Ryan opens Downing's story at its end, with the narrator’s death at the hands of a Lakota fighter. The story that follows is deeply humane and sympathetic for both the rank-and-file soldier and the variety of oppressed peoples encounters. Downing’s narrative covers his birth in the village of Adare in 1856, the reasons behind his family’s emigration, the grueling journey to their new home in Georgia, and how Downing was raised to hate slavery, in part because of the Irish’s treatment by the English. Ryan examines tension and poverty in Savannah during the Civil War era, including a lynching, and young Downing witnesses a speech in which Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens confirms a truth too often obscured: that slavery was the chief reason for secession.
Downing ultimately lies about his age to join the army and is subsequently assigned, among other missions, to rein in Kentucky’s Ku Klux Klan. But when land and gold led the federal government to war against Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and other Native Americans who refused to leave ancestral lands, Downing faces serious doubt about the justice of the cause. This humanizes Downing, especially as readers will understand he will die in a conflict that was largely the fault of greed, poor intelligence, and stubborn leaders. An engrossing historical narrative.
Takeaway: Convincing, compelling narrative of real Irish at Little Big Horn.
Comparable Titles: Sebastian Barry's Days Without End, John Hough, Jr.’s Little Big Horn.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: B+
