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The View Through Shattered Glass Unusual Choices In The Time Of The American Civil War
Paperback
Black American HistoryGeneral United States History
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Sep 1 2026
Pages: 244
Weight: 0.73
Height: 0.51 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
What happens when a nation declares freedom, but refuses to let go of hate?
The View Through Shattered Glass: Unusual Choices in the Time of the American Civil War is a sweeping multigenerational work of historical fiction that follows Black Americans from the brutality of slavery through the Civil War, emancipation, Reconstruction, and into a new century where freedom exists on paper but equality remains dangerously out of reach.
Robert Henry carries a name tied to one of America's most celebrated champions of liberty, yet his own family history reveals the devastating contradiction between the nation's ideals and the reality of slavery. Harold discovers extraordinary talent while still owned by another man. Callie escapes bondage but learns that freedom cannot instantly erase the psychological wounds of violence. Jeanene Deveraux, a white Northern educator, must decide whether belonging to her own society matters more than standing against what she knows is wrong.
Their choices echo across generations.
Years later, James Simmons struggles to build the loving family he once thought impossible, while his children, Anita and Easton, attempt to claim places in professions that were never meant to welcome them. Easton becomes a gifted Black physician whose success challenges the racial order around him. But education, achievement, compassion, and even lifesaving medical skill cannot shield him or those he loves from prejudice, resentment, and violence.
As families intertwine and the consequences of slavery pass from parents to children, the novel asks a haunting question: Can a country truly become free when generations continue to see one another through the distorted lens of race?
Blending African American historical fiction, Civil War history, family saga, interracial relationships, generational trauma, and the enduring struggle for human dignity, The View Through Shattered Glass explores how hatred survives long after laws change and how courageous individual choices can challenge the world that created it.
Freedom may break the chains. Changing the way people see one another is another battle entirely.
Discover a powerful historical saga about slavery, survival, love, moral courage, and the generations forced to live with America's unfinished past.
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