In the third bloody year of Civil War, the North imposes a military draft that sparks the most destructive riot in American history. Peter Quinn’s characters are drawn from across New York City’s classes and races. Their fates coalesce in the cataclysm of the Draft Riots.

Named one of the top twenty books every Irish American should read by Irish Central

The Civil War has just entered its third bloody year, and the North is about to impose its first military draft, a decision that will spark the most devastating and destructive urban riot in American history. Banished Children of Eve traces that event as its tentacles grip New York City. The cast is drawn from every stratum: a likeable and laconic Irish-American hustler, an ambitious and larcenous Yankee stockbroker, an immigrant serving girl, a beautiful and mysterious mulatto actress and her white minstrel lover as well as a cluster of real-life characters, including scheming, ever-pompous General George McClellan; fiery, fierce Archbishop “Dagger John” Hughes; and fast-declining musical genius Stephen Foster. The fates of these characters coalesce in the cataclysm of the Draft Riots, as a pivotal period in the history of New York and the nation is painfully, vividly, magically bought to life.

Peter Quinn is a novelist, political historian, and foremost chronicler of New York City. He is the author of Banished Children of Eve, American Book Award winner; Looking for Jimmy: In Search of Irish America; and a trilogy of historical detective novels—Hour of the Cat, The Man Who Never Returned, and Dry Bones.