ALL MAN'S LAND

A black man settles an old score in
a small Wyoming town in the early 1900s.

In this historical novel, Conhaim (Comanche
Captive, 2017) draws on various elements of the classic Western—gunfights,
a malicious landowner, a stranger coming to town, and a warmhearted barmaid
with a tough exterior—to tell a story inspired by his longtime fascination with
the singer and activist Paul Robeson. African American traveler Benjamin Neill
is closemouthed about his intentions when he rides into a Wyoming town in 1904,
but he quickly settles down at Sally Murphy’s Sun and Sagebrush Inn. There, he strikes
up a friendship and shares his traveling library with David Cohen, a young Jewish orphan who works at the inn. James
Neill, the town marshal, is away in Cheyenne, where he learns about Benjamin,
who’s skilled at speaking to working-class groups of all races. Later
revelations reveal Benjamin’s desire for revenge, but before a climactic
gunfight, he sings deep-pitched spirituals with Sally, offers advice to David,
and performs an oration to a crowd that turns up to hear him speak: “To many
Negroes he’s known simply as the prophet Benjamin,” one character
explains. Conhaim does a good job of balancing genre tropes with a unique storytelling
style. Benjamin is a compelling, multilayered protagonist who moves beyond his Robeson
inspiration. Although the book grapples with race primarily from white
characters’ perspectives, Benjamin’s voice also comes through clearly (“until
our people can stand in full human dignity as Americans we should not bear
America’s arms”). The prose is vivid and often dramatic, which makes for a
memorable read: “David crashed onto the face of the automatic piano with a
tremendous crescendo in low C, triggering the thing to start playing a familiar
show tune as it rolled backward and struck the wall.”

A well-developed and thoughtful novel
of right and wrong in the Old West.