“From its beginning, America has confronted the question, ‘How much do Black lives matter?’ During slavery, Black lives were measured by their economic value, but after slavery Black lives lost much of their monetary and social value . . . A novel can connect the past with the present . . . D. László Conhaim’s novels pursue social and racial concerns woven into the traditional Western. In The Unredeemed, redeemer Scott Renald struggles with whether he should seek to rescue a little Black girl when the larger society does not care . . . Conhaim presents a more accurate American West in all of its colors and dimensions with the imagined story unfolding within the context of real people, places and events . . . a story well told.”

 

—Michael N. Searles, scholar of the Black American West, Roundup Magazine, Western Writers of America