delible feature of the American political system since the creation of the republic more than two centuries ago. This book surveys both the most infamous scandals (e.g., Watergate and the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair) as well as more obscure episodes (e.g., the Daniel Sickles and Philip Barton Key II incident, and the Yazoo land fraud) in an effort to understand how these incidents have altered the course of American political history.