Bruce Catton was born in 1899 in Bezonia, Mich., a town of about 300 people then and now. Catton tells a lot about lumbering, tho he himself had little to do with lumbering. He graduated from Bezonia Academy in 1916, there being 11 in his class. The Academy closed in 1918. The book ends when Catton goes to college. It is a pleasant book to read, since Catton is a fine writer. But Jimmy Carter's book on his rural childhood I thought a more fetching read.

This is an incredibly dense historical account of Confederate guerrilla warfare in the areas of northern and western Virginia. The author obviously did his homework with hundreds of quotes and references. The book was so detailed as to occasionally lose the reader. A map certainly would have helped. I got the feeling that every single guerrilla attack was accounted for in this book.

On the strong side were some amusing and touching accounts of individuals and incidents. On the weak side was the page after page of oh-so-so similar accounts of attacks. The book also centered on the Virginia area guerrillas with hardly a mention of those in Missouri and Kansas.

The author's theory, that the Civil War - or at least Lee's surrender - was delayed by at least months by the work of the guerrillas is well-substantiated in the book. However, I think the author would have been better served to apend more time on the larger picture and overview and less time on every derailment on the B&O Railroad.

Worth reading for a serious Civil War buff. A bit too much for the casual reader of Civil War material.