McSweeney’s

“’That’s what beautiful about the game. Whatever a man do, it open him up to something comin’ back.’” This is the thesis of the first act of Sayles’ fleshy narrative, which follows failed-goldminer-turned-failed-boxer Hosea “Hod” Brackenridge through the latter years of the 1890s—that great period of American decadence, corruption and growth—a period woefully under-treated by literature. Continue reading →