Books published by publisher Farrar and Rinehart

Excerpt from the Preface: The whole story of the nation's anthem, in terms of historical significance and the courage of ordinary men, has never been told in any one place. Even in fragments, it has seldom been told accurately. In illuminating the birth scene of the anthem-the defense of Baltimore in 1814-history has thrown its highlight on the naval action and left Godly Wood in shadow. By "the rockets'; red glare, the bombs bursting in air"; you can see the brick-and-sod fort squatting on the end of Whetstone Point. But you cannot see the rockets'; red glare and the shrapnel bursting in the woods on North Point, just across the water; you cannot see militiamen, once soundly beaten, standing up again to the Invincibles who beat them. In illuminating the conclusion of our so-called Second War of Independence, history has thrown its highlight on the battle of New Orleans and has left this strangely similar and more important battle paradoxically misshapen and diminished. But the real paradox is that for a hundred and thirty years, without warrant of truth, history has managed to leave"The Star-Spangled Banne"; associated with defeat, futility and cowardice. Even in Maryland, where the anniversary of the land battle is a legal holiday, there exists a notion that the whole thing was a trifling incident, inglorious in action and insignificant in result. Baltimoreans, who yield to no one in their pride of birthplace, are inclined to be apologetic when a stranger asks them to explain the holiday. Few know the truth. This book is an attempt to place the birth of the national anthem in its actual setting of events. It is an attempt to describe those events exactly as they occurred, without the distortions and omissions, the braggings and the apologies, the half-truths and the carelessly perpetuated errors that have blurred them.

Hard Cover; Very Good; Dust Jacket - Good; Blue cloth binding, illus. dustjacket, some light toning & edgewear, not price cliped, mylar protected. Plain endpapers, toning inner hinges, inscribed presentation To the Orfilians. FIRST EDITION after signed Limited Edition. 61pp., b/w illustrations, deckel edges. Binding & pages tight. A very nice copy. [Hertford, NC. USA]