Bookend Chronicles Reviews Yankee Gold

Yankee Gold by Elizabeth Rogers

This is an impressive novel by Elizabeth Rogers, which takes place within the backdrop of the worst war on American soil. It is a historically accurate narrative that achieves forward motion in its intriguing plot line. Rogers successfully exhibits a difficult conflict within a gradually remorseful climate.

"Fire and smoke concealed the movement of people in the street. It was unclear whether the moving bodies were civilians, enemy, or allies. Occasionally, there would be a clearing."

Steve Elkins begins to blur the lines of societal acceptance. He is an abolitionist attorney in a less than tolerant territory. Though he is brave enough to stand up for his beliefs and politics, it also causes a major hindrance in his personal life.

"'Or they steal from the public coffers'... 'Or take bribes'..."

"He must prove fraud, forgery, bribery, and perjury. Additionally, it appeared he must take on the chief judge of the Supreme Court to force a resignation."

There is a definitive coyness when delving into the incredibly intricate story line. It prevents the reader from understanding the true focus of the ultimate ending. Yet, gradually, as the characters play into the metaphorically sanctioned subplot, Steve Elkins must decide where his loyalties lie.

An interesting character that snagged my attention was Editor Sullivan. As Steve says in a most succinct way: "...he professes in his columns, that he is against peonage, but antagonistic to Radicals. Of course, that's a contradiction in itself." Sullivan plays a thin line and personifies an image of what I would call a troubling epidemic, symbolic in this day and age.

Rogers vividly conveys an empowered and credible narrative. Though Yankee Gold had a slow beginning for this reader, including heavily laden moments of minutiae, the ultimate story is moving and intriguing. It is a unique story that gives every reader an idea of the old politics that our forefathers ventured and braved in a frighteningly new world.

Elizabeth Wall Rogers has been published in the New Mexico Historical Review. She is a member of the Virginia Historical Society and is active in several Virginia writers' clubs.

KIRKUS REVIEW

Yankee Gold

by Elizabeth Wall Rogers

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KIRKUS REVIEW

Rogers’ debut historical novel delivers a highly detailed account of nation-building in New Mexico after the Civil War through the eyes of spy, lawyer and politician Steve Elkins.

Elkins, like other major characters in the book, was a real person, and the author presents him as a clever observer and manipulator of the baffling, violent political scene west of the Mississippi during Reconstruction. Elkins flees wartime Missouri, with rebel bandits at his heels, to New Mexico, where he rises from a laborer and land surveyor to a lawyer and elected official. He takes charge of two different murder trials, and took part in efforts to draft a state constitution, woo the railroad and eradicate “peonage,” a form of feudal slavery unique to the region. But although Rogers includes all the raw materials for a riveting tale (war, espionage, slavery, bank robberies, gold mines and murder among them), the book reads more like a dry biography of Elkins than a novel. The author takes considerable care to tell the story with accuracy and detail; as a result, however, the prose is almost exclusively expository. Much of the book consists of fact-laden, wooden dialogue, with minimal, awkward efforts to convey the characters’ internal lives (“ ‘Chaves’ arrogance at having set off the cannon that killed Slough, and his insisting on keeping the unrepentant Heath, is more than I can stand,’ Steve said”). At times, the book reads somewhat like a legal brief, with the characters conveying the emotionless delivery of police officers on a witness stand. There are some moments when this reportorial style engagingly supports the storyline—the murder scenes, for example, or during courtroom set pieces when Steve’s scheming intelligence earns readers’ admiration—but these moments are few in an otherwise dense, dispassionate narrative.

A dry but exhaustively researched novel that will most interest aficionados of New Mexico’s history.

Books: Virginia Book Notes

BY JAY STRAFFORD
Special Correspondent

 

One of Richmond’s many nicknames is “The City of Monuments” — and deservedly so. Although first thoughts might go to those along lovely Monument Avenue, the city abounds in others that merit attention.

And that’s what Glen Allen writer Robert C. Layton and Henrico County photographer Phil Riggan showcase in “Discovering Richmond Monuments: A History of River City Landmarks Beyond the Avenue” (190 pages, The History Press, $19.99).

You’ve probably seen Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and tennis great Arthur Ashe on Monument Avenue, but how about entertainer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, or civil rights icon Oliver Hill, or the miniature Statue of Liberty, or Sunday the dog, or former Virginia Commonwealth University President Eugene P. Trani, all in other locations?

