What do you think?
Rate this book
Summer Over Autumn: A Small Book of Small-Town Life
Howard Mansfield muses on people, places, and life in his own hometown of Hancock, New Hampshire.
"Whenever Howard Mansfield writes about the world around him, I pay attention."
--Mel Allen, editor, Yankee magazine
"It's as if Walt Whitman had come out of the grave in the persona of Howard Mansfield for one more epic. I highly recommend this "small book" full of big ideas."
--Ernest Hebert, prize-winning author of Howard Elman's Farewell, The Old American, and nine other novels.
"Whenever Howard Mansfield writes about the world around him, I pay attention."
--Mel Allen, editor, Yankee magazine
"It's as if Walt Whitman had come out of the grave in the persona of Howard Mansfield for one more epic. I highly recommend this "small book" full of big ideas."
--Ernest Hebert, prize-winning author of Howard Elman's Farewell, The Old American, and nine other novels.
- GenresNonfictionEssays
128 pages, Paperback
Published September 5, 2017
1 person is currently reading
308 people want to read
About the author
Howard Mansfield
34 books38 followersHoward Mansfield sifts through the commonplace and the forgotten to discover stories that tell us about ourselves and our place in the world. He writes about history, architecture, and preservation as he seeks to understand the soul of American places. He is the author of a dozen books about the stories we tell each other and the ones we refuse to tell. In short, how we chose our ancestors
He is the author of thirteen books, including In the Memory House, of which The Hungry Mind Review said, “Now and then an idea suddenly bursts into flame, as if by spontaneous combustion. One instance is the recent explosion of American books about the idea of place… But the best of them, the deepest, the widest-ranging, the most provocative and eloquent is Howard Mansfield’s In the Memory House.”
Among his other books are Turn & Jump, The Bones of the Earth and The Same Ax, Twice, which The New York Times said was “filled with insight and eloquence. A memorable, readable, brilliant book on an important subject. It is a book filled with quotable wisdom.”
“Howard Mansfield has never written an uninteresting or dull sentence. All of his books are emotionally and intellectually nourishing,” said the writer and critic Guy Davenport. “He is something like a cultural psychologist along with being a first-class cultural historian. He is humane, witty, bright-minded, and rigorously intelligent. His deep subject is Time: how we deal with it and how it deals with us.”
His newest book to be published in October is Invisible Monuments: Tribute, Memory, and the Summoning of the Past. It's about the memorials we debate, dedicate, and then ignore.
We live in an era of monument building. Our monuments, often after fierce debate, are dedicated in ceremonies that try to bring life to the stone -- and then we walk away. The mute stones are left to the pigeons. Our grandest efforts at creating a shared, cultural memory melt to invisibility. Why?
Invisible Monuments looks at these moments of commemoration in the familiar and the unfamiliar. We visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Bunker Hill Monument, and a once- venerated World War I memorial in England. We journey to a little-known memorial that one grief-stricken family built stone-by-stone for their son lost in war, a place that still draws thousands each year.
And Invisible Monuments looks at the failure to commemorate in the recently rediscovered African Burial Grounds in Manhattan and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and in the unmarked graves of the Irish immigrants who built the railroads in the woods of New Hampshire. We’re also introduced to an audacious attempt to memorialize the future by building a clock deep in a mountain that is designed to run for 10,000 years.
These memorials are attempts to bring us closer to our ancestors, to say that we are still joined hand-to-hand across the centuries. In Vietnam, says Viet Thanh Nguyen, there are two burials. The first to return the body to the earth, and then the second, when the bones are dug up and brought closer to the village. We do the same.
When we commission memorials, we are trying to bring the bones closer to home. The memorials we build are a second burial. In all the current controversies about what to build and how, and what to tear down, we’ve lost track of why we build monuments. We want the counsel of our ancestors – edited, and chiseled into stone.
Invisible Monuments is about tribute, memory, and the summoning of the past.
Howard Mansfield has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, American Heritage, The Threepenny Review, and other publications.
He has served as a writer and consultant for museums, written and performed a stage show with composer Ben Cosgrove that was the subject of an Emmy Award-winning film, and he has co-written a documentary film about “The Old Homestead: The Play of the Century.”
