BOOK REVIEWS*
American Political
Parties: Their Natural History. By Wilfred
E. Binkley. (New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1943. 389p.
$3.75.)
This book presents a
keen and careful analysis of American
political parties
from the development of Federalism to the Re-
publican prospects in
1944. It is not a history of
politics and
elections. Indeed one finds not very much about
national con-
ventions, events of
campaigns, Congressional debates and White
House pre- and
post-election politics. The red-fire,
the horse
trading, the flaming
oratory, the slanderous whisperings, the roor-
backs and the other
political phenomena of the American scene
are relegated
to the background. Professor
Binkley is after
more significant
objectives. Starting with the interest groups
who constructed
Hamiltonian Federalism, he follows the trail
of parties
relentlessly to find out how and why they appeared,
what manner of men
operated them, how and why they succeeded
or failed. While not ignoring luck or fortuitous
circumstances,
he makes it clear in
his hard-headed appraisal that the compro-
mise of economic
interests, the force of habits and traditions,
clever propaganda,
and skilful leadership and organization ex-
plain the course of
American parties.
The opportunism of
the great political leaders will strike the
general reader as the
outstanding feature of the book.
Andrew
Jackson. "taking
counsel with the coterie of professional poli-
ticians he had
gathered about him," and seeking out issues to hold
his party together,
may cease to be the Old Hero but his political
success becomes
easier to understand. Lincoln as a
conservative
* Editorial Note: Due
to the upheavals of the war, a good many of the Quarterly's
most faithful
book-reviewers left their assignments undone when the call came to enter
the armed services.
As a result, an unusual backlog of books "to be reviewed" piled
up in the editorial office. This fact so weighed on the
conscience of the editor that he
called upon members
of the staff to volunteer their services for book-reviewing. They
responded even better
than expected, and this issue and the next one, therefore, will
contain, along with
commentaries of more recent works by our regular reviewers,
the
hasty but sincere efforts of our own
staff "to clear the decks."
393
394 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
whig, compromising every type of
interest group among Illinois
Republicans, is not as appealing as
Lincoln, bitter foe of slavery,
but the former is the true, not the
legendary, Lincoln. Theodore
Roosevelt, master of group diplomacy, is
characterized as the last
Republican leader expert in this field.
The problems of present-
day Republicanism are largely the
product of a failure of leader-
ship.
Yet Theodore Roosevelt, masterful
executive, was an anomaly
in the Republican party.McKinley was its
perfect product,
patient, tactful, ever alert to the
voice of the people. anxious to
give every special interest a seat at
the bounteous table during
his prosperous years in office. Marcus
A. Hanna's tolerance.
common sense and practical judgment,
especially effective in deal-
ing with labor, make him more than a
shrewd businessman-poli-
tician. Yet the author's eulogistic
appraisal of the two Ohioans
seems almost too unqualified. Had fate
placed them in power
in 1893 or 1909, their methods would
have been tested far more
severely than in the halcyon days of the
turn of the century.
Would their success have been as
striking? Fate was kind to them
and to Calvin Coolidge, harsh to
Cleveland, Taft and Hoover.
On a few points the author is open to
criticism. He accepts
Haworth's verdict that Haves was elected
in 1876, legally and
ethically, though that historian's
treatment of the Louisiana prob-
lem is far from convincing. He also
ignores the evidence in
Allen Nevins's life of Abram S. Hewitt.
One may question also
the "golden opportunity" of
the Whigs in 1852 and the statement
that they failed signally by nominating
Winfield Scott, instead of
Webster or Fillmore. Circumstances
beyond their control doomed
the Whigs to defeat and dissolution, not
the candidate. A more
serious criticism is the brevity of treatment of party history
since
the Civil War. Eleven chapters take the
reader from the fram-
ing of the Constitution to the election of Grant; four suffice for
the last seventy-five years. Third
parties also receive inadequate
treatment. One could wish also for a
more comprehensive bibli-
ography but doubtless space limitations
played a part here.
Nevertheless, the hook is the best
treatment of American
parties that has yet been written and
fills a long-felt need. The
BOOK REVIEWS 395
perfunctory summaries of party history
in the numerous books
of political scientists on American
politics and the party system
have been useless to serious students of
history. Yet only the
specialist could find his way in the
vast literature on the subject.
Here at last is a synthesis which both
student and general reader
can understand and appreciate.
Ohio State University EUGENE H. ROSEBOOM.
The Fort Ancient Aspect: Its Cultural
and Chronological Position
in Mississippi Valley Archaology. By James Bennett Griffin.
