Ohio History Journal

Book Reviews

 

 

Leadership in the American Revolution: Papers Presented at the Third Sym-

posium, May 9 and 10, 1974. Edited by the Library of Congress.

(Washington, D. C.: Library of Congress, 1974. ix + 135p.; notes. $4.50.)

 

The five papers presented at the Third Symposium on the American Revolu-

tion sponsored by the Library of Congress, each prefaced by a brief, gracious

introduction by L. H. Butterfield, comprise this attractive book. It is much more

successful than most collections of papers: each author is a skilled craftsman;

each writes in an area of his expertise; and each is assigned a topic that

illuminates the central theme of leadership in the American Revolution.

In his paper "American Political Leadership: The Optimistic Ethical World

View and the Jeffersonian Synthesis," Alfred H. Kelly concludes that the

"optimistic ethical world view," so named by Albert Schweitzer, has "exer-

cised a profound impact upon American political leadership, indeed . . . inter-

preted broadly it may be the principal distinguishing characteristic of that

leadership" (p. 9). The decisive American contribution to the vitality of this

view lay in a synthesis of constitutionalism, Enlightenment rationalism, and

democracy, chief credit for which Kelly assigns to Thomas Jefferson and his

political heirs of the next two generations. Today, says Kelly, the optimistic

ethical view of reality is in deep trouble, one manifestation being a loss by the

American political community of its sense of special destiny.

Marcus Cunliffe examines "Congressional Leadership in the American Re-

volution" and concludes with John Adams and Thomas Jefferson that the topic

is, on the whole, "unwriteably complex" because its issues "elude definition."

Yet he believes historians have done well, to a "commendable degree," in

sorting out the record. Most of this paper is spent identifying difficulties con-

fronting anyone attempting a comprehensive work on this topic. Cunliffe con-

cludes with some remarks leading toward a new synthesis, but modestly denies

that he is the person to write it.

Gordon Wood's "The Democratization of Mind in the American Revolution"

is perhaps the most successful piece in this collection. With grace and lucidity he

asserts that "ideas and power, intellectualism and politics" came together

uniquely in the Revolutionary Era. The leaders of this time were "intellectuals

without being alienated and political leaders without being obsessed with votes"

(p. 64). Ultimately the new democratic society would undermine both their

political and their intellectual authority. Some will argue with Wood's confi-

dence that the debate over the Sedition Act "marked the crucial turning point ir

the democratization of the American mind" (p. 81).

In his essay "Military Leadership in the American Revolution," Don Higgin.

botham displays an admirable grasp of his topic, yet there is only so much one

can do to bring system and order to the eclecticism characteristic of the Ameri

can military in the Revolutionary Era. Attention is drawn to European models

and ties and to the political consciousness of the "most successful ranking

officers."

Each of these topics defies glib generalization, but perhaps none so much as

Bruce Mazlish's "Leadership in the American Revolution; The Psychologica

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Book Reviews                                                   87

 

Dimension." Psychohistory, for all its merits, still creates a sense of unease

among conventional historians who prefer to apply a common sense evaluation

to phrases like Founding Father or Mother Country rather than to examine them

for Freudian overtones. Mazlish's brief case study of George Washington,

involving themes of abandonment, betrayal, and an Oedipal tendency, is in-

tended to be "suggestive ... of the sort of questions one might wish to ask about

the personal lives of the leaders of the American Revolution" (p. 131).

This book is a useful contribution in the continuing effort to understand the

roots of American character and accomplishment and a worthy addition to our

Bicentennial celebration.

 

The University of Akron                         George W. Knepper

 

 

A Documentary History of the Indiana Decade of the Harmony Society, 1814-

1824: Volume In 1814-1819. Compiled and edited by Karl J. R. Arndt.

(Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1975. xxiii + 837p.; illustrations,

notes, index. Cloth, $17.50; paper, $8.00.)

It is always a matter for thought that relatively few people could identify

George Rapp, whereas Robert Owen's name is universally recognized. Yet the

"Rappites" were highly successful as a community in Pennsylvania and India-

na, whereas the "Owenites" were thorough failures. Indeed, the editor of this

work cites Owen among others to testify for the Harmony Society as "a thriving

economic concern and religious community." Thriving they were, but it would

be self-deception to imagine that Rappites can ever achieve the place in society's

vital legends that Owen did.

