A Portion Under the Sun

A Portion Under the Sun is about Y. C. Alley and his journey from life as a Tennessee farm boy in 1899, to the world of the New York and Boston music halls, to the heart of the California socialist movement, and finally to Massachusetts where his two wildly dissimilar worlds become one. Along the way from Memphis, to New York, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco, Alley lives among and learns from some of the most celebrated characters of the day. Challenging him are the conflicting pulls of city versus country and rugged individualism versus communal responsibility in a rapidly changing America—an America as divided as it is today. In addition, everywhere he goes he is under the shadow of being a Southerner in a time when the wounds of the Civil War were still fresh. Surpassing that is his conflict in loving the charming but unstable Sally Booth. Moreover, like many men driven by ambition he makes enemies, and one won't be satisfied with anything less than Alley's life.