Wright, Stephen. The amalgamation polka.

WRIGHT, Stephen. The amalgamation polka. Read by Michael Emerson. 10 cds. 11.75 hrs. Recorded Books. 2006. 1-4193-7579-2. $119.75. Vinyl; plot notes. A

His New York, staunchly abolitionist parents named him Liberty and schooled him at home. The childhood life lesson he learned best was to avoid judging people and to abhor slavery. He reached manhood an intelligent but idealistic naif. When the Civil War broke out, he enlisted and then struck out for North Carolina to find his mother's estranged family, prominent slaveholders as zealously committed to the institution as his own folks had been opposed. In this brilliant, wildly over-the-top novel, written in the lush formally eloquent language favored by the 19th-century gentry and peopled with a hilariously grotesque assemblage of hucksters, hooligans, madmen and hypocrites, Wright paints an unsparing portrait of the American psyche.

The novel is episodic and not strictly chronological. Many of the characters make only cameo appearances. The vocabulary is difficult. In an audiobook, all this can cause more than a little initial confusion, but for those who persevere, this novel is to the Civil War era what Catch 22 is to WW II. Emerson, a versatile performer with a facility in accents and dialects, skillfully rolls with the punches. Francine Levitov, New York, NY

A--Recommended for advanced students and adults. This code will help librarians and teachers working in high schools where there are honors and advanced placement students. This also will help extend KLIATT's usefulness in public libraries.