Prairie Ashes

Winner of the 2023 Buffalo Books Prize from American Buffalo Books/Kansas State University

A chapter about the research and theory behind Prairie Ashes is included in the edited collection Methods of Knowing: Historical Research, Creative Writing, and the Past (Routledge, 2023).

Ben Nadler's latest novel, Prairie Ashes, follows Barbara—a Midwestern punk living on the West Coast in the 1980s. In the Tenderloin district of San Francisco, she reconnects with her estranged Uncle Larry, a man inextricably tied to the Nickell family, working-class miners who served on the front lines during the Illinois Mine War of the early 20th century. Inspired by Larry, Barb begins documenting the historical conflicts of the mine war, World War II, Vietnam, and American labor-union strikes throughout the 20th century. 

Barb's investigation becomes a collage of pieced-together fragments. Through fictional journal entries, newspaper articles, transcribed audio recordings, pamphlets, and even a character's own fiction, Prairie Ashes scrutinizes the social and racial injustice that sparked the Illinois Mine War along with more than a century of American conflicts. This novel-and Barb's investigation-probes the impact war, labor strife, and capitalism have on individuals and families, often for generations. A tragic tale with a reverence for history, for truth, and for new possibility, Prairie Ashes invites readers to ponder: Does a war really end, even when it's over? Is the idea of something better enough to fight for, even if it eludes our grasp? How do we measure the worth of a soul compared to a piece of coal?

"Prairie Ashes, with overlapping currents of race, religion, labor, and place, is easily among the finest novels to be published in America this decade."

Aashish Kaul, author of Bliss Mountain

"Ben Nadler’s gorgeous new novel, Prairie Ashes, is a brilliant piece of historical fiction that stands right alongside the best work of E.L. Doctorow, John Sayles, and Aleksander Hemon."

Edward Schwarzschild, author of In Security

"With its 1980s punk female protagonist as the master of ceremonies, Prairie Ashes successfully combines Gonzo journalism with historical fiction to produce a moving elegy of the casualties of the Illinois Mine War of the 1930s."

Keith Gandal, author of Firsthand