THE SWORD OVER THE MANTEL

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 5, 1960

I was born in Richmond, Virginia, and this book is about the Civil War,"" a Richmond journalist, the author of this brief and charming volume, warns his readers in his first sentence. But his private Civil War, based on irreverent Richmond legends and second and third-hand family reminiscences, is by no means the same War as that of the histories and biographies now exhausting this weary land. Mr. Bryan's Civil War starts in 1943 with the CONFOROLS, or, ""Confederate Forces in the Solomon Islands"", a group of assorted airmen, of which he was one, fighting under a small Confederate flag and including anyone from any South, even the south side of a Kansas town. Returning to the Richmond of his youth, he tells of his boyhood discovery of the real Civil War through the anything but solemn tales of the conflict told him by a vast array of elderly relatives, neighbors, and servants. Urbane and witty, sympathetic but never bitter, this small volume may displease sword-waving Southerners, hidebound Yankees and dedicated Civil War buffs, but addicts of literate and civilized autobiographical comment will delight in it. Recommended for all sufferers from acute or chronic Civil War combat fatigue.

Pub Date: April 5, 1960

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1960

Categories: NONFICTION