Raised in the steamy bayous of New Orleans in the early 1900s, Leroi ‘King’ Tremain is caught up in his family’s ongoing feud with the rival Dumont family, and learns how to fight the hard way. But when the teenage King mistakenly kills two white deputies during a botched raid on the DuMonts, the Tremains’ fear of reprisal forces King to flee Louisiana. King thus embarks on an adventure that first takes him to France, where he fights in World War I as a member of the segregated 369th Battallion - in the bigoted army he finds himself locked in combat with American soldiers as well as with the enemy. When he returns to America, he battles the Mob in Jazz Age Hariem, the Ku Klux Klan in Louisiana, and crooked politicians trying to destroy a black township in Oklahoma. Driven by two principal forces, King wants to be treated with respect, and he wants to create a family dynasty much like the one he left behind in Louisiana. STANDING AT THE SCRATCH LINE is a stunning debut by novelist Guy Johnson and includes an in-depth interview with the author.