EASTERN TENNESSEE, 1861
Harry thought it was just a quarrel among politicians—until his young son ran away to join a guerilla raid against the Confederates. Within weeks, Harry himself was falsely accused of sabotage, tried in a rigged courtroom, and sentenced to hang for treason. Based on true events and the real life of Harrison Self, this is a tale of Eastern Tennessee, where loyalty to the Union survived long after the state had seceded. At times evoking the diaries, humorous tales, and adventure narratives of the period, it is the story of a man for whom love of country was not a given, but the result of decisions forged under pressure.
MEET AUTHOR
SUSAN LOHAFER
Susan Lohafer grew up in New Jersey. Educated on both coasts, she spent much of her working life in the Middle West. She is a graduate of Harvard University (B.A., magna cum laude), Stanford University (M.A. in Creative Writing), and New York University (Ph.D. in American Literature). During her academic career at the University of Iowa, she specialized in short fiction theory. Her books include Coming to Terms with the Short Story and Reading for Storyness, as well as the co-edited volume Short Story Theory at a Crossroads. She now lives with her husband in Tennessee.
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Read what experts say about The Reluctant Patriot
This is a novel about a bridge burning, a trial, and a hanging. But it is also situated in Civil War Tennessee, which means that none of those events will occur according to any expectations of normal. The characters —from the Unionist Harrison Self to the dramatic Parson Brownlow—are all historical enough. But Susan Lohafer has given them a special edge, as they seek to make sense of a world that is breaking into pieces around them, where friends are foes and one wrong glance may be worth your life. It is a fast book, it is an unnerving book, it is a polished, shining book—all right then, it is a great book.
Allen C. Guelzo
Author, Fateful Lightning: A New History of the Civil War and Reconstruction and Gettysburg: The Last Invasion