Play For A Kingdom

• Casey Award 1998, Best Baseball Book of the Year
• Library Journal’s Top Five First Novels of 1998
• Barnes & Noble Discovery Program

May, 1864. In a moment of quiet during the endgame between Grant and Lee, a Union and a Confederate company meet—not entirely by accident. The Union soldiers are part of the 14th Brooklyn, a motley company born of Irish, English, and German stock, all of them ragged and worn from the Battle of the Wilderness. Left behind on picket duty to guard their army’s flank, the soldiers decide to relax with a baseball and bat, when, as if by magic, a company of Alabama infantry appears from the woods. These ordinary soldiers determine to play baseball with the enemy, perhaps for diversion, perhaps to remind themselves that they are still human. In the ensuing days, Brooklyn meets Alabama four more times on the playing field, even as they and their armies collide in the horror now known as Spotsylvania. As every game and every skirmish bring them closer to either court-martial or a violent and anonymous end, what began as a game turns into a business as serious as death and dishonor. Friends become enemies and enemies friends, and each soldier realizes the price and the prize that betrayal offers.

PRAISE & REVIEWS

“Innovative and original…Admirably wrought.”
–Washington Post Book World

“Imaginative and suspenseful.”
–Parade

“A beautifully written exploration of fellowship that transcends political division and war.”
–Philadelphia Inquirer

“Wonderfully conceived and eloquently executed…Story, character, and research have received equal effort—and together they achieve truly captivating results.”
–Caleb Carr, author of The Alienist

Designed by Will Amato.