The Sangamon Story

Francis Grierson's, The Valley of Shadows, is truly a lost American classic. Written at the dawn of the twentieth century, the author has remarkably captured his adventures and observations as a child growing up on the prairies of Illinois in the years leading up the Civil War, in a region that was neither North nor South; neither for slavery nor against it; and how their small family farm became an unscheduled stop on the Underground Railroad.

Written in an authentic vernacular of the time, and populated by larger than life characters, Grierson has woven a tale of excitement and mystery, set in a second Garden of Eden of wildlife and nature. The prose and dialogue is like Shakespeare of the prairie. It reads like a cross between Tom Sawyer and Uncle Tom's Cabin, and stands out among all of the other books written about that era.

What people are saying:

“It has a quality not to be found in any other writing about the Civil War;"

"Its prose is alive, strong, subtle, of warm color, almost overpowering;"

"No one can read it, without finding new enlightenment about our past.”