This week we interview veteran independent writer, historian, and journalist, Fergus M. Bordewich. His latest book, Klan War: Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction, was published in October 2023 by Knopf. Bordewich has written eight previous nonfiction books, including the award-winning The First Congress: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government, and America’s Great Debate: Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, and the Compromise that Preserved the Union. Bordewich’s Bound for Canaan, about the Underground Railroad, was named one of the New York Public Library’s ten best books of 2005, and he edited a landmark photojournalistic account of the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre, in Beijing. Bordewich’s articles have appeared in many national magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times, Smithsonian, and American Heritage. Fergus M. Bordewich was interviewed by fellow biographer and BIO member John A. Farrell.