(Ann Arbor, University of Michigan
Press, 1943. xv +
392p., 157 plates, 18 figures, 10 maps, 14 tables, 4 appendices
and index. $6.00.)
In 1933 the Ceramic Repository for the
Eastern United States
was established in the Museum of
Anthropology of the University
of Michigan. Its primary purpose was to
assemble documented
collections of prehistoric Indian
pottery ware in an attempt to
evaluate the significance of pottery in
establishing archaeological
classifications in the area east of the
Mississippi River. Dr.
Griffin was placed in charge of the
research program and since
that time he has been systematically
building
up the comparative
collections.
After surveying the archaeological
literature and the material
available for various prehistoric
cultures. the decision was made
to make a thorough study of the Fort
Ancient Culture which
had been delineated and named by William
C. Mills. The choice
was dictated by the fact that sites of
this culture are compara-
tively rich in pottery. The results of
this comprehensive study
have been embodied in this monograph
which was essentially
completed in 1939.
The author first discusses tile
geographical area in which sites
of the Fort Ancient Aspect are located.
Most of the sites are in
southwestern Ohio along the Ohio River
and its tributaries. but
there are also sites in northern
Kentucky, eastern Indiana and
western West Virginia. He then goes into
an extended discussion
396 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
of the attempts which have been made to
identify sites of this
culture with known historic tribes.
Starting with the facts that
the Madisonville site near Cincinnati
was occupied into the historic
period and that tribal names occur on
old maps, writers have
variously attributed the Fort Ancient
Culture to the Shawnee,
Mosopelea, Cherokee, Sioux and Iroquois
peoples. Griffin has
carefully reviewed the evidence as
furnished by old maps and
historic accounts and has conclusively
shown that the Fort Ancient
Aspect cannot be tied in with any of the
known historic tribes.
The author has grouped the components of
the Aspect into
four foci which he has termed the Baum,
Feurt, Anderson and
Madisonville. The classification was
made on the basis of the
number of traits in common with both
pottery and non-pottery
traits being taken into consideration.
The distinctions, however,
were made primarily on the occurrence of
different pottery types.
The Baum Focus includes the Baum,
Gartner, Brush Creek
and Baldwin Components. The first two
are in Ross County in the
Scioto drainage basin, the third is on
the creek of that name at
Serpent Mound and the fourth is on the
Hocking River in Fair-
field County. The Baum and Gartner
components are so closely
related that they have eighty per cent
of their traits in common.
Within the Aspect, the Baum Focus is
most closely related to the
Feurt Focus. In checking the material in
the Peabody Museum
of Harvard University from the Serpent
Mound excavations of
F. W. Putnam it was discovered that the
artifacts from the conical
mounds are Hopewell-Adena in type.
Furthermore, the effigy
itself was built in all probability by
the same people who built
the adjacent mounds. The pottery from
the village site at Ser-
pent Mound, however, is of the Baum
Cord-marked type and all
the evidence indicates that the Fort
Ancient peoples established
a village on a site that was originally
occupied by a different pre-
historic group. This Fort Ancient
complex was termed the Brush
Creek Component by Griffin to
distinguish it from the earlier
Serpent Mound Component of the
Hopewell-Adena period.
Three components make up the Feurt
Focus, Feurt, Fullerton
Field and Proctorville. The first is on
the Scioto River near
Portsmouth. the second is across the
Ohio River in Kentucky
BOOK REVIEWS 397
and the third is up the Ohio at
Proctorville. The placing of the
Fullerton Field Component in this focus
is open to question. On
the basis of pottery types as described
by the author. it seems to
have its closest affiliations with the
Fox Farm Component of the
Madisonville Focus.
The Anderson Focus is made up of six
components with the
two most important being the Anderson
Component and the Tay-
lor Mound and Village Component. A1l of
the sites of this focus
are located in the drainage of the two
Miamis except the Stokes
site which is on Paint Creek. The Stokes
Component has been
included in this focus on the basis of
very scanty evidence. It is
interesting to note that the Anderson
Cord-marked pottery is not
found in any of the other foci.
The Madisonville Focus, with eleven
components, is the larg-
est of the Aspect. In the main, the
sites are clustered around the
mouths of the two Miamis in Ohio and
Indiana, but there is one
northeast of the Licking River
(Kentucky) and several southwest
of that stream. The Madisonville Component, in the eastern
suburbs of Cincinnati, is the largest
and perhaps the most inter-
esting of all the sites of the Fort
Ancient Aspect. This site bridges
the gap between the prehistoric and
historic period as indicated by
the trade objects of white manufacture.
