Satan’s Back Yard.

Garden City: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1974. First Edition. Octavo, brown cloth (hardcover), gilt letters, map illus. endpapers, 254 pp. Near-Fine, in a dust jacket in protective mylar sleeve. From dust jacket: This novel about American in the early 1800s is brimming with romantic adventure, swirling action, and fascinating characters. It centers on the turbulent events that led up to the acquisition of Florida by the United States. We follow the career of a young lieutenant from Connecticut, Jonathan Ames, who renounces his commission to the U. S. Army to join the flamboyant general Gregor MacGregor in his plans to liberate Florida from the Spaniards by force of arms. Ames is actually acting on instructions of his government -- his secret mission: to report on affairs in Florida directly to William Crawford,, Secretary of War, and through him to President Madison himself. Through Ames’s eyes, a vivid panorama of life in the new nation unfolds -- from the political intrigues in Washington, to the bustle of high society in Charleston, SC, to the frontier violence of Florida under the Spaniards. Based on extensive historical research, this novel offers a highly readable tale of romance, politics, and military adventure -- set in one of the most colorful and crucial periods of American history. (Inventory #: 50400bd)