John March Southerner

When it comes down to moral honesty, limpid honesty, and utterlyblameless piety, the Apostles were mere policemen [compared] to Cable.--Mark TwainUpon inspection, a life can be said to be a composite of mere when, where, why, how, and what. The fictitious character John March was born in themid-nineteenth century in the formerly Confederate South. He is an inheritor ofland and money, expected to become the quintessential Southerngentleman. But into every life, some rain must fall, and John March, Southerner is no exception.Cableis tremendous accomplishment in this novel is the clarity and honestywith which he presents the life of a man of his time, along with all theattendant ambivalence, indecision, joy, and sorrow such a life, and in fact anylife, encompasses.