Winner of the 2002 River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize

When work took Tracy Daugherty from his family's roots in Oklahoma to the unfamiliar landscape of Oregon, his move mirrored the western migrations of so many earlier Oklahomans devastated and displaced during the Dust Bowl years. Deeply unsettled by the change in his surroundings and shaken by the recent Oklahoma City bombing, Daugherty took the opportunity provided by his own journey to explore the shattering and rebuilding of community in the America of today and yesterday.

Speaking with survivors of the Murrah building bombing, revisiting his roots, and retracing the paths of exile and migration in the American West, Daugherty creates a diverse and heartfelt portrait of America in an uncertain time—its people, its politics, its music, and its poetry—a sobering but ultimately hopeful view of the national community. At heart an exploration, from an intimate vantage point, of the consequences of violence in contemporary America, Five Shades of Shadow will hold special resonance for readers struggling to come to terms with trauma and loss.

Tracy Daugherty is the author of three novels, including What Falls Away and The Boy Orator, and two short story collections. He is a professor of English and director of the program in creative writing at Oregon State University and is a faculty member of the program for writers at Warren Wilson College.