Customer Reviews

Lay This Laurel

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Generally hailed as America's finest Civil War memorial--maybe the most powerful memorial to any American war--the St. Gaudens masterpiece on Boston Common has inspired poetry, music, and probably a movie, "Glory." Lincoln Kirstein has written a stirring essay on the subjects: Colonel Shaw and his Massachusetts 54th Regiment (black), what they meant to their contemporaries, and their message for today. Although the photographs were taken in a bleak period for the Memorial (it badly needed restoration, which it received shortly after this book came out), Richard Benson's photographs are still powerful,able to transmit with finesse the messages of Shaw, his black comrades, St. Gaudens, and Lincoln Kirstein. It's a beautiful book, a labor of love.

This book was purchased for my partner who is extremely interested in the American Civil War & having seen the film Glory was interested in the first regiment of black soldiers in the war. He tells me that it was very informative together with excellent photographs and very much a 'coffee table' book and not one to hide away in our bookcase! I have visited Boston but do not recall having seen this memorial and this has inspired us both to consider another visit in the near future.