Hanover Browsing
THE last historical writing from the pen of the late Kenneth Roberts, The Battle of Cowpens, appeared in early April from Doubleday. This is a non-fiction account of a crucial battle in the American Revolution in which tough troops under Daniel Morgan defeated Tarleton's British forces in 1781 and thus set the stage for the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. It is written with Roberts' characteristic verve.
In May 1957 the Pulitzer Prize Committee awarded a special citation to Kenneth Roberts "for his historical novels which have long contributed to the creation of greater interest in our early American history." These are Arundel, Rabblein Arms, The Lively Lady, Captain Caution, Northwest Passage, Oliver Wiswell,Lydia Bailey, and Boon Island.
It was my privilege to write the introduction to Mr. Roberts' last book, and also to publish a small first edition of it under my imprint of Westholm Publications. This appeared in December 1957 and consisted of only 400 copies.
Alumni may be proud of Kenneth Roberts, as the honorary degree given him by Ernest Martin Hopkins just before the publication of Northwest Passage made him one of us, gave him a boost when he needed it, and was the origin of a fine Kenneth Roberts collection in the Dartmouth Library.
One of the best novels I have read for some time is Robert Lewis Taylor's TheTravels of Jaimie McPheeters described as a novel concerning 1849 and the rush to the gold fields. Three years ago I spent most of my sabbatical year reading original journals and published works of the forty-niners in the Huntington Library at San Marino and at the Bancroft Library at Berkeley. This gives me, perhaps, a right to say that in my opinion Mr. Taylor has done a most competent job Actionizing this amazing hegira. Mr. Taylor used original material at various libraries and though some of the episodes are gory in the extreme, none is without its counterpart in real life. It was a tough trip.
Richard Chase '37, an excellent scholar, has this to say of it: "...a remarkably readable American picaresque tale, full of vivid and racy passages and rich in language, local color, comic situations, and scenes of horror."
A book I later dreamed about was Lon Tinkle's 13 Days to Glory (McGraw Hill), the best account in print, and highly praised by the old master, Frank Dobie, of the tragic and thrilling tale of the Alamo. Ever since I was twelve I have been excited about Travis, Crockett, and Bowie. Here is nearly all the truth we shall ever have of them. One hundred and eightytwo died at the Alamo, taking with them almost ten times as many Mexicans. Six weeks or less later, Texas won her independence at San Jacinto. Let's hope modern Texas is worthy of her history and of the men who chose to die at the Alamo. I sometimes wonder.
Robert Graves is a real pro, and book after book comes from his industrious hand. The latest is 5 Pens in Hand (Doubleday), a volume of collected essays (some lectures he has given in the United States), stories and poems. Also recently reprinted is his Goodbye to All That, one of the finest books to come out of World War I.
Anything by Graves is worth reading, and this latest is no exception. His essay "Why I Live in Majorca" will be read, I hope, by June Bryant '25.
For many years I collected the best books on World War I. Now Quentin Reynolds has written a new account of the early fliers who made history in the sky when flying was in the chivalrous but nonetheless bloody manner of ancient knights killing each other. This is TheyFought for the Sky (Rinehart). Names familiar at least to my generation, and their often thrilling stories, are scattered throughout the book: Richthofen, Billy Bishop, with whom X once crossed the Atlantic, Charles Nungesser, Victor Chapman, Raoul Lufbery, Kiffin Rockwell, Norman Prince, Bert Hall, James T. McCudden, Mick Mannock, Frank Luke, the Arizona "balloon buster," Captain Roy Brown who downed Richthofen, and many others. Those who survived are Eddie Rickenbacker and Elliot White Springs, both successful American business men. A salute to the Lafayette Escadrille!
