The Last Full Measure

March 15, 2016
The Divided We Fall Trilogy series concludes with the United States on the brink of destruction. In Volume 1, 17-year-old Pfc. Daniel Wright accidentally fired a shot that led to armed conflict between the federal government and the conservative state government of Idaho. In Volume 2, the conflict became a civil war. Now, the state of Idaho has morphed into the Republic of Idaho, and the United States has split into several independent countries. Danny Wright feels responsible: "I sparked the Battle of Boise that ignited this whole war." When stolen nuclear warheads are detonated and destroy Washington, D.C., and New York City, the United States as Danny knows it has ended, and the rest of the planet begins to fall apart. Israel threatens the use of nuclear weapons in its conflict, and the forces of the reconstituted Soviet Union are marching across Europe, occupying German cities and threatening Great Britain. It's a projection into the not-too-distant future (the 2020s) of the current divisive nature of politics, the nullification crisis of the 19th century, and the legacies of two world wars that seems all too real...and all too scary. Reedy makes good use of political maps, italicized news reports, and lists of death totals to provide political context for his bleak look at a possible future. An action-packed tale of a future readers will hope never happens. (Thriller. 14 & up)

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