A retrospective review of
Our Fathers’ Fields: A Southern Story (University of South Carolina Press, 1998) by James Everett Kibler, Jr.
On June 7, 1998, I opened a copy of
The State newspaper from
Columbia, South Carolina, and read a review of a book that I
immediately knew I had to own. The article, “Family Ties: Author Looks
at Hardy Family History,” favorably endorsed
Our Fathers’ Fields: A Southern Story, by Dr. James Everett Kibler, Jr., which had just been published by the University of South Carolina Press.
“This book, a gentle, affectionate social history, is the story of a
family who made a house a home for nearly two centuries. It is a memoir
that could become a classic of Palmetto State history, so richly
detailed and lively is its recounting of the Hardy family past,” wrote
reviewer William W. Starr. “The narrative is occasionally so compelling
that it forces a halt to the text to admire the way Kibler has absorbed
the people and times he describes. The detail here is ravishing to read.
And Kibler’s informal but informed tone adds to the pleasures.” (1)
