With his naturalistic and humorous storytelling style, Ferrol Sams has won fans from all walks of life, especially those drawn to Southern fiction. And while the literary landscape of the rural South is peppered with great storytellers, few are as endearing as James Aloysius ?Buster? Holcombe, Jr., the observant narrator of Sams's new novel. From Reconstruction, the first World War, the Depression, and World War II, to racial integration, land speculation, and economic boom, Buster Holcombe recounts the events that have shaped our country since the mid-nineteenth century through the eyes of the wide-ranging denizens of ?our town.? Down Town offers a panoptic history of the American South, carefully observed and skillfully presented by a native son.