How Close Is America To A Second Civil War?
A new novel analyzes how our current bitter political divisions could easily spill into armed conflict—and the horrifying reality of "brother fighting brother."
WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "Hardcore socialist takeover"…"Right Wing Neanderthals"…" Impeach Obama"…"Wall Street…the reigning American crime syndicate."
Bitter and unrestrained politic rhetoric like this hasn't been heard in America for decades—some say not since the turbulent years leading to the attack on Fort Sumter and a conflict that took 620,000 lives. Recession, unemployment, revelations of government surveillance, lies, cover-ups, and bare-knuckle tactics over health care reform have led some Americans to believe it's time to take up arms--echoing Thomas Jefferson's timeless reminder that "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
J. D. Ludwig, a former Army medic, has witnessed the very human tragedy of combat. Better than most, he knows that war is not the glamorous and heroic affair we see on television and in movies, but a terrible juggernaut that--once begun--would leave soldiers, civilians, and our nation itself with deep wounds that could take decades to heal. In his debut novel Overreach: Blood of Patriots, Ludwig takes the anger, fear, and political division we can all see in today's headlines and then "war-games" the horrors that would result if restraint and reason give way to blind extremism on both sides.
- A president, beset by political scandal and convinced of the nation's desperate need for change, takes a desperate gamble—using the military and executive powers of the government to eliminate his opposition and achieve total control.
- As a peaceful demonstration descends into mass murder, a brave senator defies political blackmail and personal disgrace to warn the nation of the coming coup.
- The president plunges the nation into darkness, cutting off power and communications to thwart resistance until he can solidify his control.
- It falls to one man, retired Special Forces Colonel Ty Denham, to take action--desperately hoping that the power of personal honor and a deep devotion to this nation's guiding principles will inspire his countrymen to take up arms and fight for their most basic rights and freedoms.
- The book follows men and women across the country as they choose sides and deal with the chaos and shortages of a shattered infrastructure, and culminates in a accurate portrayal of the best-equipped military forces in the world—Americans all—facing each other in pitched battle where their ancestors fought over a hundred and fifty years ago.
Ludwig comments, "At first, I was reluctant to consider what I've explored in this book, but with all the wild rhetoric and sabre rattling we're hearing from both sides, it seemed to me far better to fight this war in a fictional world—and hope that the reader can grasp the reality of bullets and bloodshed we could be facing in the very near future."
This is not a dry exercise in political theory—the characters are fully drawn individuals with strong beliefs, honest dreams, and inevitable human weaknesses who find themselves thrust into a crisis they neither sought nor desired. The result, as one reviewer called it, is "a gripping tale of courage, sacrifice, and patriotism that explores the unthinkable."
Blood of Patriots is the first novel in the Overreach trilogy, to be followed by Blood of Tyrants, and Tree of Liberty.
Overreach: Blood of Patriots by J. D. Ludwig; Ludwig and Son; Fiction; Soft Cover 978-1494387648 $21.95; eBook 978-0-9911972-0-0 $9.95
Availability: iBookstore, Amazon, Amazon Europe, CreateSpace eStore, eBook for Kindle, Barnes and Noble, Nook by Barnes and Noble, Sony Reader Store, Kobo, Copia, Gardners Books, Baker & Taylor, eBookPie, e Sentral, Scribd, Page Pusher
Author: J. D. Ludwig served in the United States Army from 1976 to 1979. He received combat medic training at Ft. Sam Houston in Texas and was stationed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. After leaving active duty, J. D. enlisted in the Maryland Army National Guard and served as assistant battalion surgeon for the 1st of the 115th Infantry. He and his wife, Sally, an Army nurse who retired as a lieutenant colonel, spent many years working and raising their six children on bases in Hawaii and Texas before settling in rural Maryland where J. D. has worked for more than thirty years in the commercial real estate industry. He has held several international leadership positions, won numerous awards, and is a Trustee Emeritus for a Washington, D.C. graduate school that teaches statecraft, diplomacy, and national security.
SOURCE Novelist J. D. Ludwig
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