THIS indeed is Americana at its best; a genuine, flavorful, stirring novel of Texas in the eighties. Like all first-class historical fiction it brings the past very close, makes one forget that the vivid scene has long since vanished. The illusion of reality is sustained consistently and effortlessly.

Brazos and Mary, their troubles and their joys, become an intimate and lasting part of the reader's experience. Their way of life is rich and zestful, difficult and exhilarating, because they live close to the earth, come to grips with elemental forces. As Brazos himself puts it, "Everything is new here and you have to fight like hell for it. If it isn't cloudbursts, it’s fire, or its wind, or plain cussedness, or all of them put together.”

By its broad scale, a largeness that matches the red land, its natural dignity, its racy familiarity with time and scene, its excellent style, The Saddle and the Plow is distinguished fiction, a splendid historical novel.

This special edition of THE SADDLE AND THE PLOW by Ross McLaury Taylor has been made available to the Armed Forces of the United States through an arrangement with the original publisher. The Bobbs-Merrill Company, New York.

Editions for the Armed Services, Inc., a non-profit organization established by the Council on Books in Wartime