---
product_id: 130560662
title: "A Book of American Martyrs: A Novel Paperback – October 10, 2017"
brand: "joyce carol oates"
price: "$32.36"
currency: USD
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 7
category: "Books"
url: https://www.desertcart.us/products/130560662-a-book-of-american-martyrs-a-novel-paperback-october-10
store_origin: US
region: United States of America
---

# A Book of American Martyrs: A Novel Paperback – October 10, 2017

**Brand:** joyce carol oates
**Price:** $32.36
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

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- **What is this?** A Book of American Martyrs: A Novel Paperback – October 10, 2017 by joyce carol oates
- **How much does it cost?** $32.36 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
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## Description

Review
        	
        	
        		
        		
	        		
						
			        		&#x201C;In this robust, relentless, inquisitive, and astutely balanced novel of social conflict, Oates portrays with unfailing nuance two troubled men on the opposite sides of the ever-fraught abortion-rights debate&#x201D; (Booklist (starred review))&#x201C;The most relevant book of Oates&#x2019;s half-century-long career, a powerful reminder that fiction can be as timely as this morning&#x2019;s tweets but infinitely more illuminating.&#x201D; (Washington Post)&#x201C;Successful because [Oates] refuses to satirize or dehumanize anyone, even murderous foes of abortion...With its wrath and violence, A Book of American Martyrs offers this teaspoon of warmth in these troubled times: that it is possible to be wrong without surrendering your humanity.&#x201D; (Los Angeles Times)&#x201C;Oates&#x2019; American saga captivates because it exists within an actual drama playing out across the country...Martyrs is a graceful and excruciating story of two families who do not live very far apart, but exist in different realities. &#x201D; --USA Today, 4-star review (USA Today)&#x201C;Oates reminds of an uncomfortable truth: The issue of abortion is so divisive and keenly felt precisely because of its messy moral and emotional questions.&#x201D; (New York Times Book Review)
						    	
					    	
						
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        		From the Back Cover
        	
        	
        		
        		
	        		
						
			        		In this striking, enormously affecting novel, Joyce Carol Oates tells the story of two very different and yet intimately linked American families. Luther Dunphy is a zealous evangelical who envisions himself as acting out God&#x2019;s will when he assassinates an abortion provider in his small Ohio town, while Augustus Voorhees, the idealistic but self-regarding doctor who is killed, leaves behind a wife and children scarred and embittered by grief.In her moving, keenly observed portrait, Joyce Carol Oates fully inhabits the perspectives of two interwoven families whose destinies are defined by their warring convictions and squarely&#x2014;but with great empathy&#x2014;confronts an intractable, abiding rift in American society.&#xA0;A Book of American Martyrs is a stunning, timely depiction of an issue hotly debated on a national stage but which makes itself felt most lastingly in communities torn apart by violence and hatred.
						    	
					    	
						
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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Abortion is not the theme of this novel!
        
*by N***W on February 23, 2017*

This novel may be promoted around the idea that the martyrs are those on either “side” of the abortion issue. Some have accused the author of promoting tired stereotypical characters representing these sides.  But from my standpoint, abortion made the perfect “foil” for a powerful examination of family; how families connect, disconnect, re-form and blow apart. Just as there are nuances in the abortion debate (unless you find yourself on one extreme end or the other), so there are nuances in what it means to be in a family. And as this novel so powerfully displays, family may or may not be your birth family, it may or may not be that you were actually a “wanted” child (even though you were not aborted); it may or may not be that the family you are in is the family you eventually choose for yourself or is perhaps chosen for you by circumstance. It may take part of a lifetime to realize who actually comprises your family; your “loved ones”.  Family is a choice. A commitment. A result of all our life decisions. In the end, we have all, in one way or another, chosen our families.I was actually hesitant to read the book because I have been so discouraged by all the polarization arising from the “culture wars” in our society.  But by the end of the novel, I was actually in tears and had to get up and walk around.  The ending was stunning.  If you read the last pages first, your library card should be revoked!
  

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Both sides with insight but without moral equivalency
        
*by E***L on March 1, 2017*

Oates takes us down, down far beneath the surface of a vexing problem and humanizes both sides.  And yet she avoids the trap of justifying the unjustifiable.  An awkward reconciliation at the end provides a ray of light amidst the gloom.  Disturbing in the best way.
  

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Relevant, stunning, emotionally moving
        
*by J***E on September 7, 2017*

This book couldn’t be more relevant as it reveals all the wounds of our country’s abortion issues and illuminates them as only a fine novel can.  Luther Dunphy feels called by God to murder abortion doctor Gus Voorhees, which Dunphy considers to be justifiable homicide.  Oates explores Dunphy’s thoughts leading to the murder, the trials, his imprisonment, and his execution.  She also takes us inside the lives of Luther’s and Gus’s wives and children as they deal with this violent event and its consequences.  In particular we come to know Gus’s daughter, Naomi, and Luther’s daughter, Dawn, as each spends years sorting out their relationship to a father who lived according to his deepest ideals.  Naomi attempts to create an archive of her famous father’s life and Dawn pours her passion into becoming a professional boxer.  This 736-page book felt in no way too long.  I was stunned by its raw look at tragedy and moved to tears by its heart-felt relationship to each character.
  

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*Store origin: US*
*Last updated: 2026-02-14*