Jackson

Adultery, murder, conspiracy and land fraud are the scandals laid at the feet of Andrew Jackson in 1828 as he runs for president against John Quincy Adams. Byrd's second historical novel (after Jefferson) presents the adult life of Old Hickory as seen through the astute eyes of a young and hungry writer, David Chase, who is commissioned by an anti-Jackson partisan to write a book that will expose the candidate's stained personal, professional and political life. Eventually, a clear picture emerges of the man who would become the seventh president: coarse, hot-tempered, politically radical, a brawler, a war hero, a devoted husband and a very sharp politician. Slogging through the muck of political skullduggery and the barnyard intrigues of early Washington, D.C., Chase learns the truth of Jackson's rumored adultery, his famous and bloody duels and his involvement with Aaron Burr's wild plot to establish an empire. Finally, Chase falls under the spell of this charismatic man, and so is faced with any journalist's greatest dilemma. Young America comes alive here through a cast of famous players including Jackson, his confidant John Coffee, Burr, Henry Clay, Sam Houston, John C. Calhoun and others. Deftly balancing fact and fiction, Byrd invests his tale with color, emotion and grand historical drama. (Feb.)