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American Sky
An atmospheric and dramatic novel set in mid-century Montana by the acclaimed author of Six Days of the Condor.
"Grady's style is loose, colorful, challenging and fun. I sometimes thought of Orwell’s novel 1984, sometimes of the Dylan song 'Desolation Row.'"—Patrick Anderson, The Washington Post
For the teenaged Luc, his days are preoccupied with the daily dramas of high school. President John F. Kennedy's assassination seems a world away. But the winds of history find its way to his small Montana town as marijuana clouds rise in the hallways and the notices of neighborhood young men of "Killed in Action" in Vietnam keep arriving at an increasing rate.
Acclaimed novelist James Grady's American Sky brings to life the world of a young man who is caught in the nexus of vast social change. From blue collar life in the heartland to Kent State and the Civil Rights movement, American Sky is a sweeping narrative that builds to a crime that threatens to tear Luc's world apart. Previous compared to Larry McMurty, George Orwell, Harper Lee and Bob Dylan, James Grady explores Bruce Springsteen's generation and has crafted a action filled and timeless destined to become a classic.
"Grady's style is loose, colorful, challenging and fun. I sometimes thought of Orwell’s novel 1984, sometimes of the Dylan song 'Desolation Row.'"—Patrick Anderson, The Washington Post
For the teenaged Luc, his days are preoccupied with the daily dramas of high school. President John F. Kennedy's assassination seems a world away. But the winds of history find its way to his small Montana town as marijuana clouds rise in the hallways and the notices of neighborhood young men of "Killed in Action" in Vietnam keep arriving at an increasing rate.
Acclaimed novelist James Grady's American Sky brings to life the world of a young man who is caught in the nexus of vast social change. From blue collar life in the heartland to Kent State and the Civil Rights movement, American Sky is a sweeping narrative that builds to a crime that threatens to tear Luc's world apart. Previous compared to Larry McMurty, George Orwell, Harper Lee and Bob Dylan, James Grady explores Bruce Springsteen's generation and has crafted a action filled and timeless destined to become a classic.
496 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2025
21 people are currently reading
153 people want to read
About the author
James Grady
91 books195 followersJames Grady is a longtime author of thrillers, police procedural and espionage novels. He graduated from the University of Montana School of Journalism in 1974. During college, he worked for United States Senator Lee Metcalf of Montana as an staff member.
From 1974 - 1978 he was an investigative journalist for the famous muckraker Jack Anderson. Best known as the author of Six Days of the Condor , which was adapted to film as Three Days of the Condor starring Robert Redford in 1975.
James Grady has gone on to write almost a dozen more novels in the thirty-eight years since Six Days of the Condor was published.
In the past James Grady has written under the pseudonyms of James Dalton and Brit Shelby.
From 1974 - 1978 he was an investigative journalist for the famous muckraker Jack Anderson. Best known as the author of Six Days of the Condor , which was adapted to film as Three Days of the Condor starring Robert Redford in 1975.
James Grady has gone on to write almost a dozen more novels in the thirty-eight years since Six Days of the Condor was published.
In the past James Grady has written under the pseudonyms of James Dalton and Brit Shelby.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 4, 2025
Thank you Booksparks, author James Grady, and Pegasus Books for the gifted book as part of the Summer Reading Challenge 2025.
American Sky follows Luc, a small town Montana teen, through his high school and college years. In that brief time, Luc and the country witness sweeping changes across America. From the JFK assassination, to the moon landing, the Viet Nam War, to Kent State, to the Summer of Love.
Luc is a great main character. He’s kind of nerdy. He’s not an athlete, but rides the bench for the football team just to prove to himself and others that he’s tough enough. He’s smart, polite, and friendly. His life revolves around school, after school and summer jobs, his friends, and girls. He’s a kid trying to make sense of a quickly changing world and his place in it.
Grady’s storytelling is powerful and his writing really conveys the frantic feeling of teenage years. The chapters are short. The sentences are even shorter often jumping from an inner thought to spoken dialogue. It gives off big teen energy of trying to think of the right thing to say or do before just blurting something out or making the wrong move. The setting is small town America all the way. Everybody knows everyone’s business, things happen, and certain things never get talked about. And Luc is just trying to figure it all out.
Pick this one up for:
☮️ a sweeping coming of age story
☮️ a very well written and likable main character
☮️ the turbulent time period of the 1960s
☮️ a book that perfectly captures a unique moment in time in a country that’s facing uncertain ltimes, the horrors or war, changing social norms, and yet somehow still clings to optimism
☮️ a story about growing up and getting out
American Sky follows Luc, a small town Montana teen, through his high school and college years. In that brief time, Luc and the country witness sweeping changes across America. From the JFK assassination, to the moon landing, the Viet Nam War, to Kent State, to the Summer of Love.
