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The three books reviewed here, all by Manly Wade Wellman, are not part of a series. They are outstanding, stand-alone works of exciting historical fiction set in various locales and times and are a good match to an upper middle school reading level.
Flag on the Levee is set in 1811 New Orleans. Louisiana is on the verge of statehood, and the war of 1812 is on the horizon. There is intrigue afoot among the French-speaking elites (Creoles) as Ben Parker, a merchant’s son from North Carolina, is sent to spend time learning the business with his uncle, a partner of his father. The cultural clash between Ben Parker and the Francophone genteel upper class in New Orleans adds an amusing touch to the story. Ben’s remarkable ability with a pistol, coupled with his bravery and the bravery of his friend, Casimir Beaumont, play a large role in defeating a plot that could destabilize the city. Felise O’Rourke, a young woman of mixed Irish-French background and Casimir’s cousin, adds interest to the story - and to Ben. Jean Laffite, the famous pirate who helped defeat the British in the 1814 Battle of New Orleans, also makes an appearance.
The Master of Scare Hollow is set somewhere in the mountains of North Carolina in 1882. The small community of Scare Hollow needs a new schoolmaster (teacher) for their one-room schoolhouse. A few local students, really young men, have been disrupting the class and beating up the schoolmaster, which has made the last several teachers not last long. This time, the school board, composed of local people, have hired Gideon Hunter, an academically qualified young man who is also an experienced boxer… To add to the problems Gideon must face, several local families are still embittered from the Civil War, having taken different sides in the conflict. How education and the community are advanced, along with the other conflicts I have just described, makes for a very interesting story with quite realistic local flavor.
We talk about the “rule of law” being necessary for an orderly society with individual freedom, yet at the same time we complain about lawyers! Courts, judges, and lawyers are necessary to have a successful “rule of law” society. Young Squire Morgan is set in the 1830s in Alabama, towards the end of its frontier days as the rule of law was being established. At that time, lawyers were called “squires,” and even today when a lawyer graduates from law school and passes the bar, he or she may put “Esquire” as a title after their name. Jason Morgan studies law with Squire Colquit, an established lawyer. There were no law schools back then in most of the country – you simply “read law” with an established lawyer until you could pass the bar test and were enabled to practice law. The whole process that Jason goes through to become a lawyer and how the frontier Alabama courts functioned by themselves make for a fascinating story. Add to that a disagreement about where the new courthouse will be built, which involves monied interests and an old Native American graveyard, and the story becomes an exciting one. I think reading this book, even though it takes place in Alabama and not Illinois, can give the reader a lot of insight into Abraham Lincoln’s law education and practice.
Manly Wade Wellman (1903-1986) was an interesting American writer. He was born in the country of Angola in Africa, the son of a medical officer. The family then moved to America, where Wellman got a college degree in journalism in 1926. He and his wife lived for the last several decades of his life in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Wellman wrote for many different genres – comic books, mysteries, science fiction, and stories in which his heroes fought evil in the supernatural realm. Today, he is best remembered for his delightful stories and novels about Silver John, a wandering minstrel with a silver-stringed guitar who travels through the Appalachian regions and fights supernatural evil known only from whispered folk tales. During the time of his career, he also had a tremendous interest in American history, particularly of the North Carolina area, and so wrote many wonderful juvenile historical novels, like the Bear Paw Gap trilogy (see my review), his four-part American Revolution in the South series (see my review), his three-part Civil War series (see my review), and several stand-alone novels such as The River Pirates (see my review).