CONCORD: AMERICAN TOWN

A microcosm of America and the best of what is American in an extraordinary, interesting book of far more than regional interest. Perhaps this is the way to learn our history in personal terms -- the story of one town, a town that has made its vital contribution at each stage of our nation's history. Chauvinistic, some will claim. Well, aren't we all, in varying degrees? But here is a record that, while sustaining the thread of Concord's story, from her earliest colonial records through to contemporary post-war aims, is far and away a wider canvas. Concord has given the country the green light, not only in wars as the Minute Man testifies (and her war record through every subsequent struggle), but in the field of art and literature, philosophy and social thinking, politics and economics. A biography in vigorous terms of active as well as passive participation, drawn from a singularly rich mine of records kept throughout the town's history. This is the first rate reading for Americans everywhere, first rate history, specifically angled. If occasionally the author is flowery and lush, one can forgive him for the forthright drama of most of his style, for his sense of sound, on-the-spot reporting. This is for the market of The Flowering of New England, as well as the history-minded reader.