In Tracy Daugherty's third novel, childhood innocence and political ambition meet just prior to the First World War in the person of Harry Shaughnessy, an Oklahoma farmer's son. Gifted with a booming speaking voice and a charismatic presence, the boy learns the Socialist credo from his father, who takes him on the road - from laborers' camps to county fairs to Oklahoma City - to spread the people's gospel to farmers, miners, and oil workers. Along the way young Harry encounters other Socialist crusaders - Eugene V. Debs, Oscar Ameringer, and the dynamic red-haired feminist Kate O'Hare. Daugherty seamlessly integrates these historical figures into the compelling fictionalized tale of his own real-life grandfather's idealistic struggle for American workers and of his inevitable disillusionment with the defeat of the Socialist cause.
The Boy Orator
