My Name Is Tom Dorin

"Is it true that everyone has a double?"

Tom Dorin was an idealistic Tennessee farm-boy, forged by bloody carnage into a disillusioned veteran of the Civil War.

More than a century later, Jon Hansen is a graduate student of history. When Jon finds a tintype photograph of Tom, an eerie image that could be his own reflection, he realizes that he has found the perfect subject for his Master's thesis.

As Jon's fascination with his long-ago double transforms from scholarly research into personal obsession, only one question remains:

Why did Tom Dorin hang?

After Jon explores the deserted town where Dorin met his end, the two men wake in one another's beds, exchanging centuries, exchanging lives. A dusty, obscure historical event is now a looming deadline for both men.

Why "does" Tom Dorin hang?