Blood in the Promised Land

by Eliot Sefrin

It is 1943, and World War II rages on battlefields across the globe. But in America, another bloody, divisive battle rages as stepped-up wartime production lures legions of poor blacks from the rural South to defense jobs in the North-to a so-called "promised land" of opportunity. The wartime migration has a profound impact, transforming America's cities into both "arsenals for democracy" and cauldrons of racial conflict. Set against this conflicted backdrop, two men embark on separate journeys to begin a new chapter in their lives. Roosevelt Turner is a poor black migrant who flees the Jim Crow South to work in Pittsburgh's bustling steel mills. Jacob Perlman is a Jewish physician forced to escape Nazi-occupied Europe. As each seeks to escape his harrowing past and rebuild his life in a country struggling to fulfill its own promise, their paths unwittingly cross during a violent racial conflict. In an instant, their destinies are reshaped forever. As Roosevelt and Jacob are thrust into the crucible of the civil rights movement, they courageously join forces in an effort to crush a terrorist hate group and exorcise the ghosts from their pasts.

328 pages, Hardcover

First published September 14, 2011

Reviews

[Ivy Pittman-Outen · Rating 5 out of 5]

For three years this book sat on my bookcase. Now that I am preparing for a major move I have started to weed through books I have not read and will probably not read, thus adding them to the give-away pile. But Blood in the Promised Land was one I vowed to read one day. I am glad that it was a few days ago. It hooked me in a sad, yet hopeful kind of way. Truth, pain, compassion are just few of the emotions I felt as I read it. Roosevelt Turner and Jacob Perlman will stay with me for a long time.

[Jeffrey Spitz Cohan]

Pittsburgh content.

[Teresa Stainback · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading this book! The struggles these men had that ultimately brought them together was so moving to me that throughout reading I had feelings of pain, deep sorrow, and at the same time hopefulness. I loved the way the author built the story of each man chapter by chapter, alternating between them. I think anyone who reads this book will come away with a deeper understanding of human nature and resilience.