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Theory of War
 
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Theory of War (Paperback)

by Joan Brady (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 208 pages
  • Publisher: Abacus; New edition edition (3 Feb 1994)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0349104573
  • ISBN-13: 978-0349104577
  • Product Dimensions: 19.3 x 12.4 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 162,057 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Product Description

Review
Whitbread Book of the Year 1993, a novel of great power and intensity about a 'bounden boy', a white boy sold into slavery in America after the Civil War. The boy's upbringing scars his life and that of his descendants, and his story is finally pieced together by his granddaughter. (Kirkus UK)

A white slave in post-Civil War America: that's the hook for this semi-autobiographical fiction. Brady has already written a novel (The Impostor, 1979) and an autobiography (The Unmaking of a Dancer, 1982); here, she reconstructs a life of her grandfather, the slave. Jonathan Garrick was a so-caned "boughten boy," purchased at age four for farmwork; he ran away at 16; four of his children would commit suicide. What interests Brady is identity. How is it formed if you are a solitary slave-child? Mulling over the question are narrator/granddaughter Malory Carrick and her uncle Atlas, a son of slave Jonathan. Sequences from Jonathan's life (slaving on a Kansas tobacco farm; tiding the railroads, flee at last, as a brakeman) are interrupted by discussions between niece and uncle (Atlas has his memories; Malory has been reading the coded diaries) about the meaning of Jonathan's life (the reader becomes a student at an offbeat seminar). Malory sees her grandfather's life fueled (and corroded) by hatred, not for slavemaster Alvah Stoke so much as for Stoke's son George, Jonathan's vicious tormentor. The slave is a model soldier in his war against George, striking opportunely, beating him until he is surely dead, then escaping. Twenty years later, a newly ordained minister, he will lose his religious faith when he discovers that George is alive and flourishing, a US senator; it's war again. Jonathan does get a life (be marries, has children, becomes a successful farmer, albeit a lousy husband and father), but his rage never subsides, returning him to the battlefield for a final confrontation with the Senator when both are old men. There are problems here: awkward format, awkward fact/fiction straddle, overworked war analogy, hokey showdown. Yet this deliberately rough-edged work does command respect for its blistering anger at the poison of slavery in the bloodstream of the Carricks...and America. (Kirkus Reviews)

Product Description
The story of a young boy sold into white slavery in post-Civil War America, who suffers at the hands of a cruel master. He escapes to a new life as a railroadman, then an itinerant preacher, but within him lies the need for revenge against his former master's son - the object of an enduring hatred.

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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An absorbing tale of the unheard white child slave trade, 29 Nov 1999
By A Customer
I would have to describe this as probably the best fiction book I have read. Why I read it in the first place, I don't know. It doesn't sound particularly appealing - a boy sold into slavery post American Civil War, but it grips and involves like no other story. Written in a beatifully accesible fashion by the author this deservedly won the Whitbread prize and deserves a bigger audience. If you're looking for a great page turner, turn your back on Stephen King, say goodbye to Catherine Cookson and say hello to Joan Brady - you won't be disapponited.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A gripping and compelling read., 13 April 2000
By A Customer
The snyopsis does not do this book justice. This is a historical novel that leaves the reader feeling, hearing, and smelling the settings of the American West. It is also a fierce and textured novel of the nature of childhhood development and family dynamics passed down through generations. This book is almost impossible to put down. Read it!
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, 2 Jul 2004
By A reader (London, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
This is probably the best book I have ever read - and one of the few books I have read more than once. I read a copy from the library and thought it was so good I had to buy a copy.

It is so well written and looks at an aspect of US life that I had never even considered before. It is filled with lots of dark emotion but that is partly what makes it such a great read.

Well worth reading - again and again.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars It is the fact that this is semi autobiographical that makes it special
The Theory of War is story of a white child sold into slavery in post-Civil War America. At just four-years-old Jonathan is sold to Alvah Stokes, who treats him terribly. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Jackie

3.0 out of 5 stars historical
info was interesting and not mainstream. However this book was very slow to start off with and for a small book that's not a great feature. However it did provide food for thought
Published 2 months ago by karen bennett

5.0 out of 5 stars A real page turner
I was given this book to read. Not my usual choice, but stick with it.
It's a real page turner, and a very satisfying read. Read more
Published 3 months ago by P. Casimir-mrowczynski

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