The Hunt for Confederate Gold [Paperback]

Thomas Moore (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 19, 2005

A mystery, a thriller, and a love story all in one, The Hunt for Confederate Gold is based on one of America’s most intriguing unanswered questions: what happened to the Confederacy’s gold in 1865? And what might be the consequences if it were recovered today and returned to its rightful owners? And just who are the rightful owners, the U.S. Government, claiming it as contraband of a hundred-and-forty-year-old rebellion; or the Southern people? The Hunt for Confederate Gold is an exciting journey into an unsolved mystery of the past and into the crises of the present. A book of national significance, it strips the veil of falsehood from officialdom and illuminates the threats to our liberty and prosperity from those charged with safeguarding them – our own government. The Hunt for Confederate Gold is written not just about the South, but for the South; not just by a Southerner, but for Southerners. Powerfully and beautifully written, it captures the haunting beauty of the Southland and the ache in Southern hearts to preserve a proud heritage.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Thomas Moore, originally from South Carolina, lives and writes in Alexandria, Virginia. The Hunt for Confederate Gold is his fourth book. Before completing The Hunt for Confederate Gold he wrote a non-fiction narrative, School for Genius: the Story of Switzerland's Federal Technical Institute, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of this world-famous Swiss university. Moore was a leader in Washington's defense and international security community and an expert consultant to the firearms industry. He served two years in the Pentagon during the Reagan Administration and five years in the U.S. Senate, including the Professional Staff of the Senate Armed Services Committee under Chairman Strom Thurmond. From 1995 to 1998 he was director of defense and foreign policy at The Heritage Foundation. Moore is a 1970 graduate of The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina; attended the University of Grenoble, France under a French Government Scholarship, and earned a Master of Arts Degree from Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

Product Details

• Paperback: 318 pages
• Publisher: Fusilier Books, LLC (July 19, 2005)
• ISBN-10: 0976998203
• ISBN-13: 978-0976998204
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,370,555 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From smugness to admiration, September 29, 2005

By 

Marshall Fritz (Fresno, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Hunt for Confederate Gold (Paperback)

The Amazon "book description" is spot on, so this review won't rehash what "Hunt for Confederate Gold" is all about. Instead, I'll try to compare Thomas Moore to what I like in some other mystery writers, then end with something I hope is a little deeper:

Dorothy Sayers' gives us the pleasure of sweet writing with "Lord Peter Whimsy." So does Moore.

John LeCarre gives us complex intrigue and plausible characters. So does Moore.

Alan Furst gives us insights into a difficult period. So does Moore.

Tom Clancy gives us page-turning frenzy with Jack Ryan and his challenges. So does Moore.

Thomas Moore then does more: He presents the "Fellowship of the South" so effectively that one can experience the joy of conventional wisdom being punctured.

I was born and raised Yankee, albeit in California, and in my civil rights activist days in the 60s and 70s, enjoyed the smugness of looking down on Southerners. But I experienced Southerners personally in the 80s and 90s and lost my Yankee hubris.

While we need no Jim Crow, moderation with Jim Beam, we need bushels of Jim Honor, Jim Loyalty, and Jim Truth. Southerners have something good for all Americans. Tom Moore can help you find it.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Southern Sentiments!, October 1, 2005

By 

Robert C. Cheeks "IC BkRevEditor" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Hunt for Confederate Gold (Paperback)

Tom Moore's "The Hunt for Confederate Gold" is a page turning adventure story that will keep the reader up late into the evening.
Moore's novel is layered and nuanced. He presents characters with character, the old fashioned kind; men with chests who stand for something beyond their own narcissistic pleasure. And, he places these contemporary heroes against modernity's most powerful entity; the "empire of the state."
The author's nimble characterzations, his facile ability to describe the hinterlands of South Carolina, and his philosophical understanding that our society is fast approaching a dark and terrifying age are the necessary ingredients for an imaginative rendering of a very plausible and well executed novel. First rate!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A spellbinding novel, November 14, 2005

By 

Michael Hill "Alasdair MacColla" (Killen, Ala. CSA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Hunt for Confederate Gold (Paperback)

Thomas Moore's new novel, The Hunt For Confederate Gold, is, in a word, spellbinding. Set both in the waning days of the War to Prevent Southern Independence and the present, the book presents well-developed characters who are truly believable.

Moore focuses in large part on the trials of University of South Carolina history professor Parker T. Hastie, who is framed and imprisoned by the Feds (with the help of his university) for his membership in The Fellowship of the South, a modern-day secession movement (could there really be such an organization? Think I'll give [...] a try, just in case). The other main character is graduate student George Trenholm "Bo" Bolitho, a descendant of George Alfred Trenholm, Confederate Secretary of the Treasury, who finds a code in the old family Bible that shows the location of the buried Confederate gold.

Moore sets up the gripping scenario involving Hastie, Bolitho, and their compatriots by interspersing into the novel the story of the transfer of the Confederate treasury from Richmond as the Yankees overtake the city. Switching back and forth between 1865 and the present is indeed one of the strengths of Moore's work. Our ancestors who hid the gold hoped that at some future time it might be used to continue the quest for Southern independence. The greatest fear of the Feds and the Empire is that the Fellowship will find the gold and use it successfully for that purpose. Their fear causes them to reveal themselves as tryants. Moore captures the chicanery and duplicity of the Feds with great accuracy.

Once Parker Hastie is in federal custody on bogus charges of "terrorism" under the USA Patriot Act, Bolitho's quest to break the code and find the gold brings the young student into the ambit of The Fellowship, which hopes to find the treasure before the Feds and use it not only to mount a defense of Hastie but for the real reason it was hidden in the first place-to finance the South's bid for independence.

Not wanting to give away the details of the plot, I will simply say that Moore has written a novel that ought to inspire every patriotic Southerner and all who love liberty and hate tyranny.

I recommend you buy it today. But here's a helpful hint--don't expect to be able to put it down until you're finished.