THE morning after a 4th of July party, Amanda Teacup wakes up to an unexpected visitor from the other side. BUT, The 5th of July by Nicholas Leonard is NOT just another ghost story. It's a reckoning .  Leonard uses the supernatural to explore human issues. To explore us. Our history, our plastic patriotism, our cultural amnesia.  What I love about his story: He tackles many different important issues. His story has layers , each one revealing deep societal fractures. And apart from that, his storytelling is so vivid that one feels as if they're inside the story, not just reading it. The details aren't just decoration, they are arguments. Everything hums with subject, adding to the story, making it absolutely compelling but simple and deeply humane at the same time.  The setting: Lynn, Massachusetts and the woods. Even I, a reader from Greece, with no knowledge of the place whatsoever, after reading Leonard's story felt deeply connected to the place. A need awoke in ...