"The Lion and the Fox: Two Rival Spies and the Secret Plot to Build a Confederate Navy" - Signed by the author Alexander Rose

From the New York Times-bestselling author of Washington’s Spies, the basis for the AMC series Turn: Washington's Spies, comes the thrilling story of the Confederate spy sent to Britain to turn the tide of the Civil War—and the Union agent resolved to stop him.

Just released on December 6. Hardcover (288 pages), signed by the author, Alexander Rose, and inscribed if you choose.

An important note on shipping: This book is shipped directly by the author using Media Mail. If you ordered other items from the store, this book will be shipped separately. Allow at least two weeks for delivery of your signed book.

Historical background

In 1861, soon after the outbreak of the Civil War, two secret agents—one a Confederate, the other his Union rival—were dispatched to neutral Britain, each entrusted with a vital mission.

The South’s James Bulloch, charming and devious, was to acquire a cutting-edge clandestine fleet intended to break President Lincoln’s blockade of Confederate ports, sink Northern merchant vessels, and drown the U.S. Navy’s mightiest ships at sea. The profits from gunrunning and smuggling cotton—Dixie’s notorious “white gold”—would finance the scheme. Opposing him was Thomas Dudley, a resolute Quaker lawyer and abolitionist. He was determined to stop Bulloch by any means necessary in a spy-versus-spy game of move and countermove, gambit and sacrifice, intrigue and betrayal. If Dudley failed, Britain would ally with the South and imperil a Northern victory. The battleground was the Dickensian port of Liverpool, whose dockyards built more ships each year than the rest of the world combined, whose warehouses stored more cotton than anywhere else on earth, and whose merchant princes, said one observer, were “addicted to Southern proclivities, foreign slave trade, and domestic bribery.”

From master of historical espionage Alexander Rose, The Lion and the Fox is the astonishing, untold tale of two implacable foes and their twilight struggle for the highest stakes. 

Reviews

“Intrigue lovers and Civil War buffs are in for a treat! The Lion and the Fox guides its readers through the shadow war between Confederate and Union agents in England—one trying to procure ships for the Rebel Navy, the other determined to thwart his rival. It is a little-known corner of history but one that is a pleasure to explore in this author’s skilled hands.” — Nicholas Reynolds, New York Times bestselling author of Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy: Ernest Hemingway’s Secret Adventures, 1935–1961

“Historian Rose delivers an entertaining chronicle of the battle of wits between a Confederate spy and a Union agent in England during the early years of the Civil War. . . . Rose’s indelible character sketches and firm grasp of the industrial and political milieu of 19th-century Britain enrich the contest of wills between Bulloch and Dudley. This spy-versus-spy tale delights.” — Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Alexander Rose is the author of several non-fiction books, including Empires of the Sky, Men of War, American Rifle, and the New York Times best-selling Washington’s Spies, which was the basis of the AMC original series Turn. He writes the free Substack newsletter, Spionage, and is on Twitter at @AlexRoseWriter. His website is www.alexrose.com.

An important note on shipping: This book is shipped directly by the author using Media Mail. If you ordered other items from the store, this book will be shipped separately. Allow at least two weeks for delivery.