Sportsmen will find pleasant reading in this rich collection of authentic tales of hunting in the Old South. The book will be of particular interest to those enthusiasts who savor a good hunting yarn for its own sake and enjoy hearing of the old days when the supply of game seemed endless and the field sports were an integral part of everyday life. The volume, which includes some forty illustrations, should also provoke interest among students of Southern history and folklore, for until now the subject has been given sparse attention by scholars.
These accounts were penned by planters, journalists, naturalists and sportsmen- from the South, the North, and Europe. The original style of the accounts has been kept, so that the spirit and charm of the old regime, with its devotion to guns and dogs, horses and juleps, is retained. The editor has even included a couple of choice recipes for cooking of game.
The selections included are not only delightful entertainment but are authentic narratives and descriptions which will afford the reader a reliable picture of a phase of the Old South that is absent in ordinary social histories of the region.
Clarence Gohdes is professor of American Literature at Duke University. He is editor of the quarterly journal American Literature and author of several books.
