Kin is simply brilliant. Graebner delivers a stunningly original exploration of the complex stories of white and Black people of East Tennessee through Civil War, Reconstruction, and the turn of the 20th century. While he puzzles mysteries of historical memory, and of 'history' itself, he refuses to answer them. He embraces uncertainty: how do we know what we think we know? Kin is the best kind of historical fiction, well situated in the scholarly literature. Graebner packs an emotional punch.--Orville Vernon Burton, author, The Age of Lincoln and Justice Deferred: Race and the Supreme Court