Once Two Heroes

Calvin Baker burst upon the literary scene at age twenty-three with Naming the New World, a first novel of stunning ambition and tragic grandeur. Now, in his second novel, Baker more than fulfills his early promise of great things to come. Once Two Heroes is the story of black and white America and the aftermath of World War II. Two men go off to serve their country in the war against tyranny and return home heroes: Mather, a black man who grew up in France, and Lewis, from a genteel, old, white Mississippi family. On the battlefield, they fought as equals, each proving himself a man to be reckoned with. But back home in America, Mather and Lewis learn, each in his own way, that what happened in war was no preparation for the brutal violence of peace. Disastrous circumstances-including a murder in Mississippi, a police chase, a desperate bid for freedom-bring these two men face-to-face on a night that changes both of their lives forever.