He is the author of thirteen books, including In the Memory House, of which The Hungry Mind Review said, “Now and then an idea suddenly bursts into flame, as if by spontaneous combustion. One instance is the recent explosion of American books about the idea of place… But the best of them, the deepest, the widest-ranging, the most provocative and eloquent is Howard Mansfield’s In the Memory House.”
Among his other books are Turn & Jump, The Bones of the Earth and The Same Ax, Twice, which The New York Times said was “filled with insight and eloquence. A memorable, readable, brilliant book on an important subject. It is a book filled with quotable wisdom.”
“Howard Mansfield has never written an uninteresting or dull sentence. All of his books are emotionally and intellectually nourishing,” said the writer and critic Guy Davenport. “He is something like a cultural psychologist along with being a first-class cultural historian. He is humane, witty, bright-minded, and rigorously intelligent. His deep subject is Time: how we deal with it and how it deals with us.”
His newest book to be published in October is Invisible Monuments: Tribute, Memory, and the Summoning of the Past. It's about the memorials we debate, dedicate, and then ignore.
We live in an era of monument building. Our monuments, often after fierce debate, are dedicated in ceremonies that try to bring life to the stone -- and then we walk away. The mute stones are left to the pigeons. Our grandest efforts at creating a shared, cultural memory melt to invisibility. Why?
Invisible Monuments looks at these moments of commemoration in the familiar and the unfamiliar. We visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Bunker Hill Monument, and a once- venerated World War I memorial in England. We journey to a little-known memorial that one grief-stricken family built stone-by-stone for their son lost in war, a place that still draws thousands each year.
And Invisible Monuments looks at the failure to commemorate in the recently rediscovered African Burial Grounds in Manhattan and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and in the unmarked graves of the Irish immigrants who built the railroads in the woods of New Hampshire. We’re also introduced to an audacious attempt to memorialize the future by building a clock deep in a mountain that is designed to run for 10,000 years.
These memorials are attempts to bring us closer to our ancestors, to say that we are still joined hand-to-hand across the centuries. In Vietnam, says Viet Thanh Nguyen, there are two burials. The first to return the body to the earth, and then the second, when the bones are dug up and brought closer to the village. We do the same.
When we commission memorials, we are trying to bring the bones closer to home. The memorials we build are a second burial. In all the current controversies about what to build and how, and what to tear down, we’ve lost track of why we build monuments. We want the counsel of our ancestors – edited, and chiseled into stone.
Invisible Monuments is about tribute, memory, and the summoning of the past.
Howard Mansfield has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, American Heritage, The Threepenny Review, and other publications.
He has served as a writer and consultant for museums, written and performed a stage show with composer Ben Cosgrove that was the subject of an Emmy Award-winning film, and he has co-written a documentary film about “The Old Homestead: The Play of the Century.”
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
January 14, 2020
Humorous and thoughtful little book that proved a good choice for an essay or two at bedtime.
August 27, 2017
A delicious little collection that I received as an ARC from the publisher. I knew little of the author or the publisher prior to getting this in the mail. When I opened the book and began reading, I was actually surprised that all of the essays that I encountered in the book were in locations that I was intimately familiar with. From Marlborough, to New Ipswich, to Peterborough and Keene, New Hampshire, this book contains a handful of essays that concern country living and aging in the hard-weathered atmosphere of New England. Each piece effectively and beautifully straddles the lines between the old and the new. The local and the national. Each essay is uniquely American, showcasing a life that no matter how far into the future we travel, is one we all will live. A gorgeous collection that will certainly find great success as it has already traversed the pages of Yankee, The Boston Globe, and New Hampshire Home, but will become quiet, meditative a staple on New England bookshelves.
As a frequent performer with Actors’ Circle Theatre’s Shakespeare in the Park in Peterborough (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrg_...) and a writer who often walks the same streets that Mansfield covers in these pages, I can attest to the authenticity of these quiet, beautifully authentic portraits.
