A Novel of the Bonus Army
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Book Title: The Yanks Are Starving: A Novel of the Bonus Army
Author: Glen Craney
Publication Date: January, 2014
Publisher: Brigid’s Fire Press
Page Length: 561
Genre: Historical Fiction
Weave In Your Exposition, but Don’t Expose the Warp and Weft
by
Glen Craney
The historical novelist must inform readers about the background events that have shaped the period of your novel. How does the author avoid sounding like an information sidebar?
Gore Vidal to the rescue.
As a boy, Vidal was an eyewitness to many of the incidents that I describe in my historical novel, The Yanks Are Starving. Years later, Vidal recounted how he was traumatized by the anger of the homeless veterans who threw rocks at the car of his grandfather, Senator Thomas Gore of Oklahoma, as they drove down the streets of Washington D.C.
Photo: Young Gore Vidal
Vidal never forgot that tense summer of 1932, the events of which inspired his political novels.
In Julian, he gave us a splendid lesson on the timeline leading up to and following the death of Constantine in 337 A.D. In the hands of a lesser thaumaturgist, the task of keeping the average reader enthralled might have proven too daunting. But Vidal cleverly slips in an occasional aside to ensure that we never stray from Julian’s tight, first-person point of view. Consider this gem:
According to Constantine’s will, the empire was to be divided between his three surviving sons, each of whom had already been raised to the rank of Caesar. (Every schoolchild knows this but will they always?)
At first glance, Vidal seems to be taking a deserved shot at the despicable state of contemporary American education in history. But he also has a more practical agenda. He is employing a variation on the time-honored tactic of cushioning the impact of a jolting or uneasily-digested revelation before the reader can revolt.
Let’s say you want a character to survive in a cave for twenty years without food and water. Having another character in the story comment or insist on the apparent impossibility of this feat provides the reader a surrogate for his disbelief, thus keeping him reading.
Similarly, Vidal inoculates himself against potential resistance to such a large passage of exposition by having Julian, the narrator, lament on the need for its reiteration and empathize with the reader’s frustration.
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Photo: Bonus Army Fight
Here’s two more examples of Vidal personalizing the exposition:
Some say there was indeed such a plot, but I doubt it. I am certain that my father was in no way disloyal. He had not protested when his half-brother Constantine became emperor. Why should he protest the elevation of his son? In any case, during the course of that terrible summer, a dozen descendants of Theodora were secretly arrested and executed, among them my father.
“And it is thought that Athanasius ordered Arius poisoned at a church counsel, some seven years ago. As a result, Athanasius was sent into exile by your divine uncle. And now, Julian, I must remind you for what is the hundredth—or is it the thousandth?—time, not to bite your nails.”
Just when the reader’s eyes are about to glaze over, Vidal brings us back to Julian’s ragged fingernails. Vidal had a front-row seat in the world’s best classroom for learning sleight-of-hand: The power corridors of Washington. He can teach us a thing or two about misdirection.
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images public domain.
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| About the Book |
Two armies. One flag. No honor.
The most shocking day in American history.
Former political journalist Glen Craney brings to life the little-known story of the Bonus March of 1932, which culminates in a bloody clash between homeless World War I veterans and U.S. Army regulars on the streets of Washington, D.C.
Mired in the Great Depression and on the brink of revolution, the nation holds its collective breath as a rail-riding hobo named Walter Waters leads 40,000 destitute men and their families to the steps of the U.S. Capitol on a desperate quest for economic justice.
This timely epic evokes the historical novels of Jeff Sharra as it sweeps across three decades following eight Americans who survive the fighting in France and come together fourteen years later to determine the fate of a country threatened by communism and fascism.
From the Boxer Rebellion in China to the Plain of West Point, from the persecution of conscientious objectors to the horrors of the Marne, from the Hoovervilles of the heartland to the pitiful Anacostia encampment, here is an unforgettable portrayal of the political intrigue and government betrayal that ignited the only violent conflict between two American armies.
Awards:
Foreword Magazine Book-of-the-Year Finalist
Chaucer Award Book-of-the-Year Finalist
indieBRAG Medallion Honoree
Praise for The Yanks are Starving:
"[A] wonderful source of historical fact wrapped in a compelling novel." -- Historical Novel Society Reviews
"[A] vivid picture of not only men being deprived of their veterans' rights, but of their human rights as well.…Craney performs a valuable service by chronicling it in this admirable book." — Military Writers Society of America
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About the Author
Glen Craney is an author, screenwriter, journalist, and lawyer. A graduate of Indiana University Law School and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, he is the recipient of the Nicholl Fellowship Prize from the Academy of Motion Pictures and the Chaucer and Laramie First-Place Awards for historical fiction. He is also a four-time indieBRAG Medallion winner, a Military Writers Society of America Gold Medalist, a four-time Foreword Magazine Book-of-the-Year Award Finalist, and an Historical Novel Society Reviews Editor's Choice honoree. He lives in Malibu and has served as the president of the Southern California Chapter of the HNS.
Social Media Links:
Website: www.glencraney.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/glencraney
Facebook: www.facebook.com/GlenCraneyAuthor
Amazon Author Page:
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Thanks for hosting me, Helen!
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My pleasure
DeleteThank you for hosting Glen Craney today, Helen. xx
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