Bound for the Promise-Land
Bound for the Promise-Land book cover

Bound for the Promise-Land

by
Price
$15.95
Format
Paperback
Pages
448
Publisher
Western Trail Blazer
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0692365816
Dimensions
5.25 x 1.01 x 8 inches
Weight
1.02 pounds

Description

Troy D. Smith was born in the Upper Cumberland region of Tennessee in 1968. He has waxed floors, moved furniture, been a lay preacher, and taught high school and college. He writes in a variety of genres, achieving his earliest successes with westerns -his first published short story appeared in 1995 in Louis L'Amour Western Magazine, and he won the Spur Award in 2001 for the novel Bound for the Promise-Land (being a finalist on two other occasions.) He is currently teaching American history at Tennessee Tech, and serving as president of Western Fictioneers -the first national writing organization devoted exclusively to fiction about the Old West.

Features & Highlights

  • "Freedom is not a place you run to…Freedom is a place in your soul." These words sum up the life long quest of ex-slave Alfred Mann as he pursues the dream of equality in a world not of his making. From fugitive to Medal of Honor winner, Mann carries on to rise above the ignorance and intolerance of those who seek to bring him down; somehow gaining strength from the unimaginable losses he suffers and his own self-doubt. Troy Smith does a great job of telling this man's story; providing a real insight not only to the emotional struggle that made Alfred Mann the individual he was, but the era that forged his heroic character. – Kit Prate 2001 WWA Spur Award Winner for Best Original Paperback

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(148)
★★★★
25%
(62)
★★★
15%
(37)
★★
7%
(17)
★
-7%
(-18)

Most Helpful Reviews

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Highly recommend!

This is a fantastic read - gripping and compelling - about Alfred Mann, who escapes slavery, fights for the Union in the Civil War, and then establishes himself as a free man in a racist world. Troy Smith is a wonderful writer, but he has something many other historical fiction writers lack: a real background (PhD) in history. He gets the facts right, and in doing so, tells a beautiful and moving story.
1 people found this helpful
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but I love it so much

I'm still reading it, but I love it so much! -Violet
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A big disappointment

I was fortunate enough to take a class from Prof. Smith on Westward Expansion as a student at Tennessee Tech and it is probably my favorite class of them all. Prof Smith is a fantastic speaker and has a vast knowledge of his subject and has a very engaged manner of speaking. I had hoped that that experience would transfer to his writing and that I would be able to read a very good story here but, sadly, the book just sort of falls flat. I had trouble maintaining interest and, in particular, the dialogue was a very weak point of this book. The whole thing becomes rather melodramatic and predictable and I didn't really even want to finish it. It doesn't seem that fiction is Prof Smith's strong suit but this is the only novel of his I have read (he has several others) so I can't really say that definitively but overall I was quit disappointed with this particular one.

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