Let the Band Play Dixie
A novel about the "first bowl game" played in America. All-star teams from North and South converge on Gettysburg in 1896 to play a football game that resembles a rematch of the Civil War; a near-riot ensues as veterans from Union and Confederate armies rage up and down the sidelines.
Praise for Let the Band Play Dixie:
“Is the novel fiction? Is the novel factual? Is the novel historical? Is
the novel humorous? Is the novel satirical? Is the novel fantasy? The
only single answer this novel elicits is that it is wonderful – absolutely
full of wonder.”
—Larry Shield, Roanoke Times and World News
“Once Wells sets up his story there’s just no stopping it. And it’s not
only his intricate detailing of football, gambling, the Civil War or turn
of the century Philadelphia that makes this novel work, it is his clear
perception of truths of character and the rare ability to make us smile
knowingly and even laugh out loud.”
—Winston Groom, Los Angeles Times
“An all-star football game is proposed between North and South in
1896. The coaches are John Heisman, Glenn Pop Warner, Amos
Alonso Stagg and Walter Camp. Generals James Longstreet and
Dan Sickles cheer them on. W.E.B. Du Bois adds to the interest.
This promises to be good. It is.”
—West Coast Review of Books
“If Bear Bryant had been a reader of books he would have enjoyed
Let the Band Play Dixie. Packed into this novel is just about everything
you want to know about the early days of football in America—with
a dramatic treatise about civil rights thrown in.”
—Wayne Greenhaw, Atlanta Constitution
“Lawrence Wells’ rambunctious second novel —on the heels of last
year’s Rommel and the Rebel—represents another foray into living
myths of the old south.... If this fictitious vision of sporting contests
dominated by regional chauvinism, odds-making and labor disputes
sounds as familiar as today’s newspaper, that surely is the author’s
intention....The point seems to be: whup the Yankees using whatever
weapon comes to hand.”
—Jerry Nemanic, Chicago Tribune
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