The first and only novel by Anna E. Dickinson (1842-1932), the celebrated nineteenth-century orator, abolitionist, and advocate of racial equality and women's rights, attracted tremendous interest when it first appeared in the fall of 1868, and was enthusiastically endorsed by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Set in the midst of the Civil War, this controversial work traces the tragic history of an interracial marriage, which is doomed to disaster by the intolerance of a Northern society that refuses to accept racial equality. Also lending the story interest are Dickinson's impassioned descriptions of two famous historical incidents--the terrible New York City Draft Riots of July 1863 and the storming of Fort Wagner by the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts, the famed Black infantry regiment. Even more important is the glimpse she provides into the conflicted attitudes of average White Northern citizens toward Blacks after the war. The themes of racial tnesion and justice give WHAT ANSWER? enduring value. This edition of a unique work, long out of print, includes an informative introduction by J. Matthew Gallman, Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era at Gettysburg College.