Monumental Decisions

Book excerpt: Monumental Decisions is a fictional narrative based on factual events from American history. Beginning in the final days of the American Civil War, the drama chronicles the lives of two Southern American families and their descendants. One is a product of early European migration, and the other is rooted in slavery. Throughout the narrative, the characters are forced to encounter prevailing attitudes, beliefs, and prejudices, as well as the evolution of the American family. As time passes, issues that fueled the Civil War come back to haunt the two families. Confederate monuments built for public spaces remain a constant reminder of the conflict that divided the country. Events that occur in the lives of the characters and the decisions they make in their wake begin to threaten their very survival. Well over a century after the end of the Civil War, the controversy over the display of Confederate monuments among the general public escalates into violence and even murder.