The Children Bob Moses Led

Author's Bio:

A native of Poland, Ohio, a graduate of Hiram College, and a participant in the March on Washington, William Heath has a Ph.D. in American Studies from Case Western Reserve University. He has taught at Kenyon, Transylvania, and Vassar. From 1979 to 1981 he was the Fulbright lecturer in American Studies at the University of Seville. His poems, stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous literary magazines. Since 1981, he has been a member of the English Department at Mount Saint Mary’s College. He and his wife, Roser, live in Frederick, Maryland, with their cat, Homer.

Quotes:

“Engaging and suspenseful, this is contemporary fiction at its best, and is sure to find its way into college courses on the '60s and the civil rights movement. Readers too young to remember Freedom Summer will find Bob Moses an enigmatic, admirable hero.”— Dayton Daily News

“William Heath's sterling debut novel . . . renders for us a period of American history in danger of being either ignored, uncritically romanticized or swept away by the new revisionists of the “60s who have decided that the decade was one long period of drug-induced, anti-American hysteria.”—The Potamac Reader

“The Freedom Summer of 1964 comes alive in the contrasting narratives of civil rights leader Bob Moses and fictional volunteer Tom Morton. . . . Heath presents an illuminating portrait of the time, fascinating for the smaller events he encounters, chronicling the bravery of those who didn't capture the national spotlight. An absorbing look at one of America's darkest and most courageous moments.”—-Kirkus Reviews

“With the possible exception of Alice Walker's Meridian, this is the very best and most moving literary treatment of the movement I have read to date.”--Doug McAdam, author of Freedom Summer

“Moses and Morton alternate the narration of this novel, conveying the exhilaration and the despair, the sense of possibility and hope that so many people felt who were young in the “60s.”—The Washington Post Book World

“Perhaps now, more than ever, we need to remember the summer of 1964. The novel is wonderfully instructive, it has a great deal of moral energy, and it tells an important story sensitively, carefully, thoughtfully.”--Robert Coles