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His father dies, forcing him to give up his new found freedom and return to a life he hates under the wing of his over-protective mother. At the same time, thousands of other citizens are being denied their basic rights of free speech, press and assembly and the right to bear arms by vigilantes operating under the guise of patriotism.

A Loss of Freedom tells how Thomas and his friends strive to find their role in the turmoil of the nation's great crusade while also protecting their own freedoms. They risk their lives when they rescue a preacher, and later a school friend, from mobs trying to lynch them for speaking against the war. Thomas challenges local authorities over the jailing of his girlfriend's parents, who are being harassed because they are 'hyphenates', and confronts a sheriff who has killed his older brother, a member of the radical 'Wobblies'. He stands up for freedom of speech when at the behest of the nascent American Civil Liberties Union, he testifies in court for a neighbor who openly opposes the war.

The death of a friend in the war finally triggers Thomas' latent patriotism. He enlists in the Marines and is sent to France and the nightmare of trench warfare where he is wounded in the battle for Belleau Wood.

He then faces another decision that will affect his freedom. Should he return home where his beloved sister is near death from the influenza pandemic and his mother has been traumatized by the killing of her lover, or should he rejoin his buddies still fighting in the bloody 'war to end all wars?'