As a frequent performer with Actors’ Circle Theatre’s Shakespeare in the Park in Peterborough (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrg_...) and a writer who often walks the same streets that Mansfield covers in these pages, I can attest to the authenticity of these quiet, beautifully authentic portraits.
March 4, 2024
I really enjoyed this book of short stories written about small towns in NH. Although I grew up in the Queen City, I loved traveling through many small towns in the Granite State. I liked this quote,”We get from stories what we bring into them, and in small towns, we may bring entire lives to the reading, and sometimes a simple story runs deep.”
October 3, 2017
This book was written by my neighbor, and much of it is about my town. There's even a chapter about my dad's Ford 9N tractor, which the author now owns. But even without these personal connections, it was a very good book about small town life in New England today.
October 13, 2018
Fans of Stephen Leacock will appreciate Howard Mansfield's writings of life in a small New Hampshire town. By turns serious and humorous, this is an enjoyable read for anyone who loves the small town way of life.
September 20, 2017
Excellent book. I want to re-read it and savor each essay. For those who want a glimpse of small-town life, this will more than satisfy. If you live in a small town, you may smile in recognition. I've dreamed of living in New England in a small town. This book was like almost crossing this off the bucket list... or maybe moving it up further on the bucket list.
I am so excited about Howard Mansfield's writing that I am going to read more.
Thank you First-Reads giveway program for time more than well spent.
I am so excited about Howard Mansfield's writing that I am going to read more.
Thank you First-Reads giveway program for time more than well spent.
August 17, 2017
I think I'm getting old and nostalgic.
Or old-ER and more appreciative of local color and characters, home-stories and small-town ruminations.
Or Howard Mansfield is just such a decent, observant chronicler of such things that it was easy to love the essays and people in this little book.
It IS a little book, so little that you might miss it if you're cruising through the bookstore or library, looking for a satisfying non-fiction read-without-the-commitment-of-a-whole-stinkin'-biography. I hope you don't. I hope you look for this book SPECIFICALLY because it will make you chuckle, sniffle, snort, sigh, and all the other human noises of emotion we make while reading a delightful bunch of essays.
This was a Goodreads giveaway, and I'm pleased to give it a deservedly good review! Thanks for the book!
Or old-ER and more appreciative of local color and characters, home-stories and small-town ruminations.
Or Howard Mansfield is just such a decent, observant chronicler of such things that it was easy to love the essays and people in this little book.
It IS a little book, so little that you might miss it if you're cruising through the bookstore or library, looking for a satisfying non-fiction read-without-the-commitment-of-a-whole-stinkin'-biography. I hope you don't. I hope you look for this book SPECIFICALLY because it will make you chuckle, sniffle, snort, sigh, and all the other human noises of emotion we make while reading a delightful bunch of essays.
This was a Goodreads giveaway, and I'm pleased to give it a deservedly good review! Thanks for the book!
August 29, 2020
Such a wonderful book of essays...I picked this book up when I moved to New Hampshire earlier this year. I know Howard Mansfield through his wife, Sy Montgomery, and her books. I picked up the book because I wanted to know New Hampshire better. And I think what I’ve come to know better is not just this New England landscape, but life itself. Howard Mansfield offers, with his observations and reflections, a way to look at and live one’s life so that it is full while we are still here living it. Grasping life’s real moments, focusing on the people who fall into your life circle, understanding that real life is special, ordinary, and fleeting. Mansfield teaches zen philosophy, not in the terms of the spirituals from the East, but in the terms of what his reader knows - life in the very flawed and broken modern America. He is saying just what the Buddha said, but with different words. He makes me long for home, to embrace the place I am and the people I’m with while I still have time to make it meaningful.
October 17, 2020
"'Is not Main Street almost all right?'... It's the "almost" that's important- it's the "almost" that provides the breathing space."