The principal pottery
element is the Madisonville Cord-marked
type which occurs as
small jars possessing four strap
handles. The pottery found at
the Sand Ridge Component, as shown by
the sherds which are
illustrated, seems to have as much in
common with the Anderson
Cord-marked type as it does with types
found at Madisonville.
The reviewer questions the allocation of
this component to the
Madisonville Focus. In the description
of the location of the
Turpin Component the Jennies River is
mentioned. A check of
the sources revealed no stream of that
name in the locality. How
the Buckner site "may be of
considerable importance in under-
standing the ethnological relationships
of the Fort Ancient culture"
(p. 181) is not made clear by the
author. The Clay Mound Com-
ponent was included in the Madisonville
Focus although no pottery
was available for study. It is
noteworthy that this focus has only
shell-tempered ware, a reflection of its
Middle Mississippi rela-
tionships.
398 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Griffin points out numerous
connections between the Fort
Ancient Aspect and other cultures in the
same and adjacent areas.
Traits usually thought of as Woodland
are found in the northern
foci more commonly than in the southern.
There are also traits
held in common with the Whittlesey Focus
and the Iroquois
proper of the east. Influences from the
west are shown by traits
shared with the Fisher Focus and the
Oneota Aspect of the Upper
Mississippi Phase. A number of traits
came into the Fort Ancient
culture along the Ohio River front the
Middle Mississippi Phase.
There are also definite connections with
cultures in the eastern
Tennessee area, particularly with the
complex termed "Cherokee."
In the McKern System, Griffin has
classified the Fort Ancient
Aspect in the Upper Mississippi Phase of
the Mississippi Pattern.
Chronologically, he shows that the
people of the Aspect lived in
the Ohio region in the transitional
period between the prehistoric
and historic eras. He believes that they
developed from two
groups, one with Mississippian cultural
traits and the other with
Woodland traits influenced by
Mississippian. He is of the opin-
ion that the Madisonville Focus is from
250 to 350 years old and
the other foci just slightly older. He
shows that Fort Ancient
cultural material was intrusive in
Hopewell mounds at the Tremper
and Seip groups and that the Fort
Ancient material at the Fort
Ancient Earthworks does not belong to
the builders of the earth-
works but represents a much later
occupancy. Present evidence
indicates a Hopewellian origin for the
Fort Ancient Earthworks
with a later intrusion by Anderson Focus
peoples. It is unfor-
tunate that the Fort Ancient culture
bears the name of one of the
major Hopewell Sites. The Fort Ancient
and Iroquoian cultures
were contemporaneous and influenced one
another, and the author
believes "there is a strong
probability that the cultural units of
the former was destroyed by the late
seventeenth-century raids of
the latter."
The Fort Ancient Aspect is one of the most significant books
ever published in the field of American
archeology. The author
has made a detailed study of one
cultural complex and brought
to bear on the subject information from
many sources. The
reader, however, may wonder why no
mention was made of human
BOOK REVIEWS 399
physical types. He has consciously tried to differentiate
between
facts (and well-founded interpretations
based upon the facts)
and speculations, and has presented his
material in an objective
manner. It is a good study in method for
he has carefully clas-
sified the components of one complex in
the framework of the
McKern System, starting with the
smallest units and building
upward toward the larger groupings. Too
many workers use the
terminology of the McKern System without making detailed
studies of components. They also feel
that it is necessary to
pigeonhole a culture complex even when
the data is insufficient
for the purpose. The author has
rightfully steered clear of such
terms as determinant, determinant trait
and diagnostic trait be-
cause they have been used ambiguously
and because he sees no need
for them. The greatest contribution is
the analysis of the pottery
of the Aspect for no adequate study had
been made previously.
The author has established definite
types and assigned descriptive
names to them which makes for ease in
comparison and discussion.
Each type is well-illustrated in the
excellent plates which make up
such a valuable part of the book. This
significant pottery study
should impress other archaeologists with
the importance of ceramic
comparisons in cultural classifications.
There is a comprehensive
bibliography and a good index.
The Fort Ancient Aspect is a technical study which will be a
standard work for the archaeologist
interested in the Ohio region,
yet at the same time it contains much
that will appeal to the non-
Professional reader.
R. G. M.
Old Oraibi, A Study of the Hopi
Indians of Third Mesa, by
Mischa Titiev. Papers of the Peabody
Museum of American
Archaology and Ethnology, Vol. XXII, No. I. (Cambridge,
Harvard University, 1944. xi + 277P.,
4 plates, 13 figures,
II charts and 10 tables. $4.50.)