Nor is this the case because Owen was more "human" than Rapp and his

followers. If anything, Owen, with his dogmatic view of human nature as

malleable, was less insightful than these pious Germans, who were moved by

human love. Thus, while several of his followers were in Indiana studying land

and opportunities, Rapp and their people back in Harmonie, Pennsylvania,

hungered for their company. This litany of love and courage in the face of death

by fever and other misadventures suffuses these pages. "I certainly hope that

none among you is homesick for the old place," writes Rapp; "none of us here

any longer feels that this is his home. We are bored by the many business

transactions which are awaiting settlement" (p. 13).

But whether bored or not, the Rappites's willingness to work and build was

unstinted, with phenomenal results. The legend of early American hard work

needs occasional correction. Rappites studied plant culture and cattle, pur-

chases and sales which took them into Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, and as far away

by river boat as New Orleans. But they early observed that "the people plant

very little and laugh about it" (p. 42). The lush land, a frame of mind which saw

building materials in stones, and useful associates among neighbors with whom

to overcome wilderness created affluent Rappite communities and better than

contented people. They inspired others from Germany to wish to join them,

some 150 in 1817 and 1818, and still such others as settled in Ohio to found Zoar,

which Harmonists helped with counsel and funds.

The Harmonists could not receive all who were attracted to them because

differences of temperament or religious beliefs made comradeship too difficult.

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88                                                    OHIO HISTORY

 

Rumors and fears caused their critics to imagine such things as that they

abstained from sex and thus had no children. But though they were cordial to

Shakers, with whom they were being confused, they had some eighty to a

hundred children being well cared for in their schools. Some Harmonists did put

aside sexual congress, but for religious reasons. Others did not. What they had in

common was their dedication to their leader's biblical inspiration and practical

rule. As one of them said, with no sense of resentment, Rapp was a despot, but

his heart was good.

It is not possible in a review to sum up the wealth of documentation which

Professor Arndt has brought together, for example respecting indentureship, a

subject vital in a nation of minorities. Thus, he reproduces (pp. 409-410) the

indenture of Henny, "a woman of colour," dated October 20, 1817, which bound

her for forty years; Harmonist policy toward whites was less drastic. Arndt's

careful and detailed footnotes substantially deepen the rich text, in comment of

such worthies as General William Henry Harrison and Thomas Jefferson, as

well as such others of distinction as George Flower of the English Prairie

settlement in Illinois and Caleb Lownes, a reformer of Philadelphia and Yellow

Springs, Ohio. Such a footnote as that on pages 336-337 discusses immigration in

terms taking in German policy toward their nationals, Goethe's novel Wilhelm

Meister, and Byron's Don Juan.

Arndt himself sums up the categories of material he has collected in an

"Editorial Note" commenting on aspects of the life of the community and its

relationships abroad. And yet categories remain which have not been included:

books recording meteorological information, precise records of the renting of

farms to non-members of the Society, with detailed statements of farm produc-

tion and financial responsibility, and the like. Indeed, community members

themselves were almost as predictable as their material output: "Everyone,

men, women, and children, had a task assigned to him which he dutifully

performed - in the fields, mills, or shops" (p. xiv).

This fact to some extent explains posterity's lack of intense interest in the

Rappites: they were too predictable in their industry and steadiness of tempera-

ment. Historians, agricultural experts, sociologists, and utopians will study

aspects of this splendid record to answer particular needs. But we may have to

conclude that Owen's puerile atheism and succeeding spiritualism, his

"economic determinism," and his quick panaceas for human ills somehow

comport better with society's changing but modish fancies than does Rapp's

fundamentalism and hard work. Historical understanding involves a species of

logic not wholly identifiable with reason in the simplistic sense.

Rapp can be associated, to an extent, with what has recently been called

"middle America": the people with ground roots, tradition, moderate interests

and demands. The error is to identify their endorsements with their vagaries

Yes, they like Norman Rockwell and continue to respect "David Grayson's'

vision of urban-rural America. But there are "mod" sideburns at midwes

Rotary as well as on Fifth Avenue New York. The traditions of America are real

and Rapp is closer to them than Owen. But anyone, in high places in

Washington, or elsewhere who expects to appeal successfully to "middle

America" for support might find it is out at the moment for cocktails. How fror

time to time it picks up the slack of society-for it does-is important to

understand.

