By Bob Tedder • F. Van Wyck Mason’s “The Winter at Valley Forge,” published in 1953, is a landmark book on levels not necessarily connected to its content. Foremost, it really is a Landmark Book. There in the upper righthand corner of the book’s cover is the unique Random House colophon bearing witness to this fact. A line drawing of the Washington Monument superscribed with the words Landmark Books centered over a circle containing a volume number is the distinctive pictorial representation of this series. The books were published during the 1950s and ’60s and are addressed to a young adult reading audience. Mason’s particular volume is No. 33 of the 142 topics covered by the series. Currently these books are well known and widely used among homeschoolers.

Mason’s book, as its title suggests, details the events leading up to and including the fate of George Washington and the Continental Army during the winter of 1777. Although the events and major personages of the narrative are historical, Mason frames and subsequently personalizes the events through fictional new enlistees in the nation’s first army. By doing so Mason provides a compelling introduction for the student to the American Revolutionary War. He aptly illustrates why this particular winter became, in the words of a more famous phamptleer, “the times that tried men’s souls.”   

Range of subject matter and authorial authority are major reasons Landmark Books are prominent in homeschools. The series’ eclectic look at America’s history allows an instructor choices ranging from the now obscure but historically important “The Mississippi Bubble” to the more easily recognizable “Abe Lincoln: From Log Cabin to the White House.” Authors include participants in the events they chronicle – Richard Tregaskis’ “Guadalcanal Diary” – or experts whose reputations far exceed the young adult reading market – Robert Penn Warren’s “Remember the Alamo.” Regardless of subject or author, Landmark Books are easily read, interpretative springboards for young learners to dive into American history. Finally, under the aegis of full disclosure, there is a personal element of nostalgia, for many of these books had my youthful signature on their checkout cards.