Poison Pens

By R.Z. Sheppard

William Safire's vigorously animated historical novel, Scandalmonger (Simon & Schuster: 496 pages; $27), is barely under way when we are made privy to mutual adultery between Alexander Hamilton and the fetching Mrs. Maria Reynolds, a little known contributor to affairs of state during the 1790s.

This bodice-ripping encounter starring a Founding Father and a femme fatale may or may not be faithful to history, but it is definitely a reliable narrative device. Safire, the snappy, right-hooking political columnist for the New York Times, can always be counted on to keep his readers informed while also in a state of high expectation.

They'll need to be alert as well. Hanky-panky aside, Scandalmongers is a devilishly constructed entertainment about political warfare, legal brinkmanship and assassination by quill pen. The cast includes Aaron Burr and such FFs as Thomas Jefferson and Jameses Monroe and Madison. But the sharpest focus is on two churlish characters from early American journalism.

William Cobbett is a pompous English import who bloviated in his Porcupine's Gazette on behalf of Hamilton and his law-and-order Federalists. His rival in vitriol is James Thomson Callender, wanted for sedition in his native Scotland. He was Jefferson's hit man who, when slighted by the Sage of Monticello, spread informed innuendo about his arrangement with slave and lover Sally Hemings. Public reaction to the disclosure makes the Clinton-Lewinsky affair look like a casual game of spin the bottle.

Safire is scrupulously forthcoming about the liberties he has taken. Historians may still grumble. But the only charge of excess that sticks is that the author, who has mongered a few scandals himself, appears to have had too much fun filching haloes from heroes and relishing the bilious style of the Republic's pioneer hatchet men.

--By R.Z. Sheppard