Inspired by a near-mythic event on the wild Florida frontier at the turn of the twentieth century, Shadow Country re-imagines the legend of the inspired Everglades sugar planter and notorious outlaw E. J. Watson, who drives himself relentlessly toward his own violent end at the hands of neighbors who mostly admired him, in a killing that obsessed his favorite son. Shadow Country transverses strange landscapes inhabited by Americans of every provenance and color, including the black and Indian inheritors of archaic racism that “still casts its shadow over the nation.”
Publishers Weekly, starred review, Pick of the Week...
'Matthiessen’s Watson trilogy is a touchstone of modern American literature…this reworking…is remarkable....Where Watson was a magnificent character before, he comes across as nothing short of iconic here; it’s difficult to find another figure in American literature so thoroughly and convincingly portrayed.'
About the Author
PETER MATTHIESSEN has written eight novels and a book of short stories. His parallel career as a naturalist and environmental activist has produced numerous acclaimed works of nonfiction, most of them serialized in the New Yorker. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1974.
