Peter Stark is an adventure and exploration writer, historian, and longtime contributor to Outside. His book Astoria, about Thomas Jefferson’s and John Jacob Astor’s attempt to establish an American colony on the West Coast, was a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for a PEN USA literary award. Young Washington, about George Washington’s early days in the colonial military, was a finalist for the George Washington Book Prize. Stark’s next book, about the Shawnee chief Tecumseh, will be published by Random House in 2023.

From the bestselling author of Astoria, Young Washington, and an upcoming book about the legendary Shawnee chief Tecumseh comes a startling, revisionist look at the earliest days of the United States, its first president, and the policies that laid the groundwork for the political and racial divisiveness of today.

At the center of the story is a little-known 1791 battle between Indigenous warriors and American troops sent by George Washington, who was eager to usurp Native lands for white settlement. More than 700 U.S. soldiers were killed, and the survivors fled nearly one hundred miles to safety. It would be the most devastating loss at the hands of Native Americans in the military’s history, resulting in three times more casualties than at Custer’s Last Stand, a century later.

The ignominious defeat was an unacceptable debacle for both the president and Congress, which demanded answers. This prompted a series of controversial debates that eerily foreshadowed questions we struggle with today: How to investigate a president? How much power and autonomy do they have? Does the national military have a role during a domestic crisis?

Available August 17 as both an ebook and audiobook narrated by Edoardo Ballerini, winner of the 2019 Audie Award for Best Male Narrator.