A Review of Anthony Wood’s White & Black: A Story of the Civil War
by Rickey Pittman, Bard of the South

Anthony Wood
A Story of the Civil War
White & Black: A Tale of Two Colors Volume I
Tiree Press, an Imprint of the Oghma Press

This historical novel is a fascinating and thoughtful account of the Antebellum South that like a polished diamond, has many facets. It is in many respects a bildungsroman, that shows the journeys, growth, and development of a young man, Lummy Tullos, in a turbulent, troubled time in America’s history.
This is a Civil War novel, though it thankfully avoids preaching and the overused stereotypes of Hollywood movies.
It is also a story of the conflicts, (inward and outward), struggles, and victories of the Tullos family in Mississippi and in Central Louisiana. Most importantly, this novel is a romance, a story of an intense but forbidden love between Lummy and Susannah, two people of different races. Lummy, in spite of the war descending upon them and his enlistment in the Confederate Army, he finds redemption in Susannah’s love, the love of his life and the only thing that will make him whole again.
Wood’s writing is excellent, capturing the idioms, vocabulary, and soul of Southerners. Using epigraphs, letters, and historical events, he takes the reader into the deep South so effectively that we will not forget this story. And remember: This is just Volume One.