They — and more than 100 others — are featured in prose and photos in Layton and Riggan’s book, as well as a glossary of art terms, a chronology of the monuments’ placements and even suggestions for future tributes. You’ll find history you likely didn’t know — and a useful guide for a walking/driving tour.

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Virginia is for enthusiasts of all kinds — of history, of nature, and yes, dogs.

In “Fido’s Virginia: Virginia Is for Dog Lovers” (239 pages, The Countryman Press, $18.95), Ginger Warder, who grew up in Northern Virginia, offers a plethora of places travelers can visit with their canine pals, including historic sites, wineries, bed and breakfasts, malls and bodies of water.
A member of the Society of American Travel Writers, Warder specializes in journeys with pets and luxury trips. As she writes, “For the most part, canines are considered to be family in Virginia — except, unfortunately, by the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Health Department, which strictly prohibits all but service dogs from the premises of restaurants, including patios and decks.”
But not to worry — “Fido’s Virginia” gives readers a multitude of options for excursions with their best buds.

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Given Richmond’s reputation as a city of churches — St. John’s Episcopal on Church Hill and St. Paul’s Episcopal near Capitol Square are particularly noteworthy — it’s not unusual for houses of worship to revel not only in their message but also their history.

Last year, First Presbyterian Church celebrated its bicentennial and this year marked the occasion with “Footprints of the Saints: A Narrative History of First Presbyterian Church, Richmond, Virginia, 1812-2012” (348 pages, First Presbyterian Church/The Dietz Press, $40), by former pastor R. Jackson Sadler in collaboration with longtime member F. Claiborne Johnston Jr.

Richly detailed and lavishly illustrated, the book recounts the history of the church and its congregation, its leaders and its mission work, among many other topics. It’s available at the church office at 4602 Cary Street Road. For details, call 358-2383.

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Kevin Powers, whose debut novel, “The Yellow Birds,” vividly depicts the war in Iraq, has been awarded the Anisfield-Wolf Book Prize for First Novel by the Cleveland Foundation.

Powers, who attended James River High School in Chesterfield County, joined the Army when he was 17 and served as a machine gunner in Mosul and Tal Afar in 2004 and 2005. After being honorably discharged, he enrolled in Virginia Commonwealth University and graduated in 2008. He recently received a master’s degree in fine arts as a Michener Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin.

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Also:

• Former Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist and current Boomer magazine editor Ray McAllister adds to his canon about coastal North Carolina with “Ocracoke: The Pearl of the Outer Banks” (242 pages, Beach Glass Books, $19.95), which follows his previous appreciations of Topsail Island, Wrightsville Beach and Hatteras Island. This time out, in addition to exploring the history, charm and residents of the site, he also presents a proposal from Stephen Leatherman, director of the Laboratory for Coastal Research at Florida International University, that Ocracoke become basically car-free. “The proposal is worth serious consideration,” McAllister writes. “Ocracoke could become a smaller Ocracoke again. A quieter Ocracoke. A less crowded Ocracoke. A better Ocracoke.”

• Sarah Kennedy, a professor of English at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, focuses her novel
“The Altarpiece” (224 pages, Knox Robinson Publishing, $27.99), on Catherine Havens, the adopted daughter of the prioress of the Priory of Mount Grace in an English village during King Henry VIII’s attack on the Roman Catholic Church and its properties.

• Henrico County resident Elizabeth Wall Rogers’ historical novel “Yankee Gold” (312 pages, Story Merchant Books, $15.99), is set in New Mexico during the Civil War.

• Two Chihuahuas play detective — and join forces with mutt Jog, mockingbird Moc and loggerhead turtle Big Mama — to foil turtle-egg snatchers on Bald Head Island, N.C., in Falls Church resident Rhoda Canter’s children’s book, “The Adventures of Starfoot and Brown” (119 pages, CreateSpace, $16.50).

• Katie D. Anderson, a Richmond native and a 1989 graduate of Collegiate Schools, has written her first book, “Kiss and Make Up” (320 pages, Skyscape, $16.99), a young-adult novel.

• Retired Times-Dispatch science writer Beverly Orndorff has published an e-book, “George Gamow: The Whimsical Mind Behind the Big Bang” ($6.99), about the Russian-born American physicist.

Jay Strafford