How to Dodge a Cannonball

A New York Times Notable Book

A cutting, revealing caricature of the American Civil War, told through the story of a white teenager who joins an all-Black regiment of soldiers, for fans of Colson Whitehead and James McBride.

How to Dodge a Cannonball is a razor-sharp and bitterly hilarious Civil War satire about American racism. It tells the story of a friendless, fatherless, and guileless white teenager named Anders who volunteers for the Union army as a flag-twirler to escape his abusive mother. In desperate acts of self-preservation, he defects—twice—before joining a Black regiment at Gettysburg, claiming to be an octoroon.

In his new and entirely incredulous regiment, Anders becomes entangled with questionable military men and an arms dealer working for both sides. But more importantly he forms an awkward bond with the other men in the regiment, finding a family he desperately needs and gaining an intimate understanding of the lives of Black people. After deploying to New York City to suppress the draft riots and to Nevada to suppress Native Americans, Anders begins to see the war through the eyes of his newfound brothers, comprehending it not so much as a fight for Black liberation but as a negotiation among white people over which kinds of oppression will be acceptable in the re-United States.

Uproariously funny and revelatory, How To Dodge a Cannonball is an insightful take on which America is worth fighting for.