the women who were at the center of the lives of the founding fathers. From hot-tempered Mary Ball Washington to promiscuous Rachel Lavien Hamilton, the founding fathers'' mothers powerfully shaped their sons'' visions of domestic life. But lovers and wives played more critical roles as friends and often partners in fame. We learn of the youthful Washington''s tortured love for the coquettish Sarah Fairfax, wife of his close friend; of Franklin''s two "wives," one in London and one in Philadelphia; of Adams''s long absences, which required a lonely, deeply unhappy Abigail to keep home and family together for years on end; of Hamilton''s adulterous betrayal of his wife and then their reconciliation; of how the brilliant Madison was jilted by a flirtatious fifteen-year-old and went on to marry the effervescent Dolley, who helped make this shy man into a popular president. Jefferson''s controversial relationship to Sally Hemings is also examined, with a different vision of where his heart lay. Fleming nimbly takes us through a great deal of early American history, as his founding fathers strove to reconcile the private and public, often beset by a media every bit as gossip seeking and inflammatory as ours today. He offers a powerful look at the challenges women faced in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. While often brilliant and articulate, the wives of the founding fathers all struggled with the distractions and dangers of frequent childbearing and searing anxiety about infant mortality—Jefferson''s wife, Martha, died from complications following labor, as did his daughter. All the more remarkable, then, that these women loomed so large in the lives of their husbands—and, in some cases, their country.

Defeated by Americans at Saratoga, British General John Burgoyne''s troops faced nearly five years of enforced exile in a hostile countryside. Here, in this short-form book by New York Times bestselling author Thomas Fleming, is the dramatic story of Burgoyne and his wandering soldiers.

On October 19, 1781, Great Britain''s best army surrendered to General George Washington at Yorktown. But the future of the 13 former colonies was far from clear. A 13,000 man British army still occupied New York City, and another 13,000 regulars and armed loyalists were scattered from Canada to Savannah, Georgia. Meanwhile, Congress had declined to a mere 24 members, and the national treasury was empty. The American army had not been paid for years and was on the brink of mutiny. In Europe, America''s only ally, France, teetered on the verge of bankruptcy and was soon reeling from a disastrous naval defeat in the Caribbean. A stubborn George III dismissed Yorktown as a minor defeat and refused to yield an acre of "my dominions" in America. In Paris, Ambassador Benjamin Franklin confronted violent hostility to France among his fellow members of the American peace delegation. In his riveting new book, Thomas Fleming moves elegantly between the key players in this drama and shows that the outcome we take for granted was far from certain. Not without anguish, General Washington resisted the urgings of many officers to seize power and held the angry army together until peace and independence arrived. With fresh research and masterful storytelling, Fleming breathes new life into this tumultuous but little known period in America''s history.