Historian John S.D. Eisenhower, author of So Far From God and The Bitter Woods, explores the facets of Scott's career and the ways he shaped - and was shaped by - the goals and ambitions of a young republic. As Eisenhower vividly demonstrates, American history cannot be fully understood without an appreciation of Scott's life and influence.

He not only presided over America's territorial expansion and, reluctantly, over the relocation of American Indians during the episode known as the Trail of Tears, but also played a leading role in the development of the United States Army from a tiny, loosely organized, politics-dominated establishment to a disciplined professional force capable of effective and sustained campaigning.

Scott's career was not an uninterrupted series of successes. He was the hero of two major wars and the diplomat who prevented at least three other potential wars with Britain. Yet during his fifty years of service, Scott was placed before a military court three times and once even convicted, incurring a year's suspension from the army. He was roundly defeated when he ran for president in 1852. As Eisenhower's careful study discloses, some of Scott's troubles were created by his own political ambitions.

But Scott the General was a person of monumental proportions and the key agent of America's Manifest Destiny.