Hallow This Ground

"In this riveting debut collection of lyric essays . . . the author delves deep into the heart of past atrocities while probing the motivations of the living to memorialize, and he comes to some provocative conclusions. . . . Though fixed on what remains of some of history's darkest moments, Rafferty's essays, both gripping and wonderfully reflective, illuminate."

~Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

"Equal parts elegy, tragedy and history, Rafferty traces the distance between regret and remembering, and by doing so, writes his own monument; one that reminds us of what we've lost, and what we don't dare lose again."

~B. J. Hollars, author of This Is Only a Test

"These essays, wondrous in their scope, travel far and wide to deftly inquire something this reader never really considered—what is a monument? The effect of following Colin Rafferty through shipwreck sites, presidential birthplaces, death camps, and into his growing understanding of body, memory, and self, is nothing short of—dare I say it?—monumental."

~Elena Passarello, author of Let Me Clear My Throat

"Colin Rafferty has written about the spaces between before and after, time and place, memory and imagination, fact and story.  He acts as a guide across our land and beyond to show us how we stand before the monument or the memorial to remember what has been forgotten, to imagine what happened, and to separate history from mythology.  These essays reveal how the words "On this site" can never bring back all that happened, but they can resurrect the phantoms that haunt our history, both private and public. Hallow This Ground is a stunning and moving tour through history and memory, loss and love, and ultimately, through the desire to wonder after what's true so we might better know ourselves."

~Jill Talbot, author of The Way We Weren't: A Memoir

"Thoughtful and insightful, Rafferty deftly and playfully weaves cultural and personal narrative into a book that is not just enlightening, but a pure pleasure to read. Colin Rafferty is an excellent guide down the rabbit hole and into this wonderland of physical objects our culture has built to help us remember both disaster and heroism."

~Sheryl St. Germain, author of Navigating Disaster: Sixteen Essays of Love and a Song of Despair