Hammer Come Down



Reader Comments


I enjoyed reading HAMMER COME DOWN by Kae Cheatham--another one of her great books. I admired how well organized and beautifully written the book was about life back in 1836. I was touched by a true lasting friendship between Jason (the slave) and Tolin (the master). It's still hard to imagine how terrible the slaves were treated back then. Jason and Tolin lived through tough times but remained steadfast--a powerful message on how to get along. I learned so much more about the ways of doing things back then (even down to small details) through the author's history research and perfection.
I highly recommend the book! --Nan, an Amazon reviewer)



I found the story to be engaging and the writing tight...an enjoyable read. Jason Cobb struggles to understand his place in the uncertainty of new found freedom. His haunting declaration: 'You could have it legal and not be free at all.' In the classic style of Leveen's, The Secrets of Mary Bowser or Leonard's, Only Good Ones, Hammer Come Down: Memoirs of a Freedman is a powerful tale of an epic journey by Jason Cobb: an undertaking that promises a new beginning and an inauspicious future. Kae Cheatham writes eloquently and delivers a top notch story worthy of high praise.--Mike Kearby, author, A Hundred Miles to Water


...What Ms Cheatham has achieved here is a thoroughgoing examination of what freedom means, how freedmen survived in a world brimming with racial hostility, how a former slave could understand and master the complex attitudes and laws of the surrounding world. This is a profound and moving work, that goes deeply into the heart and soul of the slave-holding South, and the not-much-better culture of the North... --Richard S. Wheeler, author of more than 70 historical westerns,
and recipient of the Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Achievement in Western Literature.

Click here to read the entire review at Goodreads.


...Hammer Come Down is a brilliantly written account of the western territories of the United States in those few decades before the Civil War. With realistic dialogue and believable action it tells of the variety of immigrants like African-American Jason and white southern Tolin who try to settle there along with a few nefarious characters and also the Cheyenne, Crow, Creeks and other Native Americans. Jason, his friend Tolin Cobb, the abolitionist Johnston family of Maple Lane, Louisa and her adopted father Oneechee, Jason's adopted orphan Philip and all the other characters are believable. The portrayal of the historical time period is perfect. The plot line is multifaceted and complex as Jason and Tolin make their way out West as well as into their adult years when they decide to live the life they really want. Hammer Come Down is an incredible read that should go on every reader's list of "must reads" today. --Alice DiNizo

Click here to read the entire review atReaders Favorite.
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I was captivated from the first page and stayed interested all through the book. It felt like this author lived a life as a slave seeking and finding freedom. It was refreshing to read that all the slave owners were not abusive and it was possible for a young white boy and his young slave to grow up as best friends even when it was not accepted in public... --Kayo Fraser, on Amazon


A very well written book which I enjoyed very much and recommend to anyone wanting to see freedom working its way out. There is a cost in becoming free. There is a cost in staying free. I so enjoyed in watching the freedom process unfold and the involvement of the different people in the process. Kae Cheatham shows us change is possible from a position held dearly early in life to another later, and that is called growth.... --Merle D. Grenz, on Amazon


...Kae Cheatham has provided an eloquent and beautiful tale replete with believable characters, adventure, romance and accurate history.--John R. Lindermuth, Amazon reviewer


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