PETER ASHLEYDuBose HeywardFarrar &Rinehart ($2.50). The Civil War, a rich mine of historical romance with plenty of still untapped veins, is beginning to be reworked again. Taking as his subject the four tense months in Charleston that culminated in the bombardment of Fort Sumter, Author Heyward has brought to light a whole shining age. Peter Ashleya carefully unimpassioned but compelling tale that even Abolitionist-grandsired readers will be loath to leavemakes vivid and convincing a crucial scene in U. S. history.
Peter Ashley, scion of one of Charleston's first families, had no wish to be a...