<DIV><p>&ldquo;His voice is appealing, and the brevity and scope of his tale are bracing.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Publishers Weekly</i></p><p>"A thoughtful and provocative meditation on our history. . . . [Banks] should be heeded, or whatever noble dream we had will be lost forever.&rdquo;&mdash;Howard Zinn</p><p>With America ever under global scrutiny, Russell Banks contemplates the questions of our origins, values, heroes, conflicts, and contradictions. He writes with conversational ease and emotional insight, drawing on contemporary politics, literature, film, and his knowledge of American history.</p><p><b>Russell Banks</b> is the author of sixteen works of fiction, many of which depict seismic events in US history, like the fictionalized journey of John Brown in <i>Cloudsplitter</i>. His work has been translated into twenty languages and has received numerous international prizes.</p></DIV>