Geese in the Forum

MR. WATKIN, the author of On Borrowed Time, now tells the story of a young Southerner who has chosen teaching as his profession, married a rich Yankee girl, and started to work in the history department of Beauregard, a small but proud Southern ‘university.’ There are good men and true at Beauregard, and there are bootlickers and plotters — and there is a go-getting president who makes most of the trouble. The hero’s marriage crumbles away beneath a mass of sectional incompatibilities; he has to fight the president and the bootlickers; yet, in spite of the glaring scandal of his private affairs, one feels that he will succeed in making Beauregard a better place.

This is a lively, humorous, and well-told narrative, filled with good Southern stories and atmosphere, and very believable, clear-cut dramatis personæ. Academic readers will find interesting parallels here and laymen will enjoy the book for its wit and wisdom, without caring very much for its campus setting. All told, an appealing interpretation of the modern South.