A rather loosely connected group of essays, mostly originating as reviews of books about World War I, but opening with "A Certain Day in 1939" which described growing up as a Reformed Jewish boy in Charleston, SC between the two world wars, automatically accepting the southern military tradition even though his own ancestry had nothing to do w8th the Civil War. It is one of the best descriptions of how being "southern" and accepting the sentimental Confederate historical tradition could be something quite different from the racism with which it is usually identified. The other essays tend to express the view that World War I Germans were just "Nazis with better manners" and that World War I battles were all mindless slaughters, both of which I find a bit simplistic but probably natural for someone who grew up in his conditions as an American Jew who served (however ineptly, by his frank account) in World War 2. He does come across as a profoundly humane civilized human being. ( )