The Hopi Indians, who speak a Shoshonean
language, live
in northeastern Arizona north of the
Little Colorado River. They
number about three thousand persons
divided among eleven vil-
400
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
lages, of which Old Oraibi and its
offshoot towns of Hotevilla,
Bakavi, New Oraibi, and Moenkopi are the
subjects of this report.
Since the Hopi are the westernmost group
of the Pueblo peoples
and live in a more or less isolated area
they have retained much
of their aboriginal culture. They have
also fought against white
influence and have determinedly tried to
retain their old customs.
They form, therefore, a good subject for
ethnological study. Old
Oraibi is of particular interest because
it was founded sometime
prior to 1150 A. D. and has been
continuously occupied since,
making it (along with the Pueblo town of
Acoma) the oldest in-
habited town in the United States. Its
population at the time this
study was made was one hundred and
twelve individuals.
In this work the author is concerned
primarily with the social
organization of the Hopi of the Third
Mesa. He has a thorough
account of their kinship system, their
ceremonial life and other
aspects of their social
organization. Their kinship system is
classificatory in nature (Crow type).
The basic principle involved,
as indicated by the kinship terms and by
the behavior of relatives
toward one another, is that all men and
women of the same clan
and same generation are real or
theoretical brothers and sisters.
The people are divided into matrilineal
clans which are totemic
and exogamous. The twenty-nine clans are
grouped into nine
larger divisions or phratries. Residence
is matrilocal, the husband
joining the wife's household.
The Hopi are organized into a number of
secret societies with
each society having charge of a single
ceremony and each society
being controlled by a specific clan.
Fetishes are kept in the clan
house in the custody of the head woman
of the clan. Many of the
ceremonies are held in the kivas, the
underground ceremonial
chambers. These ceremonies are largely
concerned with keeping
in touch with the dead who live in the
underworld and who return
in the form of clouds or Katcinas
(spirits of the dead) and bring
rain and other benefits to the living.
Titiev has made a detailed study of the
disintegration of Old
Oraibi. In 1906 the people became
divided due to internal ten-
sion which had been building up for a
period of years. The di-
vision took place between those who were
conservative and wanted
BOOK REVIEWS 401
nothing to do with the white man and his
ways and those who were
friendly to the whites. The
conservatives were forced to move out
and this resulted in the founding of the
new village of Hotevilla
and later several other towns. Titiev
points out that the type
of social organization favored easy
disintegration, for the clan
and household ties of the people were
much stronger than their
village ties. He believes that
the factors involved in the disin-
tegration of Old Oraibi may have been of
great importance in the
breaking down of the great communal
villages of the Pueblo III
Period. Archaeologists have long puzzled
over the rapid abandon-
ment of the -prehistoric villages and
have invoked changes of
climate. lowering, of the water-table,
pestilence and enemy attacks
to account for the phenomena. Titiev now
suggests that the main
reason for their disintegration may have
been internal dissension
similar the Oraibi trouble. He concludes
that "the preservation
of powerful clan ties prevented the
development of strong, central,
village administrations; and the fact
that the lesser social units
successfully retained their integrity is
ample proof that the pueblos
were never welded into homogenous
wholes." Yet Oraibi itself
has had sufficient integration to endure
for eight hundred years!
This report is primarily for the
specialist, yet it is clearly
written and should be of interest to
anyone concerned with the
American Indians and with the
integration of human societies.
R.G.M.
Bedford Village. By Hervey Allen.
(New York. Farrar and
Rinehart, Inc., 1944. 305p. $2.50)
As the second of a series of three
historical novels of Ameri-
can pioneer days, Bedford Village recounts
another year in the
life of Salathiel Albine.
Indian-fighter, adventurer, lover.
Hervey
Allen carefully places this typical
frontiersman in typical Bedford,
Pennsylvania, surrounded by many type
characters. Action re-
mains as vivid as the massacre at the
Salt Kettles and as fresh
as the sparkling sunlight. But aside
from Albine's friend, earthy,
vivacious, Melissa O'Toole, the
inhabitants mutiny, carouse,
scalp and drink as they are expected to.
and no more. The
402 OHIO
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
spread of Freemasonry to this part of
the country is described
in detail.
The historical data includes careful
attention to everyday
customs of living in the year 1764, and
the appearance of Brad-
dock, Arthur St. Clair and mention of
Franklin. As an accurate
picture of this outpost of British
Pennsylvania the novel has
definite historic worth. .Alen, unlike
Strachey, refuses to place
an unreal glamour about his characters;
and contents himself, and
probably the reader, with an accurate
chronology of individuals
and events of the exact year herein
described.
A. M.
English Bards and Grecian Marbles.
