Boys - Paperback

by Roger Newman (Author)

". . . more than a great read; it is a source of hope." -John Sexton, New York Times bestselling author of Baseball as a Road to God and president emeritus of New York University

". . . a dynamic Southern story that teaches hard but redemptive truths." -Jason Ryan, author of Swamp Kings: The Story of the Murdaugh Family of South Carolina and a Century of Backwoods Power

". . . courageously offers a narrative grounded in honor and the indelible bonds that transcend the accidents of birth, place, and skin color." -Greg Fields, author of The Bright Freight of Memory and PEN/Faulkner Award nominee

Brotherhood is more than skin-deep.

After Alex's family is killed by the Ku Klux Klan during the Great Depression, he takes refuge in the barn of a nearby dairy farm. The family that owns the dairy, including their young son Pete, take in Alex and raise the boys together. Pete and Alex consider themselves brothers and together they navigate the Jim Crow racial intolerance of the rural South, a challenge experienced differently because Pete is White and Alex is Black.

Anticipating European war, Pete and Alex join a segregated US Army. The brothers discover their own identities amid the crucible of battle, leading them to separate for many years as they continue their careers in the Army. They finally reunite at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, in 1969. Confronting escalating racial and civilian hostility in response to the Civil Rights and antiwar movements, Alex must find those responsible for the brutal off-base beating of Pete. He must also reengage with his childhood and what it means to be a Black man with a White brother.