CRESCENT CITY

by William E. Wilson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 30, 1947

Though heralded as S & S big fiction headliner, I confess that my classification would be ""good trash""- an important element in every publishing list, but not a contribution to literature. It is good Americana, in its story of a town, at the heart of isolationism, and of three generations of its citizens. The story focusses around Jay Holt, who in 1912 was an aspiring and courageous young journalist, a ""gentle anarchist"", a Don Quixote, endlessly battling the cause of right. He marries gentle Sarah, a youthful librarian, and the symbol of their happiness is the great ugly house they call home. Their children- Ruth, who is relatively minor, and Stephen, whose memories provide the impetus to the flashbacks in which the story is told -- these two never steal the show from their father, Jay. A lynching- back in 1912- sets the theme. In two generations the pattern repeats itself. The lynchers of yesterday are the anti-semites, the Klanners, the red baiters, of today. There's young love and sensual depravity; there's the handful of social leaders and tight-fisted financial leaders, who run the town and flaunt their prejudices and hide their skeletons in cupboards. There's the tiny group who are willing to be poor in order to be themselves -- refusing to serve as errand boys for the political leader, John Davis, or the blackmailing Luke Floyd, who owns the dens of vice and gambling and illegal traffic. Stephen's love story, and its gentle ending, somehow never seems as real as his fiery father's story. Inevitably, the comparison will be made with Before the Sun Goes Down. This is the better book.

Pub Date: Sept. 30, 1947

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1947

Categories: FICTION