Terrible Unrest, A

This gripping tale told with a masterly grasp is poignant and disturbing. It's not a book you can easily put down. An unspeakable tragedy provides the backdrop to this novel about a murky and murderous corner of American History. Early last century, immigrants had little choice over what jobs they could take and miners had few rights. Spiro Andrakis, having scant hope of making a living in his native Crete, leaves with his new family for his part of the American Dream. Resistant at first to having anything to do with those who wish to unionize the miners, just wanting to work and earn his keep, he is swept up in historical currents too extreme to be ignored. The events leading up to the Ludlow Massacre are seen through the eyes of the Andrakis family. Phil Duke brings to his vivid canvas the larger-than-life characters who made the history that Spiro, Maria and their daughter Anna live through: John D. Rockefeller, Mother Jones, Governor Elias Milton Ammons, the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency and the indomitable Louis Tikas, who also came from Crete and led the colliers in their strike. Professor Duke was a member of the archaeological team that excavated the scene of the massacre and is uniquely placed to blend fact with fiction in reminding us of the times of a terrible unrest. --M. C. Morison, author of Time Sphere.