A Study Guide for Christopher Collier/James Lincoln Collier's "My Brother Sam Is Dead"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for Christopher Collier/James Lincoln Collier's "My Brother Sam Is Dead," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Novels for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Novels for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Jun 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535829113

Book preview

My Brother Sam Is Dead

James Lincoln Collier Christopher Collier

1974

Introduction

My Brother Sam Is Dead, published in 1974, is a young-adult novel written by brothers James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier. The book is a historical novel set during the American Revolutionary War. It tells the story of two brothers caught in the turmoil and conflicting loyalties of the war. Sam Meeker, over the opposition of his father, joins the Continental Army to fight the British. The story is narrated by his younger brother, Tim, who looks up to Sam. As the events of the Revolution unfold, Tim has to make a choice. If he joins the American rebels, he will be fighting in opposition to his father and many other members of his Connecticut community. If he remains loyal to the British, he would be rejecting the ideals of his brave older brother.

My Brother Sam Is Dead has been a controversial novel. According to the Office of Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association, the novel was the twelfth most frequently challenged book during the period 1990–2001. This means that people or groups tried to prevent the inclusion of the book in public library collections or in school libraries and curricula. The book has been challenged for several reasons. It contains occasional profanity, it depicts alcohol consumption (the Meeker family owns a tavern, and Mrs. Meeker begins to drink heavily to dull the pain of her worries about Sam), and it contains scenes of somewhat graphic violence.

The chief reason for the challenges to the book, though, has been that in the eyes of some readers, it presents unpatriotic views about the American Revolution, questioning whether the Revolutionary War was necessary or desirable. Some readers characterize the book as antiwar propaganda that reflected public dissent over the war in Vietnam, which was still underway when the novel was written. Others might respond by saying that questioning the value of any war is a humane and rational response to the violence, death, and destruction that war inevitably causes. These readers would argue that the book has value because it asks questions about war without offering soothing answers.

My Brother Sam Is Dead was originally published in 1974 by Four Winds Press. The most readily available edition of the novel is the 2005 edition published by Scholastic.

Author Biography

My Brother Sam Is Dead was written by James Lincoln