The American ***

The American is a novel which tells the story of John Peter Atgeld of Illinois, a latter-day Lincoln, who sacrificed money, health & political power to become the champion of democracy & the foe of greed & corruption. Here's the story of his farm boyhood, of his Civil War experiences in the Army, & of his masterful struggles to become a successful lawyer & politician. But it's then that his real story begins & that he emerges as the last indigenous American hero, for, as Illinois Governor, he pardoned the convicted Haymarket anarchists & touched off an epochal struggle between the forces of democracy & the powers-that-be.