Antioch College                                        Louis Fille

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Book Reviews                                                   89

 

The Disruption of the Pennsylvania Democracy, 1848-1860. By John F. Cole-

man. (Harrisburg: The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission,

1975. v + 184p.; notes, bibliobraphy, index. $5.50.)

Borrowing the title from Roy Nichols' notable work on the collapse of the

national Democracy, Professor Coleman (St. Francis College) has written a

concise study of political parties in Pennsylvania during the pre-Civil War

decade. A revised dissertation, it begins with two brief and informative

background chapters; thereafter, his chapters, keyed to national and gubernato-

rial elections, indicate their content, i.e., Whiggery Triumphant, 1848; Re-

surgence of the Democracy, 1849-1851; Native Sons and Dark Horses, 1852;

Collapse of the Two-Party System, 1853-1855; Pennsylvania Picks a President,

1856; The Old Order Changeth, 1857-1859; the Disruption of the Democracy,

1860; and Looking Backward.

Coleman uses manuscript collections and secondary sources to investigate

and trace the careers of the major politicos in Pennsylvania, e.g., James Bucha-

nan, William Bigler, Simon Cameron, and John W. Forney. These elites are the

foci around which he tells the familiar story of the evolution of the Whig,

Democratic, American, and Republican parties and their intra-party squabbles.

However, he "plugs" the Keystone State's political reverberations into previ-

ous national studies of the period and stresses the reactions, by each party and

its factions, to the tariff issue, nativism, and slavery extension. More impor-

tantly, he emphasizes the effects of bitter patronage fights (both state and

national), the influence of urban politics, and the constantly shifting alliances.

One may quarrel with Coleman's rather general analyses of voter behavior (the

inclusion of maps would have been a welcome addition), but he does satisfactor-

ily delineate the complex relationships of the political leaders to ever-changing

party labels in a pivotal state that was truly sui generis. The bibliography and

index are adequate and the lengthy appendixes include raw voting data, by

county, for each presidential and gubernatorial election. The Pennsylvania

Historical and Museum Commission is to be commended for publishing, so

cheaply in these inflationary times, another monograph in an ongoing series of

studies of crucial periods, in the state's political history.

California State College,                           J. Kent Folmar

Pennsylvania

 

 

Through One Man's Eyes, The Civil War Experiences of a Belmont County

Volunteer: Letters of James G. Theaker. Edited by Paul E. Rieger. (Mount

Vernon: Printing Arts Press, Inc., 1974. xx + 177p.; illustrations, notes,

appendixes, bibliography, index. $6.95.)

 

 

James G. Theaker (1830-1910) lived most of his long life in his home county,

"Bonnie Belmont," along the Ohio River across from Wheeling, West Virginia.

The exception was his Civil War service with the 50th O.V.I., September,

1862-July 1865. Theaker was not a particularly unusual man. He entered the

service because of a strong feeling for the Union, an attitude that he maintained

throughout the war. He was fortunate in his good health as he survived the

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90                                                    OHIO HISTORY

 

vicissitudes of camp life, sometimes more dangerous than the rebel army. He

was also a literate man and closely connected with family and friends in Bel-

mont, hence the collection of well written and informative letters. Written

mainly to his brother and sister, the letters touched on daily camplife, business

affairs at home, politics, and military developments. His desire that the rebellion

be crushed led him to advocate large-scale conscription and the use of black

soldiers. In the same vein he urged support of the Lincoln administration and a

commensurate attack on the "Copperheads." He was particularly concerned

that Ohio deny the governor's office to Clement Vallandigham in 1863. The

soldiers would support John Brough, he said, but the people at home had to carry

most of the weight. "The success of Vail. would be most disastrous to the Union

case." No doubt his company would go for Brough. "An old Democrat in the co.

received a letter from a Butternut friend, trying to influence him to vote for Vall.

Well, he cursed him and all his friends a little, and asked for a furlough to go

home and shoot him, and this is the general feeling."

Theaker's ardently pro-Union politics carried over into his thoughts on the

military. He seemed to adapt to soldiering quite well, with little complaining

about the army in his letters. His major negative comments involved the failure

of the Army of the Potomac and the general lack of aggressiveness by Union

commanders. But once the Atlanta campaign commenced his spirits rose, even

though he saw some heavy fighting. He consistently expressed confidence in his

own company and regiment and the highest regard for Generals John M.