I first ran into Howard Mansfield in Yankee Magazine which was a staple in our house growing up. However, until now, I have never been able to spend this much time with so patient an observer of life in a small town. Mansfield takes us all around his small town, both tour guide and historian; telling tales about the eccentric and the mundane, the young and the old, the history and the future, the joys and sorrows of life in New Hampshire, and I was enthralled by every page, reading it in one sitting and feeling nostalgic for the slower pace I once grew up with in Rhode Island, and wishing I'd had this book when I was writing weekly sermons. Thank you for sharing your "breathing space" with us. Highly Recommended 5/5
[disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher and chose to read and review it]
I first ran into Howard Mansfield in Yankee Magazine which was a staple in our house growing up. However, until now, I have never been able to spend this much time with so patient an observer of life in a small town. Mansfield takes us all around his small town, both tour guide and historian; telling tales about the eccentric and the mundane, the young and the old, the history and the future, the joys and sorrows of life in New Hampshire, and I was enthralled by every page, reading it in one sitting and feeling nostalgic for the slower pace I once grew up with in Rhode Island, and wishing I'd had this book when I was writing weekly sermons. Thank you for sharing your "breathing space" with us. Highly Recommended 5/5
[disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher and chose to read and review it]
December 29, 2023
Howard Mansfield, writing from his home in Hancock, New Hampshire, tells a series of stories of small town life in a gentle and loving way. Summer Over Autumn is what Mansfield calls the moment in late summer when the season is still active but you get the first glimpse at autumn.
Summer Over Autumn contains twenty-one short essays about various aspects of his small town - its residents, activities and attitudes. Another reviewers calls the book one of "wonderful essays in this small book full of big ideas."
As a resident of New Hampshire, I really enjoyed reading this charming book.
Summer Over Autumn contains twenty-one short essays about various aspects of his small town - its residents, activities and attitudes. Another reviewers calls the book one of "wonderful essays in this small book full of big ideas."
As a resident of New Hampshire, I really enjoyed reading this charming book.
August 1, 2024
My first taste of Howard Mansfield’s work came when I had to read a selection from The Same Ax, Twice for a class I was taking. I enjoyed the two assigned chapters so much that I ordered the book, and was happy to find I enjoyed the rest of it just as much. I have since read a few other books by Mansfield, and I have never been disappointed in his work. Summer Over Autumn is a quick, pleasant read. That sounds like very faint praise, but it is exactly the sort of book I sometimes need.
October 11, 2025
I discovered Howard Mansfield while reading an issue of Yankee magazine. As far as I know, most of his writing output is in the form of short essays. I thoroughly enjoyed this collection. All of the essays in this book deal with life in a small town, specifically in New Hampshire. Very insightful, at times philosophical, thought provoking read. If you've spent time anywhere in New England, and enjoy that New England persona/feeling, then you'll love this collection of short essays. I plan on diving deeper into Howard Mansfield's repertoire.
September 3, 2024
This book is nothing I expected and I mean that in the best way! I didnt pay attention when I bought it- I thought it was one fiction story. I am even happier to have stumbled into Mansfield’s collection of short stories about life in small town New England! Growing up in the Adirondacks with New England family gave this book a feeling of home. I will return to its stories often. Especially Clockwinder!
September 27, 2017
A quick read that stirred my emotions.
My favorite sentence from Summer Over Autumn was "In my town, we have exchanged storytelling for signs and numbers."
I love my own small town, and I hope Howard Mansfield keeps writing. I will keep reading!
I won a copy of this book on Goodreads.
My favorite sentence from Summer Over Autumn was "In my town, we have exchanged storytelling for signs and numbers."
I love my own small town, and I hope Howard Mansfield keeps writing. I will keep reading!
I won a copy of this book on Goodreads.
August 5, 2018
This small book of essays is a fast and fun read. Mansfield invites us into his home turf (a small New Hampshire town) where we meet the locals and the Northern New England way of life. There is plenty of poignancy and humor in this little book.
January 3, 2018
Fun to read about a familiar place. Small New England towns are quirky to be sure.
August 26, 2018
I would actually give this book 4-1/2 stars. Great book of thought provoking short stories.
October 29, 2021
I live not 30 miles from the town of Hancock. It is an excellent book describing simple life in a small town in New Hampshire. I loved his references to places I know. Great work!
April 24, 2022
This book feels like home. Mansfield truly captures New Hampshire and small town living in these essays. I enjoyed them all and ended up reading through the whole collection in a matter of hours. Definitely a comfort read that I plan to return to in the future.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews