Joe Zeppetello

These Truths Joe Zeppetello

Suppose that the most famous line of the Declaration of Independence, "All men are created equal," was not actually first written by Thomas Jefferson but was part of a Charter of a French Privateer, Black Caesar, an escaped slave from an island in the Louisiana Territory. Now suppose you are the academic who is helping the person who discovered this fact. In contemporary USA, the news might not be eagerly received by a public that thinks "multicultural" is synonymous with un-American. These Truths shifts back and forth in time, mostly following the trials of Gil Sykes, an English professor whose colleague has found the Charter in the ruins of a villa in Haiti. The resulting furor results in nothing but trouble for the pair as they are punished, especially by their respective institutions, for publishing the truth. While touching on historical issues of slavery, this novel also deals with contemporary issues of race, sexual harassment, intimidation, and conservative political correctness.