Charles Sweeny, the Man Who Inspired Hemingway

Charles Sweeny (1882-1963) was the heir to a fortune. Renouncing a life of comfort, he became a warrior for causes he believed in. Twice kicked out of West Point, he fought in revolts against three Latin American dictators. He was a decorated officer in the French Foreign Legion and in the U.S. Army during World War I, a brigadier general in the Polish-Soviet War and a military advisor in the Greco-Turkish War. He led a flying squadron in Morocco's Rif War, advised Loyalists in the Spanish Civil War and spied for French intelligence during World War II.

Before America entered the war, he dodged FBI agents and U.S. neutrality laws to recruit American pilots to fight the Nazis and became a group captain in the R.A.F.'s Eagle Squadron. After Pearl Harbor, he worked with Wild Bill Donovan to devise guerrilla campaigns in North Africa and Eastern Europe. This richly detailed biography draws on Sweeny's personal papers, historical documents and photographs to chronicle the fascinating life of America's most celebrated soldier of fortune--a lifelong friend of Ernest Hemingway and a model for his fictional heroes.