Schofield, James B. McPherson, and always, William T. Sherman. He expres-

sed also a certain fatalism, common to many veterans, regarding the possibility

of losing his life in one of the engagements. He was wounded in the foot at the

battle of Franklin, but recovered without appreciable damage to his health or

morale. Indeed, he rejoined Sherman in the Carolinas and returned home in the

summer of 1865, fully satisfied that he had done his duty as a man and equally

happy to return to Belmont County.

It is this matter-of-factness that lends a particular flavor to the letters and in

this respect probably gives them their value. Editor Rieger has done a competent

job of annotation (with some archaic forms, which are only mildly irritating) and

while not overstating the importance of the collection, reveals a justifiable

admiration for Captain Theaker and the cause he represented.

 

Kent State University                              John T. Hubbell

 

 

Paul Laurence Dunbar: A Bibliography. By E. W. Metcalf, Jr. (Metuchen: The

Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1975. ix + 193p.; indices. $7.50.)

 

As the popularity of Black history has catapulted and expanded within the last

ten years, accompanied by the heightened interest in social and intellectual

history, Paul Laurence Dunbar is receiving new attention from scholars and

students. Professor Metcalf fills the gap with a bibliography that will help to

springboard vitally needed new research into the literary history on Dunbar and

Black Americans during the 1890s and the early 1900s. This is the first bibliog-

raphy to provide scholars with an overview of most of the writings by and about

Dunbar between 1888 to 1975.

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Book Reviews                                                    91

 

While the prominence and accomplishments of Dunbar (1872-1906) justify the

voluminous writings about his life and work, they also assure for the poet a

permanent place among the literary giants of both American history and English

literature. A single review of 3,500 words of praise by William Dean Howells the

most celebrated literary figure in the country, launched one of the most pheno-

menal careers in American literary annals. The review made Dunbar the darling

and delight of audiences from Dayton, Ohio to London, England.

Having meticulously prepared a brief introduction, the author divided the

bibliography into three sections. The first section lists material written by

Dunbar and the reprinting of his work. The second category contains secondary

material in rich detail, and competently annotated; the final division indicates

the microfilm collections of Dunbar, arranged chronologically.

There are a few suggestions, nonetheless, which may aid Professor Metcalf

whenever or if ever he elects to update his work. First of all, three important

poems written in 1893 were left out: "Deacon Jones's Grievance", May 5, 1893,

"The Lawyer's Ways", July 31, and on September 18, "The Old Country

Papers". In addition, several articles were excluded: Thomas D. Pawley,

"Dunbar as Playwright", Black World, April 1975; Philip St. Laurent, "Paul

Laurence Dunbar", Chicago Sun Times, September 1968; G. H. Hudson,

"Dunbar Dialect et La Negritude", Phylon, September 1973; Hudson, "A Poet

For All Times: Paul Laurence Dunbar, 1872-1906", National Scene, August/

September 1973; and Hudson, "Paul Laurence Dunbar: A Reconsideration,"

The Afro-American Journal, September 1973.

In other areas, the editor did not consider Herbert Aptheker's Annotated

Bibliography of the Published Writings of W.E.B. DuBois in which there are a

number of significant references to Dunbar. Moreover, the author might want to

include, later, more of the dramatic works written by Dunbar. For example:

Herrick, a delightful comedy of manners in the style of Sheridan and Wilde; On

the Island of Tanawana, replete with songs, vaudeville gags, and farcical action;

The Quibbler's Wife, apparently intended as a melodrama; The Stolen Calf,

perhaps written, directed, and acted by Dunbar; and Winter Roses, a play which

does not exist in the manuscript, but according to Benjamin Brawley was sent to

Richard Harrison.

Finally, the reviewer would suggest the mention of another category, the

unpublished Master's theses on the subject. In this area he might consider the

following: Ralph Glassgow Johnson, "The Poetry of Dunbar and McKay: A

Study", M.A. Thesis, Duquesne University, 1948; J. Cortez Cooper, "Paul

Laurence Dunbar: The Poet", M.A. Thesis, Ohio State University, 1931; Ed-

ward Eley Graham, "A Song Cycle and Its Theoretical Analysis", M.A. Thesis,

Dayton University, 1968; Sister Dolores Keller, "A Catalogue of the Books

Preserved In the Paul Laurence Dunbar House", M.A. Thesis, Dayton Univer-

sity, 1968 (this thesis is an excellent source because of the numerous poems and

notes written by and to Dunbar, writings yet unpublished); and G. H. Hudson,

"A Biography of Paul Laurence Dunbar", Doctoral Dissertation, Ohio State

University, 1970.

