Description:
After seven years of climbing into attics, domes, towers and steeples, Thomas Kaufmann emerges with a story of Alabama bells.
This story encapsulates the history of the state itself. These bells - some dormant, others pealing still - were forged by the Reveres in Boston. They called Alabamians to worship, celebrated weddings and tolled at funerals. They sounded the death knell for countless parishioners during the havoc of the Civil War, watched over the Freedom Riders and shook from the blast of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing. And while their clear tones have rung out in remembrance of so many of the state's solemn and sacred moments, many of these bells have fallen into neglect, their silence serving as its own reminder of the urgent need for preservation.
Brief description: Thomas Kaufmann is an architectural historian, preservationist and artist who studied architecture at Auburn University and the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art, where he serves as a Fellow Emeritus. He and his wife, Ann Marie, and their son, Tommy, live in a 1926 Craftsman bungalow in the historic Capitol Heights neighborhood of Montgomery, Alabama.
Review Quotes: Kaufmann offers enough detailed background on how bells are made to show why they were so precious. He discusses the various makers, who were often from famous foundries which they had founded. Such a man was Paul Revere, and his work can also be found, in Alabama. Decatur Daily