The Relationship between
Sculpture and Poetry Especially in
the Romantic Period.
[By] Stephen A. Larrabee. (New York,
Columbia Univer-
sity Press, 1943. xiii + 3I2p., front.,
illus. $3.50.')
The sculpture of Greece was an
inspiration for much poetry
by many of England's Romantic poets,
developing from merely
descriptive work to profoundly
interpretative themes. English
poets in the early 1800's found in the
Grecian marbles an expres-
sion of Beauty and the Ideal which they
not only tried to convey
in poetic imagery, but which they used
as a starting point for
projecting their ideas on history,
society, religion, art and morals.
The author has revealed for us the
Romantic poets and their
ideas in a new light.
There are twelve chapters, a list of
critical terms, a selective
bibliography and an adequate index.
C. L. W.
The Articles of Confederation: An
Interpretation of the Social
Constitutional History of the
American Revolution, 1774-
1781. By Merrill Jensen.
(Madison, University of Wis-
consin Press, 1940. viii + 284p.)
This carefully done monograph is, as the
author himself
says "An account of the writing and
ratification of the first
BOOK REVIEWS 403
Constitution of the United States in
terms of ideas and interests
of the men who wrote and ratified it,
men who by word and deed
showed that they knew precisely what the
issues were."
Dr. Jensen traces the Revolutionary
background, discussing
the internal revolution, the problem of
union, the Dickinson draft
of the Confederation, the problem of
sovereignty, early reaction
and ratification of the articles, the
Virginia and Western problem,
land speculation and the Spanish
Alliance, and the completion
of the Confederation. The book is done
with the meticulous
care that one would expect of this
author. It is factual and its
style is compact, though not sparkling.
The appendix contains
a resume of the progress of the Articles
through Congress, the
Dickinson Draft of the Confederation and
a copy of the Ar-
ticles themselves. Footnotes as well as
text are included in the
index.
B. E. J.
Reports of Joseph Ellicott as Chief
of Survey (1797-1800) and as
Agent (1800-1821) of
the Holland Land Company's Pur-
chase in Western New York.
Holland Land Company's Pa-
pers, II. Edited by Robert Warwick Bingham. Buffalo His-
torical Society Publications, XXXIII. (Buffalo, The Buffalo
Historical Society, 1941. vi +
542p. Frontispiece and
illustration.)
This belated review is of the second
volume in the Holland
Land Company Papers which contains not
only the reports of
Joseph Ellicott, the agent for the
purchase of land in Western
New York, but also those of Ellicott's
two successors in office,
Jacob S. Otto (1821-26) and David E.
Evans (1827-34). The
appendix gives the Articles of Agreement
between Joseph Ellicott
and the Holland Land Company, on Feb.
28, 1811; the Company's
Assignment or Deed to Ellicott, Feb. 28,
1811; and a Statement
of the Contents of the Subdivisions of
Genesee Territory accord-
ing to Ellicott's Map of 1799. The
frontispiece is a photograph
of the office of the Holland Land
Company at Batavia, and the
other illustration is that of William
Peacock.
404 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
One disadvantage of the volume is that
the folio numbers are
at the lower inside margins.
B. E. J.
The Harmonists, A Personal History.
By John S. Duss. (Harris-
burg, The Pennsylvania Book Service.
1943. xviii + 425p.
illus. Appendix. $3.50.)
When America was young and ferment in
Europe tool the
form of liberalism instead of
reactionism, there were a number of
religious and idealistic movements which
had their origins in the
old world but were transplanted to the
new by courageous pioneers.
One such group were the Separatists who,
under the impetus
of George Rapp of Wuertemberg, formed in
1805 the Harmony
Society, a communistic unit which
founded three towns in the
American wilderness: Harmony,
Pennsylvania; New Harmony,
Indiana: and Economy, Pennsylvania. Here
they built an agri-
cultural, industrial and commercial
empire of large income with
enormous resources, and for 100 years
their activities continued
to flourish.
It is the story of this group which is
told by one of its leaders,
who, at the age of 83, chronicles the
story of the Society from its
early days to its last desperate years
and final dissolution.
Since another group of Separatists,
under Joseph Bimeler,
founded the Zoar settlement in Ohio not
long after, and since it
existed parallel to the Harmony group
for almost as long a period.
this story has an added interest for
local historians.
Unfortunately, there is no index. The
appendix gives the
Articles of the Association of the
Harmony Society.
B. E. J.
BOOK REVIEWS 405
David Dale Owen:
Pioneer Geologist of the Middle West. By
Walter Brookfield Hendrickson. Indiana
Historical Collec-
tions, XXVII.
(Indianapolis, Indiana Historical Bureau,
1943. xiv + 180p. Illustrations. $2.00.)
This is the life story of one of the
leading geologists of the
United States, who was the son of the
even more famous Robert
Owen.
David grew up in New Harmony, Indiana, where his
father often brought home celebrated
guests such as Nicholas of
Russia, who wanted to take the young boy
back to Russia with
him. The fourth son in a homogeneous
group of eight, David
was not
allowed to go, but grew up instead to
acquire a different
training and education. He was sent to a
school in the Swiss
Alps and then to Glasgow. From there he
returned to America,
only to go back years later to enroll at
London University. He
eventually settled in Indiana where he
assiduously pursued his
chosen field of geology.
His selection of a career, his first
Indiana survey, the build-
ing of his reputation, his scientific
contributions, his insatiable
appetite for work and an estimate of his
life as a man and a
scientist form the text of this
delightful little book. Born in 1807,
David Dale Owen died in 1860, a lifetime
of fifty-three short but
highly significant ears.
The book contains an appendix with a
synopsis of his course
of lectures on geology, chemistry and
mineralogy, a bibliography
of his writings and a general
bibliography, as well as an index.
It is well worth reading.
B. E. J.
Fremont: Pathmarker of the West. By Allan Nevins. (New
York, D. Appleton-Century Co., 1939.
xvi + 649p. Illustra-
tions and maps. $5.00.
This belated notice of the biography of
John Charles Fremont
has already been adequately reviewed in
other publications. It
contains, in addition to the biography
proper, appendices listing
Fremont's children, an item on
"Corruption in St. Louis, 1861"
406
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
and E. M. Kern's letter of 1849.
There is a bibliographical note
instead of a formal bibliography and a
factual index.
B. E. J.
Simon Cameron--Ante-Bellum
Years. By Lee F. Crippen. (Ox-
ford, Ohio, The Mississippi Valley
Press, 1942. Cloth. 318p.
$3-50.)
The author has dealt in a masterful
manner with the life of
Simon Cameron who was a major figure in
American politics.
Cameron possessed a dynamic personality
and was endowed with
great ability to get things done
regardless of the apparent obstacles
which may have confronted him. He was
the most adroit political
manager in Pennsylvania and has been
given a fair share of the
credit for Lincoln's presidential
victory and served on his cabinet
as Secretary of War. He was outstanding
in his labors to bring
about a mutual spirit of union and
conciliation between the North
and the South, and he was known to have
been Lincoln's closest
adviser in the critical political
situation in 1864.
The author has succeeded in placing the
life of Simon
Cameron in its true light, and has based
his book entirely upon
documentary data.
G. M. P.
The Holmans of Veraestau. By Israel George Blake. Men of
America, IV, edited by Philip D. Jordan and Charles M.
Thomas. (Oxford, Ohio, The Mississippi
Valley Press. 1943
xiv + 280p. Illustrations.
$3.50.)
Here are the life stories of two lesser
known figures in
American history who, nevertheless,
distinguished themselves so
that their influence extended beyond
their native state of Indiana.
Jesse Lynch Holman and his son, William Steele
Holman, the cen-
tral figures in this dual biography,
served state and country for
nearly a century. The father came to the
Indiana territory in
1811, the son died in
1897.
BOOK REVIEWS
William Steele Holman served in Congress
for sixteen terms,
was known as "The Watchdog of the
Treasury" and spoke vigor-
ously and with conviction on the slavery
question and the Thir-
teenth Amendment. He opposed Lincoln's
reelection and though
one may or may not agree with his point
of view, one must admire
his forthrightness and spirit of
justice.
The book is written in a
straightforward, rather pedestrian,
but not unreadable style. The footnotes
are relegated to the back
and a frontispiece portrait of the elder
Holman and four other
illustrations embellish the text. There
is a bibliography and an
index.
B. E. J.
New Viewpoints in Georgia History. By Albert B. Saye. (Athens,
Ga.,
The University of Georgia Press. 1943. vii + 256p.
$2.50.)
This book is a study of colonial and
early state government,
and stresses the history of Georgia
before 1789. It is presented
in six chapters.
The first part of the book is devoted to
the founding of
Georgia and, by well-documented
material, refutes the usually ac-
cepted theory that Georgia was
established by James Oglethorpe
as a refuge for Englishmen imprisoned
for debt. He states that
no committee ever visited the English
prisons and not a single
person ever was sent over by the
trustees because he was im-
prisoned for debt. The author states
that the primary purpose
was to furnish a line of defense for the
southern English colonies
against the Spaniards and Indians to the
south and west. He
says that a dozen would be a fair
estimate of the number of
debtors who came to Georgia.
The author has made extensive research
for his material
in Georgia, Harvard University, as well
as in Europe, especially
in the English archives. This book gives
further evidence that
there is still much work to he done in
throwing new light upon
early American history.
H. L.
408
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Decision Reserved. By Charles A. Ludey. (Philadelphia, Dor-
rance and Co., 1941. 349p. Illus.
$3.00.)
This is the autobiography of a
small-town lawyer in Ohio
who, though at the start could afford
neither stenographer nor
typewriter, became a successful attorney
and finally tool off to
the magic of Oklahoma's oil fields.
Not especially well written, it is the
usual self-laudatory
story of the success career, which is
somewhat leavened by the
author's decided sense of humor. The Ohio part of the story
contains interesting sidelights of life
in the last part of the
nineteenth century and especially of
Marietta College in the 189O's.
B.
E. J.
A Modern Conquistador in South America. By
Clarence E. Al-
tenburg. ( Boston, Mass., The
Christopher Publishing House.
1944. 167p. Illus. $2.50.)
This is a really refreshing travel book,
written in the form
of a series of letters to the author's
wife. Tiresome details and
facts are cleverly treated. The comments by the author are
very important, in that he sets forth
some excellent advice to
potential tourists who plan, after the
war, to visit Latin America.
It is quite evident there will be a
marked increase of tourist
travel to the countries of our good
neighbors to the south. Let
us have more of such intriguing travel
books.
G. M. P.
Years of This Land--A Geographic History of the
United States.
By Herman R. Muelder and David M. Delo.
(New York, D.
Appleton-Century Company, Inc., 1943.
243p. Illus. $2.50.)
It is with terror that the reviewer
thinks back (over her days
in the history class-room--for she was
one to whom a myriad of
dry facts and dates was particularly
abhorent. Dates, a part of
her school life she wishes to forget,
but at last there has appeared
Years of This Land, our national story which is free of dates:
BOOK REVIEWS
409
written in a manner to revitalize the
reader's interest in the history
of the United States. This book is far
visioned and emphasizes
realistic planning for the
future--planning such as prevails in the
minds of most of us just now, but which
can come only from a
genuine knowledge of the past.
G. M. P.
Ante-Bellum Kentucky:
A Social History, 1800-1860. By F.
Gar-
vin Davenport. Anals of America, V, edited
by Philip D.
Jordan and Charles M. Thomas. (Oxford,
Ohio. Mississippi
Valley Press, 1943. 238p. Illus. $3.50.)
Mr. Davenport has made a really
difficult subject bright and
readable. He points with pride and may
the reviewer add, par-
donable pride, to the generous
contribution made by Kentucky
in the field of science and higher
education in the Ohio Valley.
One of the most interesting chapters in
this book entitled "Lan-
cet, Pill and Scalpel," gives a
splendid account of the struggles
of the early pioneer physicians, and the
great obstacles which con-
fronted them. The author pays glowing
tribute, and justly so,
to the few who dared to map out an
independent course and make
a courageous departure from the long
cherished rules and prin-
ciples of the old school of medicine.
Unfortunately a printer's
error escaped the attention of the
author and editors--in the run-
ning heads of the chapter entitled
"Lancet, Pill and Scalpel," as
well as in the table of contents, the
word scalpel is misspelled.
The author has handled each phase of the
intellectual growth
of Kentucky in a warm, friendly,
down-to-earth manner. It is a
book worth reading.
G. M. P.
Out of the Midwest: A Collection of
Present-Day Writing. Edited
by John T. Frederick. (New York. Whittlesey
House-Mc-
Graw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1944. viii
+ 405P. $3.50.)
Here is a collection from the very
grass-roots and heart of
America, that enormous region that
stretches from the Appala-
410
OHIO ARCEAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
chians to the Missouri River, and from
the Ohio River to the
Great Lakes and northern pines. This is
the region where may
be found old stock Americans, Germans,
Swedes, Finns, Jews.
Poles and Italians--all of the varied
strains that make up this
nation. Here are small towns and large,
farms, businesses and
industries. This is America itself.
From the mid-western compositions of
writers in the region
Professor Frederick has drawn some excellent
selections. Divid-
ing his material into six sections, he
devotes the first to "The
Cities"; the second deals with
"Ohio, Indiana, Lower Michigan"
and here the samplings are:
"Discovery of a Father," by Sher-
wood Anderson, "And Almost
Answers," by Frederic ten Hoor,
"Aunt Hanner's Surprise," by
Della T. Lutes, "Hoss Sense and
Nonsense," by Abe Martin, "The
Vampire and Grandma Nadeli."
by Jack Falstaff, and "Great Men's
Sons," by Booth Tarkington.
