"Boyd’s short stories deserve to be read, if not for their anti- or pro-war message than for their characters, their sincerity, and their timeless investigation into manliness, courage, and duty. Trout has done what any serious scholar of a forgotten writer must do if he or she wishes for that writer to make a return: that writer must be brought back into print."
—
F. Scott Fitzgerald Review
“Thomas Boyd is famous for the novel
Through the Wheat, now enshrined as a World War I classic. In
Points of Honor, through a set of interlocking narratives, he pulls off something of a short story version of William March’s
Company K. A clear and interesting introduction by Steven Trout, pegged for the literate general reader, makes a strong case for the stories as something of an advance over
Through the Wheat. Here the characters and situations are diverse, and the modes of narration and development are strikingly varied.”
—Philip D. Beidler, author of
Beautiful War: Studies in a Dreadful Fascination and
The Victory Album: Reflections on the Good Life after the Good War
"The re-emergence of [Boyd's] stories is welcome.... The book merits wide use in any war-related college course, or as a resource for general readers to better understand how the First World War shaped a generation of young American men. The new edition is affordable for use in classroom settings, and general readers will find it accessible and rewarding as well. Trout’s reissue should bring Points of Honor to a much larger audience than it found in 1925. Boyd’s forgotten masterpiece deserves to claim a spot in the
canon of significant First World War literature.”
—First World War Studies