Books by John F. Marszalek

An investigation of the earliest political sex scandal in American history. During Andrew Jackson's first term in office, Margaret Eaton, the Secretary of State's wife, was branded a "loose woman". The book relates how this social controversy could so strongly influence the politics of the age.

In the first comprehensive biography of Halleck, Marszalek recreates the life of a man of enormous achievement who bungled his most important mission. Unable to produce victory for the Union forces, he saw his power become subsumed by Grant's emergent leadership, a loss that paved the way for Halleck's path to obscurity.