American Bloods

"American Bloods is an unflinching history of our nation . . . This is a breakout book for John Kaag-the natural extension of his genre-defining writing." -Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Leadership: In Turbulent Times

A history of a family spanning centuries and continents-one that unfolds into a new portrait of America.

The Bloods were one of America's first and most expansive pioneer families. They explored and laid claim to the frontiers-geographic, political, intellectual, and spiritual-that would become the very core of the United States. John Kaag's American Bloods is the account of a remarkable American family, of its participation in the making of a nation, and of how its members embodied the elusive ideals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. Inspired by the discovery of a mysterious manuscript in an old Massachusetts farmhouse, Kaag follows eight members of this family from the British Civil