New York: William H. Morrow, (1988) dj. Hardcover first edition - Although Lincoln, a professor of religion and culture at Duke University, had written 19 books - most notably his account of the Black Muslims in America - this is his first novel, a book which he spent 30 years working on. Set in Clayton City, a prototypical Southern city, in the years between the first and second World Wars. 288 pp. ISBN: 0-688-077021.