The history is interesting, especially the early history of Harvard. After the Revolution (the one in 1776, not 1968) it devolves into a sequence of vignettes, with too many cameos by famous people. The framing story, which aspires to be a suspense-thriller with a hunt for a priceless manuscript and murders and a love interest, is remarkable for its inability to create and maintain tension, either narrative or romantic. Its shortcomings are partly made up by the competent writing and the wealth of details. It's likeable enough, I guess.

A little slow to start, but very intriguing. A basic understanding of American history and an appreciation for culture and antiquities makes this book much more enjoyable. ( )

Book Review

Title: Harvard Yard

Author: William Martin

After reading “ The Dante Club“, the story of the Harvard group led by Samuel Longfellow, I have read “Harvard Yard“. I am now thoroughly saturated with Harvard lore and history.

Martin, a graduate of Harvard, has in this book combined a murder mystery, set in very current times and idioms, with a vast expanse of historical information about our nation’s beginnings, as well as the modest beginnings of one of our country’s pre-eminent institutions of learning, namely, Harvard.

Peter Fallon is an antiquarian. That is, he makes a livelihood out of reselling rare antiquities at a profit. He is engaged in solving the riddle of a bequest, purportedly based on the supposed acquaintance of John Harvard, of Stratford-on-Avon with William Shakespeare, and passed down through several generations of the Wedge family.

Martin uses the Shakespearean play “Love’s Labor Lost” to propose that John Harvard was given an original unpublished quarto by the author titled, “Love’s Labor Won“. Through the intervening centuries the book survives many close calls to its destruction; From Puritans intolerant of plays (the Devil’s devices), or from Indian uprisings, or accidental fire and even personal greed and avarice.

For readers intent on details and names they will have a feast following the successive Wedge generations. The Harvard mission, originally intended to provide fire and brimstone ministers of Puritanical creed, morphs into the seat of Unitarianism, and eventually the American aristocracy of wealth and influence.

Conflicts of personality and interests abound in this skillfully scripted saga. Although the genealogy became tedious at times I avidly turned the pages to learn how it all turned out.