Abstract
James Forrestal, the first Secretary of Defense, and his wife Josephine, a former Ziegfeld girl, hurl themselves into the Niagara current that rushes below the surface of American power. As the dust settles on World War II, the newly appointed Secretary of Defense James Forrestal makes a series of well-intended but tragic decisions which catapult us to the America of 2017 and beyond. James Carroll’s Midnight Ride is a sweeping, mythological re-imagining of history, policy, and human fallibility.