However, the suggestions recorded above do not destroy the value of the

Bibliography as an indispensible book with multitudinous sources on the life and

times of Dunbar. Consequently, Professor Metcalf's work is bound to be con-

sulted and to be used with profit by those students, scholars, and librarians of the

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92                                                   OHIO HISTORY

 

period whose labors touch the lives of Paul Laurence Dunbar and his contem-

poraries.

Lincoln University                            Gossie Harold Hudson

 

 

Black Americans and the White Man's Burden, 1898-1903. By Willard B.

Gatewood, Jr. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1975. xi + 352p.; notes,

bibliography, index. $12.95.)

 

Professor Willard B. Gatewood has demonstrated through careful research,

using the files of black newspapers of the period 1898-1903 from all parts of the

United States, that the opinions of blacks on the question of the United States

taking up the White Man's Burden was far from uniform. That there was

ambivalence among blacks on this question he has ably recorded, showing that

black opinion was divided in much the same manner as white. Some blacks were

in favor of the policy of expansion into the areas desired by advocates of a

"larger policy" because they believed that Hawaii, the Philippines, Cuba and

Puerto Rico would provide opportunities for United States blacks, who were

denied equality of opportunity at home, to emigrate to these areas and develop to

their optimum potential. Blacks who held this view were mostly Republicans,

many of them editors or publishers, who used the same rhetoric as the McKinley

administration in its support of an imperial adventure. In opposition to this view

the author has marshalled the opinions of blacks who were afraid of an administ-

ration that proposed to do for peoples in the insular areas what they had failed to

do for blacks at home; that is, to bring the blessings of democratic government

and Christian brotherhood to people of color. He makes clear that blacks were

aware of the inability of the majority of white political leaders and decision

makers to deal with nonwhites on a basis of equality. He graphically shows what

official Spanish propaganda depicted with telling effect-Uncle Sam hurrying

off to liberate blacks in Cuba while lynching blacks at home. The Baker case in

Lake City, South Carolina, was an example: "Frazier B. Baker, a black Repub-

lican, had encountered opposition from whites. The lengths to which they were

prepared to go in preventing Negro office holding were demonstrated on Feb-

ruary 22, 1889, when a mob set fire to Baker's house and shot at members of his

family as they tried to escape. Baker and his infant son were killed." After this

tragedy John Mitchell, a black editor, questioned the wisdom of an expansionist

policy which would affect the lives of colored people in Cuba and elsewhere.

"Tell us more about a war with Spain," he declared, "discourse no longer upon

the beauties of the 'pearl of the Antilles' (Cuba), sing no more the song of

annexation of the 'garden spot of the Pacific' (Hawaii). We can defend none of

these if we cannot protect our own citizens [living] within forty-eight hours' ride

of the national capital." Ralph W. Tyler, a prominent Ohio black man, confided

to a friend that he would not fight for the United States "as long as the nightmare

of Lake City remains undispelled."

Blacks in uniform were treated the same as black civilians. Gatewood writes

that "nothing so clearly dramatized the paradox and incongruity bred of racial

prejudice as the experience of the men of the Twenty-fourth Infantry in charge of

Spanish prisoners during their transfer from Tampa to Fort McPherson, Geor-

gia. In several towns along the route crowds of whites gathered, presumably to

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Book Reviews                                                   93

 

view the Spaniards; but the center of their attention and the target of their insults

and taunts were the Negro soldiers."

After the war racial violence seemed to assume a more brutal and inhumane

character. "Beginning with the 'massacre' in Wilmington, North Carolina, and

the mine wars in Illinois in the fall of 1898, reports of racial incidents appeared in

the press almost daily for the next two years, culminating in the bloody race riots

in New Orleans, Akron and New York in the summer of 1900." These manifesta-

tions of racial prejudice illustrated to black Americans the hypocrisy of a war for

the liberation of the Cuban peoples.

Professor Gatewood has brought together sufficient evidence to support the

contention that the period in which the United States took up the "White Man's

Burden" coincided with the nadir of the black experience in the United States.