Luc is a great main character. He’s kind of nerdy. He’s not an athlete, but rides the bench for the football team just to prove to himself and others that he’s tough enough. He’s smart, polite, and friendly. His life revolves around school, after school and summer jobs, his friends, and girls. He’s a kid trying to make sense of a quickly changing world and his place in it.
Grady’s storytelling is powerful and his writing really conveys the frantic feeling of teenage years. The chapters are short. The sentences are even shorter often jumping from an inner thought to spoken dialogue. It gives off big teen energy of trying to think of the right thing to say or do before just blurting something out or making the wrong move. The setting is small town America all the way. Everybody knows everyone’s business, things happen, and certain things never get talked about. And Luc is just trying to figure it all out.
Pick this one up for:
☮️ a sweeping coming of age story
☮️ a very well written and likable main character
☮️ the turbulent time period of the 1960s
☮️ a book that perfectly captures a unique moment in time in a country that’s facing uncertain ltimes, the horrors or war, changing social norms, and yet somehow still clings to optimism
☮️ a story about growing up and getting out
July 7, 2025
This is a long, but satisfying, historical coming-of-age story that dives deep into the character of one teenage boy. He lives through a time of immense societal upheaval and change, and I appreciated the depth of the historical accuracy. It made for such an immersive reading experience. Thank you Booksparks for the gifted copy and including me in the Summer Reading Challenge.
June 29, 2025
Thank you Pegasus Books @pegasus_books and James Grady for this free book!
“American Sky” by James Grady ⭐️⭐️⭐️Genre: Coming of Age. Location: Montana, USA. Time: 1960s
Teenager Lucas (Luc) is immersed in the daily dramas of high school, and President Kennedy’s assassination seems a world away. But the world is coming to Luc: marijuana in the school hallway, notices of young men killed in action in Vietnam. Author Grady has written a portrait of a young man caught up in a nation’s social revolution, but the lot and subjects are overwhelmed by period detail. His characterizations and specific detail (rules around dancing, prices of items, smoking and alcohol ads, direct dial telephones, Life Magazine covers ) read like someone transferred pages out of period newspapers and magazines. I grew up during the years described in this book, so of course I appreciate some nostalgia for my teen years-but there are just so many random details surrounding the plot and characters!
His plot subjects range from school crushes, tyrannical school principals, family ties, to love, war, injustice, and sweeping social change. The chapters are short, full of nostalgia for nuclear families, women’s roles, school rules-and most poignantly, lost innocence for Luc, for a whole generation, for the country and world. It’s ambitious, expansive, and overwhelmed by detail. It’s 3 stars from me for the timely reminder that what we fought so hard to achieve back then is no longer safe. And a reminder that the “good old days” were not so good for everyone.📚👩🏼🦳#americansky
“American Sky” by James Grady ⭐️⭐️⭐️Genre: Coming of Age. Location: Montana, USA. Time: 1960s
Teenager Lucas (Luc) is immersed in the daily dramas of high school, and President Kennedy’s assassination seems a world away. But the world is coming to Luc: marijuana in the school hallway, notices of young men killed in action in Vietnam. Author Grady has written a portrait of a young man caught up in a nation’s social revolution, but the lot and subjects are overwhelmed by period detail. His characterizations and specific detail (rules around dancing, prices of items, smoking and alcohol ads, direct dial telephones, Life Magazine covers ) read like someone transferred pages out of period newspapers and magazines. I grew up during the years described in this book, so of course I appreciate some nostalgia for my teen years-but there are just so many random details surrounding the plot and characters!
His plot subjects range from school crushes, tyrannical school principals, family ties, to love, war, injustice, and sweeping social change. The chapters are short, full of nostalgia for nuclear families, women’s roles, school rules-and most poignantly, lost innocence for Luc, for a whole generation, for the country and world. It’s ambitious, expansive, and overwhelmed by detail. It’s 3 stars from me for the timely reminder that what we fought so hard to achieve back then is no longer safe. And a reminder that the “good old days” were not so good for everyone.📚👩🏼🦳#americansky
July 4, 2025
Thank you to Booksparks for the copy of American Sky. Here are my thoughts!
In American Sky, we see a coming-of-age story of Luc. We get to witness his life through high school and university in the 1960s. The reader gets to witness notes on the war in Vietnam, JFK’s assassination, the civil rights movement and the huge shift in music and art, all through Luc’s lens.
I didn’t know very much about the 1960s in the US and I feel I learned a lot reading this. I love when a book teaches you things, and the historical fiction genre is fantastic for it. I love the blend of real-life moments, with fictional characters and storylines. Luc and all his family, classmates and acquaintances all felt like real people. It was very impressive. I also loved the way that the war in Vietnam was kind of a side character, painting a picture in the background showing how much it impacted every day life.
There are some challenging parts to read, especially in the areas surrounding civil rights and women’s rights, but I felt the author added a deliberate care to these sections. This novel isn’t a quick read. It is detailed and fully fleshed out, at almost 500 pages. This allowed me to be fully immersed in the pages and like I was there. It’s also much more character focused than plot, which some people love.
