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The Green Corn
Based on actual events in the summer of 1917 when the Green Corn Rebellion shook Oklahoma, The Green Corn follows Abe Baxter and his family into potentially deadly conflict with Seminole County Sheriff Floyd Jackson, a man they generally like and admire.
On a farm near Sasakwa, Abe and Lila Baxter proudly work their own land, managing to meet their mortgage payments, so far anyway. But when the country enters a war President Wilson had promised to keep them out of, kitchen table talk turns to anger and, for some, rebellion.
Baxter’s son Ike, fed up with social and economic inequality, the war, and especially the draft, joins the growing resistance. He cajoles his reluctant father into joining him in the secretive Working Class Union. Abe has his grievances, of course, but mostly he goes along to protect his son, not only from the authorities and the war, but also from their fellow dissidents.
When the W.C.U. leaders call the rebels to battle, father and son pick up their hunting rifles and go. They leave Lila to manage the farm alone —ignoring her protests—without her consent.
Meanwhile in Wewoka, Sheriff Jackson labors to keep his constituents’ dissatisfaction from escalating into bloodshed. His is a thankless task; every outburst he manages to quell, two more flare up.
Though most of the characters in this story are imagined, the unrest, the W.C.U., and The Green Corn Rebellion happened. The tone, if not every detail, of the government response is real.
On a farm near Sasakwa, Abe and Lila Baxter proudly work their own land, managing to meet their mortgage payments, so far anyway. But when the country enters a war President Wilson had promised to keep them out of, kitchen table talk turns to anger and, for some, rebellion.
Baxter’s son Ike, fed up with social and economic inequality, the war, and especially the draft, joins the growing resistance. He cajoles his reluctant father into joining him in the secretive Working Class Union. Abe has his grievances, of course, but mostly he goes along to protect his son, not only from the authorities and the war, but also from their fellow dissidents.
When the W.C.U. leaders call the rebels to battle, father and son pick up their hunting rifles and go. They leave Lila to manage the farm alone —ignoring her protests—without her consent.
Meanwhile in Wewoka, Sheriff Jackson labors to keep his constituents’ dissatisfaction from escalating into bloodshed. His is a thankless task; every outburst he manages to quell, two more flare up.
Though most of the characters in this story are imagined, the unrest, the W.C.U., and The Green Corn Rebellion happened. The tone, if not every detail, of the government response is real.
339 pages, Paperback
Published July 8, 2024
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