Woodrell, Daniel Zum Leben verdammt. Roman

1861, on the border between Missouri and Kansas. During the American Civil War, young Jake Roedel joins a group of irregulars who fight on the side of the Confederates and spread fear and terror across the country. Time and again, they planned attacks on Union troops and civilians loyal to the Union. Because Roedel is of German descent, the other rebels treat him with suspicion, but he proves to be a merciless fighter and loyal comrade. However, the war drags on and the irregulars increasingly behave like common thieves rather than freedom fighters. Roedel begins to doubt whether he should follow the path his comrades have taken to the end, and yet he bravely bears every blow of fate.

But then, together with the former slave Holt, he becomes embroiled in an adventure that exceeds his worst fears. The Confederate irregulars ride against an unarmed town with several hundred men to carry out a brutal retaliation - Daniel Woodrell opens a dark, little-known chapter of the American past and tells a gripping story of friendship and loss, revenge and blind violence. A great novel, finally available again in a new translation. The book was made into a film under the title "Ride with the Devil".