Grant Comes East - (Gettysburg Trilogy) by Newt Gingrich (Paperback)

About the Book

The authors create an exciting alternative history of the Civil War in which the Confederates hope to capture the capital and President Lincoln, bring a sympathetic Maryland into the Confederacy, gain European recognition, and force the Union into peace negotiations.

Book Synopsis

Grant Comes East, the second book in the bestselling series by Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen, continues the story of a Confederate victory at Gettysburg.

Across 140 years, nearly all historians have agreed that after the defeat of the Army of the Potomac at Gettysburg, the taking of Washington, DC, would end the war. But was it possible?

Lee knows that a frontal assault against such fortifications could devastate his army, but it is a price he fears must be paid for final victory. Beyond a military victory in the field, Lee must also overcome the defiant stand of President Abraham Lincoln, who vows that regardless of the defeat at Gettysburg, his solemn pledge to preserve the Union will be honored. Lincoln will mobilize the garrison of Washington to hold on no matter what the costs.
At the same time, Lincoln has appointed General Ulysses S. Grant as commander of all Union forces. Grant, fresh from his triumph at Vicksburg, races east, bringing with him his hardened veterans from Mississippi to confront Lee.

What ensues across the next six weeks is a titanic struggle as the surviving Union forces inside the fortifications of Washington fight to hang on, while Grant prepares his counterblow. The defeated Army of the Potomac, staggered by the debacle dealt at Gettysburg, is not yet completely out of the fight, and is slowly reorganizing. Its rogue commander, General Dan Sickles, is thirsting for revenge against Lee, the restoration of the honor of his army, and the fulfillment of his own ambitions, which reach all the way to the White House. All these factors will come together in a climatic struggle spanning the ground from Washington, through Baltimore, to the banks of the Susquehanna River.

Once again, Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen create a brilliant story of how the Civil War could have unfolded. In Grant Comes East, they use their years of research and expertise to take readers on an incredible journey.

Review Quotes

"Ulysses S. Grant is one of my Civil War favorites. I sat down on a weekend morning to read this book and, by night, I was still at it to the last page. Couldn't put it down. This is a very readable story of how President Abraham Lincoln finally put Grant in charge and changed the course of history." --Liz Smith

"Gingrich and Forstchen have produced a very readable entry into the literature of speculative history. It will be interesting, perhaps even thrilling, to see how the military strategy and political maneuvering plays out in the next installment." --Civil War Book Review

"With each book in their ongoing alternate history cycle, Gingrich and Forstchen have gone from strength to strength as storytellers. Unabashedly, this is a work of popular historical fiction; it aspires to entertain, first and foremost, but it has passages of genuine depth and poetry which elevate it above many other specimens of its peculiar sub-genre." --William Trotter, The Charlotte Observer

"Gingrich and Forstchen portray icons like Grant and Lee as very real humans, beset with very real problems demanding decisions... This second volume is every bit as good as the first." --St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"An exciting alternative history of the Civil War. Character depictions are vivid, detailed, and insightful. One of the best novels of the Civil War to appear in recent years." --Publishers Weekly (starred)

"A good yarn. The authors provide apt historically plausible detail to give substance to the premise. Colorful and imaginative historical fiction." --Washington Times

"What the authors come up with is as rivetingly plausible as what they devised in the previous novel. Notably original." --Booklist

"The Gingrich and Forstchen 'what-if' take on the Civil War gathers some steam. The battle scenes continue war-lovingly rendered." --Kirkus

About the Author

Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, is the author of several bestselling books, including Valley Forge, To Try Men's Souls, Pearl Harbor and Gettysburg (all with William R. Forstchen). He is a member of the Defense Policy Board and co-chair of the UN Task Force, is the longest-serving teacher of the Joint War Fighting course for Major Generals, and served in Congress for twenty years. He is also the founder of the Center for Health Transformation.

Dr. William R. Forstchen is the author of more than thirty books, including historical fiction, science fiction, young adult novels, and traditional historical research. He holds a Ph.D. with a specialization in military history from Purdue University and is an associate professor of history at Montreat College in North Carolina. Forstchen's doctoral dissertation was a first-of-its-kind study about the mobilization, deployment, and combat experiences of an African-American regiment from the Midwest during the Civil War.