Drums

I first saw the Scribner Illustrated Classics series in a Museum in Chicago. I believe Treasure Island was the first that I purchased. The Wyeth paintings were reproduced for this book and many others. The artwork is fabulous. I visited the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, PA to see many of the original Wyeth illustrations. The titles in this series are still classics and every bit as riviting as when I first read them. I have read some to children and they are great fun for all. I have collected the whole series, they will be passed on to children and grandchldren.

Drums by Boyd has been called the best novel ever written about the Revolutionary War. Narrated from the viewpoint of a North Carolina Tory gentleman's adolescent son, it's unique outlook soon draws the reader into the drama of colonial unrest and the emotional battle men fought within themselves whether to cede from England or not. However, this is no psychological melodrama. Some of the most superb scenes in the novel are the depictions of a local horse race and a John Paul Jones sea battle. So why isn't Drums read more widely? It would seem Boyd's own excellent writing has gotten him into trouble for today's reader. Not only are his fight scenes realistic, but his cooly penetrating description of the early entrenchment of southern slavery, with all crudities of language and social class structure, is too graphic for our modern tastes. In short, he uses the "N" word too liberally. Reading this novel reminded me of reading HUCKLEBERRY FINN. It also reminded me of Olasky's FIGHTING FOR LIBERTY AND VIRTUE. Personally, I think it should be put back on high school reading lists. I think it would help in revealing why slavery was not addressed at the time of the Revolution as well as why it took a war to settle the matter.