خرید و دانلود نسخه کامل کتاب انگلیسی How to Dodge a Cannonball 2025

How to Dodge a Cannonball, by Dennard Dayle, is a razor‑sharp satirical novel set during the American Civil War. The story follows Anders, a morally naive white teenager who enlists first in the Union Army as a flag‑twirler, then defects to the Confederacy, only to end up back with the Union in an all‑Black regiment by posing as an octoroon. Along the way Anders encounters a motley crew including Tobias Gleason, a speculative‑theater playwright, and Patricia, a teen girl disguised as a boy soldier. Dennard Dayle deftly uses comedy, absurd situations, and shifting identities to explore themes of race, loyalty, and the nature of freedom in a war‑torn America.

In this first novel, Dennard Dayle begins with broad satire and gradually channels into speculative historical fiction, especially in the last quarter, when the narrative takes on dreamlike, alternate‑history overtones. Anders’s idealistic flag‑twirling gives way to disillusionment as he witnesses draft riots in New York and campaigns on the western frontier in Nevada. Throughout, Dennard Dayle interrogates whether the American ideals of freedom, dignity, and art can survive amidst racial violence and existential chaos, making the novel both uproariously funny and deeply thoughtful.