54 Miles: A Novel
Agate Bolden, 2024

About the book
In March 1965, young Adam travels from Harlem to his parents’ home state of Alabama to join in the voting rights campaign, only to be brutalized on “Bloody Sunday,” when law enforcement officers attacked unarmed marchers in Selma. Adam is still recovering when he learns a grim family secret that sends him spiraling further into danger. Meanwhile, Adam’s uncle — who has never overcome the trauma of seeing his parents lynched — finds the murderer, feeble and helpless in a rest home, and must grapple with the difficult question of what justice now demands.

This event is presented in partnership with the Delaware Historical Society and Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice (SDARJ).

About the author
Leonard Pitts Jr. is the author of the novels The Last Thing You Surrender, Grant Park, Freeman, and Before I Forget, as well as two works of nonfiction. He was a journalist for more than 40 years, including a long tenure as a nationally syndicated columnist for the Miami Herald, and won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2004.

Purchase the book
Please help support local independent bookstores by purchasing this book at Browseabout Books, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Online sources and digital versions are tempting; however, supporting local brick and mortar shops helps to preserve our vibrant main streets. Drop by Browseabout, order books online, or call the store at 302-226-2665. You also may purchase a copy at biblion in Lewes.

About the Festival
The History Book Festival is the first and only book festival in the United States devoted exclusively to history. With the help of our presenting funding partners — Delaware Humanities, National Endowment for the Humanities, and The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices | PenFed Realty — as well as our program and community partners, volunteers, and donors, the 2024 History Book Festival will be full of great discussions with authors of newly published narrative nonfiction and historical fiction. Our Keynote event is presented by Sally Mott Freeman and John K. Freeman, and our Closing event is presented by Griswold Home Care for Sussex and Kent Counties. Saturday’s Spirited Discussion, our gathering for attendees and presenters to celebrate and discuss their day, is presented by Dogfish Head Beer & Benevolence.

Special thanks to our Founding Program Partners for their continuing support: the Lewes Public Library, for event promotion and production, and Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Thanks also to: the  Lewes Chamber of Commerce for event promotion, and the Cape Gazette and Delmarva Public Media, our media partners.

Additional thanks to our community partners: CAMP Rehoboth, Harriet Tubman Museum and Educational Center,  Historic Lewes Farmers Market, Lewes Historical Society, Rehoboth Art League, Rehoboth Beach Film Society, Seaside Jewish Community, and Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice (SDARJ).