A courageous leader who became the first American mandarin, Frederick Townsend Ward won crucial victories for the Emperor of China during the Taiping Rebellion, history's bloodiest civil war. Carr's skills as historian and storyteller come to the fore in this thrilling account of the kind of adventu...

A courageous leader who became the first American mandarin, Frederick Townsend Ward won crucial victories for the Emperor of China during the Taiping Rebellion, history's bloodiest civil war. Carr's skills as historian and storyteller come to the fore in this thrilling account of the kind of adventurer the world no longer sees. Photographs.

"So marvelously improbable, so rich in exotic detail, that if often reads more like a historical thriller than the serious work of history that it is."-- Los Angeles TimesWith the same flair for history and narrative that distinguished his bestseller, The Alienist,Caleb Carr tells the incredible story of Frederick Townsend Ward, the American mercenary who fought for the emperor of China in the Taiping rebellion, history's bloodiest civil war. The Devil Soldier is a thrilling, masterfully researched biography of the kind of adventurer the world no longer sees.Praise for The Devil Soldier"If ever a book of history were made for the movies, Caleb Carr's The Devil Soldier is it."--* Chicago Tribune*

"Good, thorough, scholarly but absorbing."--Edward Rice, author of* Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton*