"[A story that] deals with profoundly seminal American moments: the end of the Civil War, the religious freedom that was manifested in the Second Great Awakening, the last gasps of the Jeffersonian ideal of American yeomanry, the shadow on the horizon of the Industrial Revolution. At the heart of the novel are two men: one who has committed a horrific act, but is slowly revealed to be a man of honor and integrity; the other, a seemingly righteous man of great spiritual dedication, whose lust for power within his community will eventually blind him to his own actions"--