The Ballad of Louis Wagner

The Ballad of Louis Wagner is a riveting account of the notorious murders on the Isles of Shoals in 1873, the ballad's 'narrator' is Louis himself, the man convicted and hung for the crime. The man whose spirit is doomed to relive his transgression by repeatedly telling the tale to listeners whom fate has appointed. This collection by Portsmouth's Poet Laureate includes Sonny's Back, the story of a Vietnam Vet returning home to Old Town, as well as ballads on Henry David Thoreau of Concord, the celebrated Boorn brothers of Manchester, Vermont (they confessed to a murder they never committed), and of Portsmouth's Gerald McLees who survived the sinking of the submarine Squalus in 1939. Each ballad is prefaced with explanatory text and accompanied by a Peter Randall photograph. The book contains a CD of John singing all the ballads and songs.

John Perrault teaches a course in politics and literature at the University of New Hampshire, and American Literature at Southern New Hampshire University.