"A cutting, revealing caricature of the American Civil War, told through the story of a white teenager who joins an all-Black regiment of soldiers, for fans of Colson Whitehead and James McBride. How to Dodge a Cannonball is a razor-sharp and bitterly hilarious Civil War satire about American racism. It tells the story of a friendless, fatherless, and guileless white teenager named Anders who volunteers for the Union army as a flag-twirler to escape his abusive mother. In desperate acts of self-preservation, he defects-twice-before joining a Black regiment at Gettysburg, claiming to be an octoroon. In his new and entirely incredulous regiment, Anders becomes entangled with questionable military men and an arms dealer working for both sides. But more importantly he forms an awkward bond with the other men in the regiment, finding a family he desperately needs and gaining an intimate understanding of the lives of Black people. After deploying to New York City to suppress the draft riots and to Nevada to suppress Native Americans, Anders begins to see the war through the eyes of his newfound brothers, comprehending it not so much as a fight for Black liberation but as a negotiation among white people over which kinds of oppression will be acceptable in the re-United States. Uproariously funny and revelatory, How to Dodge a Cannonball is an insightful take on which America is worth fighting for"-- - (Baker & Taylor)

In a satire of the Civil War, an idealistic teen, Anders, stumbles through shifting allegiances, absurd battles and surreal encounters with a Black Union regiment, forcing him to question who gets to shape America and whether it’s worth dying for. - (Baker & Taylor)

A New York Times Editor’s Choice PIck

How to Dodge a Cannonball is a razor-sharp satire that dives into the heart of the Civil War, hilariously questioning the essence of the fight, not just for territory, but for the soul of America.

How to Dodge a Cannonball is funnier than the Civil War should ever be. It follows Anders, a teenage idealist who enlists and reenlists to shape the American Future—as soon as he figures out what that is, who it includes, and why everyone wants him to die for it. Escaping his violently insane mother is a bonus.

Anders finds honor as a proud Union flag twirler—until he’s captured. Then he tries life as a diehard Confederate—until fate asks him to die hard for the Confederacy at Gettysburg. Barely alive, Anders limps into a Black Union regiment in a stolen uniform. While visibly white, he claims to be an octoroon, and they claim to believe him. Only then does his life get truly strange.

His new brothers are even stranger, including a science-fiction playwright, a Haitian double agent, and a former slave feuding with God. Despite his best efforts, Anders starts seeing the war through their eyes, sparking ill-timed questions about who gets to be American or exploit the theater of war. Dennard Dayle’s satire spares no one as doomed charges, draft riots, gleeful arms dealers, and native suppression campaigns test everyone’s definition of loyalty.

Uproariously funny and revelatory, How to Dodge a Cannonball asks if America is worth fighting for. And then answers loudly. Read it while it’s still legal.

Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* Anders is having a rough adolescence, thanks in part to a difficult mother. Then he gets caught up in the Civil War, initially as a Union flag twirler, then as a Confederate, until his comrade's brutal death at Gettysburg, after which he dons a Union uniform and reinvents himself as a biracial recruit. Deployed with a Negro squad, Anders is taken under the wing of Gleason, a wannabe writer who relies on Anders' literacy, a scarce quality, to help create his imponderable works of "speculative dramaturgy." Through battles, skirmishes, forced marches, and creakily improvised theater productions, Anders' many talents come to the fore, including his skill at flag twirling, which can have surprisingly lethal results. As the army advances, he will encounter a white-passing teen cross-dresser, a grandiloquent cynic and arms dealer, and two would-be queens, allegedly descendants of the House of Hanover via assorted dalliances with the Founding Fathers. Yet it's his connection to his Black fellow soldiers that most resonates. Initially a caricature of a white clueless liberal, Anders evolves, gradually recognizing the fundamental evil of slavery and the essential hypocrisy of a war in which "Black men are dying to prove they deserve to live. Dayle's first novel is a sharp satire and rousing picaresque adventure tinged with the melancholy of disillusionment. Copyright 2025 Booklist Reviews.