A very important contribution by the author is his articulation of the dilemma

posed by the use and deployment of Negro troops before, during and after the

war with Spain. States were reluctant to use blacks in their Guard, and where

they were used they were in separate units. Professor Gatewood underscores

the uneasiness of governors, military commanders and the president of the

United States over the use of black troops when black people were being

lynched in practically every state in the union. Of particular interest to Ohio

readers is the lynching that took place in Urbana, Ohio, in 1897 and its con-

sequent effect on the black Ninth Batallion of the Ohio National Guard. It was

apparent that there was some concern in all sections of the country regarding the

use of blacks as soldiers in defense of a country which offered them at best

second class citizenship. Professor Gatewood gives us an insight into the his-

toric reasons for the fear which besets some white Americans today in the face of

an all volunteer army composed larely of minorities.

The author has marshalled evidence of the failure of the melting pot concept as

far as a large minority of nonwhites was concerned. He has shown how virulent

racism, incubated at home, was like a disease carried wherever the American

flag was planted. While many claimed that the Afro-American was somehow

immune to tropical diseases, Gatewood has shown that American racism was

not immune to any climate or geography. This is all that was needed to convince

black Americans that white Americans preached one thing and practiced

another.

The materials used by the author cover a wide range of letters, interviews,

manuscripts, government documents, published and unpublished theses,

periodicals and newspapers. The author relies heavily on the opinions of black

editors of newspapers, but includes the opinions and views of black politicians,

religious leaders, educators, and military personnel as well. The geographic

scope of the research covers all areas of the United States. The work is divided

into eleven chapters and a conclusion, with an excellent bibliography which uses

extant materials as well as the most recent publications of the 1970s that are

pertinent to the subject. Indexing is ably done. Gatewood's style is such that the

reader puts the book down with difficulty. It is the hope of this reviewer that

Black Americans and the White Man's Burden will be made available in a less

expensive paperback edition.

Central State University                          Rubin F. Weston

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94                                                    OHIO HISTORY

 

Into the Twenties: The United States from Armistice to Normalcy. By Burl

Noggle. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1974. ix + 233p.; notes, bib-

liography, index. $8.50.)

 

 

For many decades, historians have found the year 1920 a watershed. The

inauguration of Harding, they claim, led to the death of Progressivism and the

triumph of reaction. Professor Noggle shows that such a picture is greatly

oversimplified. Indeed, Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover "were more caretakers

than innovators," for the country was "already predisposed to move in the

direction in which they chose to go" (p. viii).

Surprisingly enough, the United States had ended World War I with high

hopes. War prosperity continued until 1921. Many Americans faced the tasks of

demobilization with optimism, believing that the discipline sustained during the

war effort could help design a sound peacetime economy. Every major interest

group, including various business organizations, possessed its own reconstruc-

tion program.

To Noggle, it was the aftermath of the Great War, not the war itself, that led to

"normalcy." In his excellent section on demobilization, the author trenchantly

reveals that Wilson advocated no reconstruction program and appeared indif-

ferent to the issue. Similarly, the President lacked a labor policy, even when

unemployment had set in, and was either confused or apathetic about the future

of the federally-controlled railroad system. Noggle suggests that Wilson's

apparent unconcern was rooted in a desire to buy off Republican demands for a

vengeful peace, although he recognizes such factors as a divided Congress and

Wilson's own fears of a huge bureaucratic machinery. (Perhaps the New Free-

dom had a longer life than we think).

Noggle's treatment of Wilson's foreign policy is equally perceptive. Relying

upon such historians as Arno J. Mayer, he covers America's intricate Russian

policy and offers a thoughtful bibliographical essay in the process. Wilson's

coveted League, he claims, was designed to "bolster and sustain an interna-

tional system of nation-states, capitalistic in trade, and governments friendly if

not patterned after that of the United States" (p. 134). Hence, Harding's effort,

centering on a world economic community in which all doors were open, merely

continued Wilsonian policies. The author also outlines the Administration's

Mexican policy, noting that by 1919 Lansing had brought the United States to

the brink of war.

Other parts of the book also possess revisionist elements. Differing with such

students of the Red Scare as Stanley Coben and John Higham, Noggle finds

more to the incident than psychic disequilibrium. Prohibition, the author claims,

was no one-dimensional movement engineered, by puritanical fanatics, but

rather a Progressive measure endorsed by a wide variety of reformers, social

workers, and businessmen. Noggle notes-almost in passing-that the flapper

movement was underway before World War I broke out, that northbound blacks

often took jobs inferior to those they had had in the South, and that a play-by-

play account of the 1919 World Series offers in itself little proof of Black Sox

guilt. The author uses current Harding research to good advantage, showing that

the Marion politician was at all times "his own man."

