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Close Before Striking
Close Before Striking
Close Before Striking
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Close Before Striking

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Hank Cheatham, a professor of American History at a state university, has begun to suspect he is losing his mind. He has frequent blackouts, and often regains consciousness at the airport, with no idea if he is coming or going. He has inexplicably given his daughters permission to do things that would have been inconceivable only a month earlier. He is convinced that the South won the battle of Gettysburg, with distressing results when he gives the keynote speech at a Civil War reenactment.

He approaches Oliver Redman for advice. A black professor of psychology, Redman has often crossed swords with Hank over his politically incorrect views--specifically, his public assertion that Robert E. Lee and lesser known Confederates were great heroes, not merely defenders of the institution of slavery. Redman seems strangely reluctant to help him out of his dilemma. 

On top of all this, his old mentor, now dying in a nursing home, has drawn from him a promise to bury him at Appomattox. This entails trespassing upon Federal property in the dead of night. By the end of the book, under peculiar circumstances and with unforeseen historic consequences, the promise is fulfilled.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 1, 2005
ISBN9781386462590
Close Before Striking
Author

J. Clayton Rogers

I am the author of more than ten novels. I was born and raised in Virginia, where I currently reside. I was First-Place Winner of the Hollins Literary Festival a number of years ago. Among the judges were Thomas (Little Big Man) Berger and R.M.W. Dillard, poet and husband of the writer Annie Dillard.

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    Close Before Striking - J. Clayton Rogers

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