Other selections are divided into
"Upper Michigan, Wiscon-
sin, Minnesota"; "The
Dakota's, Nebraska, Western Kansas";
"Missouri and Eastern Kansas";
and "Iowa and Illinois."
Any collection is open to criticism, for
one man's tastes may
not be another's, and the reviewer could
suggest other selections
from the same authors (at least for the
Ohio, Indiana, Lower
Michigan group) which seem more typical
to her. On the whole,
however, the book can be said to reflect
the spirit of the Mid-
west from Louis Zara's touching tale of
"The Citizener" to Carl
Sandburg's "Prairie Waters by
Night."
B. E. J.
Iron Pioneer: Henry W. Oliver, 1840-1904. By Henry
Oliver
Evans. (New York, E. P. Dutton &
Co., Inc., 1942. xiv +
370p. Illus. $3.50.)
There is no indication anywhere in this
book as to the rela-
tionship (if any) between the author of
the biography and his
subject. Beyond the fact that both were
from Pittsburgh, the
reader is left in the lark.
Nevertheless, the story is an engaging
one, told in a sprightly
manner and giving a colorful account of
the great industrialist
BOOK REVIEWS
and railroad man whose endeavors were in
the important realms
of iron and steel rail and water
transportation.
This dynamo of energy, who, at
twenty-three, headed an im-
portant Pittsburgh manufactory, was
responsible for the present
design for blast furnaces and succeeded
in bringing two new rail-
road routes east and west through
Pittsburgh. He pushed the
development of the steel freight car. He
won the battle against
"slack watering" the Ohio
River, by substituting year-round trans-
portation for dependent or spasmodic
freshets.
The book contains a history of the South
Penn railroad and
its successor the Pennsylvania turnpike,
and gives the story of
Henry W. Oliver's pioneer efforts in the
assembling of the Lake
Superior iron ores, the ores which are
the foundation of the
United States Steel Corporation. (The Lake Erie ports and
the railroads serving them include
Toledo, Huron, Lorain, Cleve-
land, Fairport, Ashtabula, and Conneaut
in Ohio.)
Oliver may be said to have been a
pioneer of the steel era.
The book is a biography of Oliver, the
industrialist. It contains
very little on Oliver, the man.
The reader was a little at a loss to
discover the purpose of the
first two appendices, but the remaining
four are more pertinent.
There is a bibliography, a list of
reference notes by chapters
and a lengthy index.
B. E. J.
BOOK REVIEWS*
American Political
Parties: Their Natural History. By Wilfred
E. Binkley. (New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1943. 389p.
$3.75.)
This book presents a
keen and careful analysis of American
political parties
from the development of Federalism to the Re-
publican prospects in
1944. It is not a history of
politics and
elections. Indeed one finds not very much about
national con-
ventions, events of
campaigns, Congressional debates and White
House pre- and
post-election politics. The red-fire,
the horse
trading, the flaming
oratory, the slanderous whisperings, the roor-
backs and the other
political phenomena of the American scene
are relegated
to the background. Professor
Binkley is after
more significant
objectives. Starting with the interest groups
who constructed
Hamiltonian Federalism, he follows the trail
of parties
relentlessly to find out how and why they appeared,
what manner of men
operated them, how and why they succeeded
or failed. While not ignoring luck or fortuitous
circumstances,
he makes it clear in
his hard-headed appraisal that the compro-
mise of economic
interests, the force of habits and traditions,
clever propaganda,
and skilful leadership and organization ex-
plain the course of
American parties.
The opportunism of
the great political leaders will strike the
general reader as the
outstanding feature of the book.
Andrew
Jackson. "taking
counsel with the coterie of professional poli-
ticians he had
gathered about him," and seeking out issues to hold
his party together,
may cease to be the Old Hero but his political
success becomes
easier to understand. Lincoln as a
conservative
* Editorial Note: Due
to the upheavals of the war, a good many of the Quarterly's
most faithful
book-reviewers left their assignments undone when the call came to enter
the armed services.
As a result, an unusual backlog of books "to be reviewed" piled
up in the editorial office. This fact so weighed on the
conscience of the editor that he
called upon members
of the staff to volunteer their services for book-reviewing. They
responded even better
than expected, and this issue and the next one, therefore, will
contain, along with
commentaries of more recent works by our regular reviewers,
the
hasty but sincere efforts of our own
staff "to clear the decks."
393