In short, Noggle offers an excellent synthesis. He has integrated the fresh

secondary literature with such significant primary sources as the McAdoo.

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Book Reviews                                                   95

 

Borah, and Wilson papers. His bibliography is thorough, his writing clear.

Wilson's Russian policy could have been made sharper: at times, Noggle hints

that the President was confused and uncertain (p. 129), at times he stresses an

anti-revolutionary design (p. 144). There is an occasional cliche (e.g. Amos

Pinchot "chock-full of reform enthusiasm") and banality (e.g. "With whatever

it produced, Hollywood would profoundly influence American manners and

perhaps morals as well in the years to come"-p. 173). All told, however, the

work is a most valuable one. If nothing else, it should force many professors to

rewrite their lectures.

 

New College of the University of                Justus D. Doenecke

South Florida

 

 

Yesterday's Akron: The First 150 Years. By Kenneth Nichols. (Miami: E. A.

Seemann Publishing, Inc., 1975. 120p.; 204 photographs, drawings, and

maps. $9.95.)

This reviewer, who had a number of relatives among the massive World War I

migration from West Virginia to Akron, Ohio, found Kenneth Nichols' pictorial

history, Yesterday's Akron, a personal delight. The compiler, an Akron Beacon

Journal reporter, avoided the pitfall of so many local historians who portray only

city pioneers and elites. Nichols devotes equal attention to pioneer settlers,

industrial tycoons, and civic leaders on one hand and to migrants, rubber

workers, and victims of the Great Depression on the other. The viewer runs the

gamut from the West Virginia Saloon to F. A. Seiberling's Portage Path man-

sion, "Stan Hywet"; from Hooverville and the soup line to the garish Loew's

Theater where clouds began floating and stars twinkling beneath a make-believe

sky only six months before the Great Crash; and from the race riot of 1900 and

the awesome march of hooded Klansmen in the 1920s to the "Wedding of the

Century" that united the Ford and Firestone families. One discovers the antici-

pated Goodyear-not Goodrich-blimp and the unexpected: young rubber

worker Clark Gable. In short, the book should excite as much attention in the

union hall as along Portage Path.

Certain photos that might have attracted widespread national attention, those

of the race riot of 1900 and the rubber strikes of the 1930s, unfortunately do not

equal the dramatic scenes of fleeing blacks and pursuing whites in Chicago in

1919 or the action shots of the Minneapolis truckers' strike of 1934 or the

Memorial Day Massacre in 1937. Too many photos of early buildings and street

parades remain for this reviewer's taste. On the other hand, there are some

model photos: "Stan Hywet," a muscular tire builder, the Klan march, the

Hooverville scene, the W.P.A. canning school, and cleaning women reading the

news of the Pearl Harbor attack.

The brief text is both incisive and informative, recapturing most of the city's

significant challenges and responses over the years. The serious student of the

city who has read Karl Grismer's Akron and Summit County will, however, find

little new information here. A few minor errors escaped detection, eg. Dr.

Eliakim founding Cascade a century late (p. 11); WPA activity in 1973 (p. 85);

and Wendell Wilkie campaigning for the presidency in 1944 (p. 106). The author,

basing his optimism on Akron's successful recovery from the Great Depression

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96                                                   OHIO HISTORY

 

when the city first threatened to become a ghost town, seems too sanguine about

the city's future. A permanent energy crisis, threatening both of Akron's basic

industries, rubber and trucking, poses a far more serious threat to the city than

did the temporary depression. Urban renewal, stressed in the closing pages,

offers only a temporary boon to the local construction industry but cannot arrest

a decline imposed by an energy crisis. Halting construction on a city expressway

while still leading nowhere and abandonment by railroad passenger service of a

newly erected modern urban transportation center shortly after it was com-

pleted are unhappy omens.

Ohio's secondary schools and public libraries and Akron's union halls should

make the book widely available, and Summit County social studies teachers

would find it useful in the classroom. Many present and former residents of

Akron would enjoy owning the volume, which, at today's book prices, is

modestly priced.

The Ohio State University,                       John W. Hevener

Lima Campus

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