Thomas Keneally: American Scoundrel

By MARGIE THOMSON

Keneally writes as if it is all so easy, even though you know from the copious historical facts, personalities and brilliant insights offered in his books, that it cannot be. Here he tackles a subject that is an offshoot of the research he did while writing his last sweeping history, The Great Shame, about Ireland's poverty and diaspora: the story of the ambitious American Dan Sickles, so charming he literally got away with murder, and many other misdemeanours as well.

A mid-19th-century New York political operator, who was a force behind the creation of Central Park, a lawyer and Democratic activist, he was also a notorious womaniser. He introduced his prostitute lover to Queen Victoria while his wife had to stay at home, but publicly shot his wife's lover, thus ruining her life but doing his own no real damage. He went on to become a hero of the Civil War. It's a great story and we are as torn as Keneally between dislike and bedazzlement at the sheer energy of his existence.

Random House

$54.95