Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | American Excalibur | 2017 | Kevin G. Summers | Buy |
American Excalibur is Kevin G. Summers’ only non-fiction book to date. It tracks a single object, a sword gifted by Frederick the Great to George Washington, through the hands of some of the most consequential figures in American history. The sword eventually came to John Brown, the abolitionist, who wore it during the 1859 raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, which accelerated the nation toward the Civil War.
Summers approaches the material in the tradition of narrative history, using the object as a thread through several distinct eras rather than writing a conventional biography of any one figure. Comparisons have been drawn to Tony Horwitz’s Confederates in the Attic in terms of style and the way Summers moves between historical research and personal observation.
The book is a departure from his speculative fiction but shares his interest in American history and the way the past accumulates meaning over time, themes that also run through The Man Who Shot John Wilkes Booth.