jazzeum
Four Star General
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2005
- Messages
- 38,441
I just finished this Civil War novel yesterday and it's one with a twist. The title refers to the question asked at passover seders, “How is this night different from all other nights?”
Jacob Rappaport, a Jewish soldier from New York in the Union army during the Civil War, who is recruited by Union military leaders to kill his uncle, a loyal southerner, who is planning to assassinate President Lincoln.
Jacob’s second assignment as a spy is then to woo and then marry the daughter of a Jewish businessman in Virginia with whom he had dealings before the war. The daughter and her three sisters are suspected of being part of a Rebel spy ring. I won't spill any beans by saying that he falls in love with her. There are many twists and turns that follows through the ultimate burning of Richmond at the end of the Civil War. The various characters include the real-life figure of Judah Benjamin, secretary of state to Jefferson Davis and the first Jewish cabinet member in American history. The author, Dara Horn, both unearths a fascinating, relatively unexplored aspect of American history—the role of Jewish Americans in the Civil War—and delivers a novel rich in human emotion and ambiguity.
Great read and great book.
Jacob Rappaport, a Jewish soldier from New York in the Union army during the Civil War, who is recruited by Union military leaders to kill his uncle, a loyal southerner, who is planning to assassinate President Lincoln.
Jacob’s second assignment as a spy is then to woo and then marry the daughter of a Jewish businessman in Virginia with whom he had dealings before the war. The daughter and her three sisters are suspected of being part of a Rebel spy ring. I won't spill any beans by saying that he falls in love with her. There are many twists and turns that follows through the ultimate burning of Richmond at the end of the Civil War. The various characters include the real-life figure of Judah Benjamin, secretary of state to Jefferson Davis and the first Jewish cabinet member in American history. The author, Dara Horn, both unearths a fascinating, relatively unexplored aspect of American history—the role of Jewish Americans in the Civil War—and delivers a novel rich in human emotion and ambiguity.
Great read and great book.