Freedom's Altar

by Charles F. Price

Book Overview

Judge Madison Curtis has just pronounced the benediction over the grave of his eldest daughter when two grimy women riding double on a mule enter his driveway.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0895871777
• ISBN13: 9780895871770
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: John F. Blair, Publisher
• Length: 291 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Freedom's Altar

This is the second of 4 books written about my ancestors and I am totally excited to read the other two. Charles Price did a wonderful job of telling my family's history.

Heartrending and lyrical

Set during the early days of Reconstruction in the mountains of North Carolina, this novel is the second of four novels that create a multigenerational saga in which you will come to know some of the most honorable and most despicable characters ever to emerge from Civil War literature; and the fighting and hatred and fear continue to build as lives and emotions are squandered and sacrificed on the altar of freedom, long after the war has ended. Everyone is searching for something---revenge, profit, normalcy, love, reconciliation, redemption---and how each character goes about his own personal journey is the stuff of this novel. Price's characters, language, and emotions are true to place and time, and he writes with great beauty and clarity, tackling difficult and heartrending themes that show us the rawness of human nature played out during a time of great cultural angst. I recommend you treat yourself to a real feast by reading all four novels in the order they were written: Hiwassee, Freedom's Altar, The Cock's Spur, and Where the Water-Dogs Laughed.

An interesting and insightful look at Reconstruction.

An excellent addition to the Civil War literature and one that examines race relations and the feelings of those that tried to move forward after the Civil War. Well written.

Not only engrossing, but educational as well...

Mr. Price brings the reader back to the Curtis family (first introduced in his novel, Hiwassee) and a society faced with new challenges in Reconstruction. This book is educational as well as entertaining--it offers a fascinating look at day-to-day life, the state of medicine, societial problems, romance, suspense, and the tenacity of the human spirit. I couldn't put this book down! It also illustrates how at any given point in history, people are faced with differing--but just as complex--challenges. Good reading, not only for history buffs, but for anyone who appreciates fine literature.

First rate exploration of emotionally fraught situation

This book is an excellent sequel to Price's first Civil War novel, Hiwassee, which dealt with the war as experienced on the home front in NC mountains. Following the family introduced there we find the ex-slave holder and the ex-slave having to deal with each other and the feelings of hate and love and bitterness they both feel. The characters are rich and forceful. The language strong and emotionally evocative.