Allegiance

A sophisticated legal thriller that plunges readers into the debate within the US government surrounding the imprisonment of thousands of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

When the news broke about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Caswell “Cash” Harrison was all set to drop out of law school and join the army… until he flunked the physical. Instead, he’s given the opportunity to serve as a clerk to Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black. He and another clerk stumble onto a potentially huge conspiracy aimed at guiding the court’s interests, and the cases dealing with the constitutionality of the prison camps created to detain Japanese-Americans seem to play a key part. Then Cash’s colleague dies under mysterious circumstances, and the young, idealistic lawyer is determined to get at the truth. His investigation will take him from the office of J. Edgar Hoover to an internment camp in California, where he directly confronts the consequences of America’s wartime policies. Kermit Roosevelt combines the momentum of a top-notch legal thriller with a thoughtful examination of one of the worst civil rights violations in US history in this long-awaited follow-up toIn the Shadow of the Law.

“An insider’s view of a world at war, a rogue’s gallery with real-life rogues, an exploration of the limits of American idealism, Kermit Roosevelt’sAllegiance is also just a damn good yarn. It keeps you flipping pages even as it artfully and fruitfully complicates your understanding of the way we were. This is historical fiction as it should be.”
—Louis Bayard, author of The Pale Blue Eye

“Deftly written and carefully observed, Allegiance is an ingenious blend of history and imagination. Roosevelt’s novel vividly portrays a pivotal time in America’s past, luring the reader through a clever plot in which the very fate of the nation’s honor is at stake.”
—Koethi Zan, author of The Never List

“The perfect melding of the times of a young man and the times of a young country, as both struggle to delineate the parameters of justice during war... No one else but the immensely talented Kermit Roosevelt could have writtenAllegiance, and I cannot recommend it more highly.”
—Lisa Scottoline, author of Betrayed and Keep Quiet

“A riveting tale of murder and conspiracy within the highest echelons of government in WW II Washington, D.C.”
—Cordelia Frances Biddle, author of The Conjurer and Deception’s Daughter

Praise for In the Shadow of the Law, Winner of the Athenaeum Literary Award and aChristian Science Monitor Best Book of the Year

“… heralds the arrival of an exciting new voice.”— Publishers Weekly Starred Review

“Roosevelt writes about the law more passionately and entertainingly than anyone since Scott Turow.”
—Time

“A thoroughly gripping debut novel . . . a major breakthrough.”
—Chicago Tribune

“Readable, informed, sophisticated, often devastating . . . [an] astute character study.”
—The Washington Post

“An impressive first novel—with emphasis on both adjectives . . . I recommend this novel with real enthusiasm.”
—Alan M. Dershowitz, The New York Times Book Review

“A shrewd first novel . . . a graceful performance . . . hugely readable.”
—The Philadelphia Inquirer

“This legal thriller combines satisfyingly intricate puzzles with plenty of bite . . . strong characterizations, and insider’s knowledge.”
—The Christian Science Monitor

“Roosevelt has written—and written well—a thoughtful and disturbing legal thriller that is also a meditation on the law itself.”
—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“Fascinating . . . I could not put the book down.”
—The Roanoke Times

“A brilliantly funny, acidly accurate riff . . . coupled with a penetrating moral crit