Will Shetterly's Dogland is a remarkable evocation of a time long past, when the color of a person's skin constrained his every movement, and when America was awakening to a new, more generous spirit. Set in Florida in the late 1950s during the birth of the American Civil Rights Movement, it is the story of a Yankee family who comes to Latchahie County to open a tourist attraction, Dogland. Against this backdrop Shetterly spins a tale of American magic realism like none other, a tale of magical childhood innocence and its slow recognition of adulthood's harsh reality.

"What a joy to find an honest-to-goodness novel these days in the sea of postmodern pap posing as fiction.... Shetterly writes beautifully.... Through Shetterly's graceful prose, the Nix family and their clan at Dogland positively breathe". -- St. Petersburg Times

Florida in 1959 is an intolerant place, one where black men are paid less than whites, and schools and bathrooms are segregated by race. Luke Nix is determined to live by his own rules, not any imposed upon him by a bunch of racist bullies; but there are plenty of influential white men who want to keep things the way they are -- men in white sheets who will go to any lengths to preserve the county's hatred.

Through the eyes of Luke Nix's son, we see the struggle between hatred and tolerance, the battle between good and evil, and find ourselves looking into our own hearts to decide who has won. Dogland makes us reconsider who we are and the world welive in, and in the process, imparts to us a little bit of the magic of everyday life. This is an extraordinary evocation of the bitter tears and hard-won victories that make people who they are -- and change them for the better.