This is my first James Grady novel, and he certainly has a beautiful eye for detail which allows the reader to really sink into the book!
In American Sky, we see a coming-of-age story of Luc. We get to witness his life through high school and university in the 1960s. The reader gets to witness notes on the war in Vietnam, JFK’s assassination, the civil rights movement and the huge shift in music and art, all through Luc’s lens.
I didn’t know very much about the 1960s in the US and I feel I learned a lot reading this. I love when a book teaches you things, and the historical fiction genre is fantastic for it. I love the blend of real-life moments, with fictional characters and storylines. Luc and all his family, classmates and acquaintances all felt like real people. It was very impressive. I also loved the way that the war in Vietnam was kind of a side character, painting a picture in the background showing how much it impacted every day life.
There are some challenging parts to read, especially in the areas surrounding civil rights and women’s rights, but I felt the author added a deliberate care to these sections. This novel isn’t a quick read. It is detailed and fully fleshed out, at almost 500 pages. This allowed me to be fully immersed in the pages and like I was there. It’s also much more character focused than plot, which some people love.
This is my first James Grady novel, and he certainly has a beautiful eye for detail which allows the reader to really sink into the book!
July 8, 2025
American Sky by James Grady is definitely for fans of literary fiction. It reminds me of serval works by the following writers: Mark Twain, Jane Austen, Kristin Hannah, Scott Fitzgerald, and John Steinbeck. James Grady writes like these world-known writers in a way where he perfectly captures the time periods and human nature just like they were. Pieces of history come alive in this novel that it’s surreal.
The main character, Luc, is growing up in a world full of changes. A lot of changes are happening during this book. It is interesting to follow Luc as these occur and how he grows/adapts to these changes. Uncertainty of the future hung on every page highlighting the coming of age, war, and the changing world around Luc. I always wondered what life was like during this historical time periods and now, I got a taste of what had been. American Sky is a fascinating tale of a character adjusting and changing to time.
In a way, Luc kind of reminds me of Brian in Gary Paulsen’s novella, Brian’s Return. I loved reading this novel. Takes me back in time and seeing it all with fresh eyes. Overall, well-done. I would highly recommend this to all classic fiction, literary fiction, and historical fiction fans.
I received this copy from the publisher. This is my voluntary review.
The main character, Luc, is growing up in a world full of changes. A lot of changes are happening during this book. It is interesting to follow Luc as these occur and how he grows/adapts to these changes. Uncertainty of the future hung on every page highlighting the coming of age, war, and the changing world around Luc. I always wondered what life was like during this historical time periods and now, I got a taste of what had been. American Sky is a fascinating tale of a character adjusting and changing to time.
In a way, Luc kind of reminds me of Brian in Gary Paulsen’s novella, Brian’s Return. I loved reading this novel. Takes me back in time and seeing it all with fresh eyes. Overall, well-done. I would highly recommend this to all classic fiction, literary fiction, and historical fiction fans.
I received this copy from the publisher. This is my voluntary review.
July 3, 2025
I found this book to be so immersive. I love history and reading this felt like stepping back in time. The way of thinking and culture was so present throughout. I enjoyed following Luc through this book and seeing how he lived and navigated through it all.
The writing is a bit challenging. If you are not familiar with a literary fiction style of writing, I’d say take your time while reading. It can be easy to get lost or confused on what is present and what was a past occurrence as they’re woven together. Absolutely worth it though!
The writing is a bit challenging. If you are not familiar with a literary fiction style of writing, I’d say take your time while reading. It can be easy to get lost or confused on what is present and what was a past occurrence as they’re woven together. Absolutely worth it though!
July 14, 2025
This book dropped me straight into 1960s America-teenage years, high school chaos, and a country on the edge of transformation. American Sky by James Grady follows Luc as his quiet Montana life collides with war, protest, and heartbreak. Grady's writing is bold and poetic, capturing the spirit of a generation coming of age in turbulent times. Powerful, nostalgic, and deeply human.
August 6, 2025
I thought this would have made 4 stars early on but then it fell apart in places. The time frame is familiar as I also lived through the 60s, Vietnam, protests and political turmoil. The coming of age in a difficult era. Small town drama and big time dreams.
October 5, 2025
It took me a bit to adjust to the writing style but once that was in the rear view mirror this book wax a compelling read. You are able to follow the life of Luc and his friends. Great story and very nostalgic for those of us who grew up during this period of history.
July 11, 2025
This book did not work for me. I lived thru those years and some of the stories made me smile. The majority of this hard to finish book was sad. I do not recommend this book.
August 27, 2025
Audiobook: seems most like a coming if age, with all that happened in the US during that period. Would get 3.5, but for the setting being Montana, which is nit often in books i see.
November 8, 2025
this book was so pacific northwest vietnam war era gothic
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews