A parody, satire, stand-up comedy, history lesson, and vital social commentary in one book. The protagonist Anders, is a white teen during the Civil War who deserts the confederate army in order to join an all-Black regiment fighting for the North. His scholarly commander, Gleason, writes plays in the genre of “speculative dramaturgy.” Other characters in Gleason’s regiment are equally improbable, but the racism they endure is genuine and profound as they fight at Gettysburg, are called upon to put down anti-war riots in New York City, and are repeatedly demeaned by white commanders. At times the dialog is like a dream-fugue, appropriate, I suppose for soldiers, but hard to follow.
Most painful of all is hearing the promises of the Civil War delivered by Gleason in soaring oratory. Repeatedly, Gleason reminds his fellow soldiers, and occasional actors in his plays, that the goal of the north is to end enslavement, and re-forge a nation free of racism, segregation, and inequality. With hindsight it is hard to fathom how far from the mark we still are.