SOURCE: A review of Theory of War, in Library Journal, Vol. 113, No. 7, April 15, 1993, pp. 124-25.

[In the following review, Silverman lauds Brady for her powerful descriptions of anger and her strong storyline in Theory of War.]

In 1865, a Civil War veteran indentures his four-year-old son to a vicious Kansas tobacco farmer. The boy, who is white and Brady's grandfather, is fictionalized in a remarkably compelling tale [Theory of War] that essentially draws its power from depicting unembellished brutality. Brady's narrative cuts between protagonist Jonathan Carrick's doomed attempts at love and normalcy and those of a son and granddaughter, reminiscing survivors who can only be termed "adult children of slaves." In the 60 years the protagonist's story spans, Johnny, intense and generally enraged, circuits the country, murdering, praying, drinking, and blaspheming, often simultaneously. The characters in this dark tale, cynics every one, alternately ponder the biggest of questions and submit...