Ohio History Journal

Book Reviews

 

 

Women and the American Labor Movement: From Colonial Times to the

Eve of World War I. By Philip S. Foner. (New York: The Free Press/

Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1979. xi + 621p.; illustrations, notes,

bibliography, index. $15.95.)

 

The wealth of material on American working women in Philip Foner's

new book should convince even the most intransigent critic of women's

history that working women do have an active, lively, and moving history.

Foner, making use of the growing body of excellent books, articles, and

dissertations on working women, as well as contemporary newspapers and

some documentary material, gives us a chronological account of the strug-

gles of working women, Black and white, to improve their lives and

transform the society in which they lived. Although most of the story

Foner tells is not new, he brings together detailed accounts of the growth

and development of various unions, sketches of the lives of union

organizers, and graphic depictions of working conditions, providing us with

a useful survey of working women's history.

To label Foner's work a survey is not to suggest that there is no analysis,

although the first chapters of the book, on the period for which secondary

work is the weakest, do suffer from a lack of systematic interpretation. By

the time Foner gets to the nineteenth century and the beginning of trade

union activity, however, a major theme begins to emerge. Foner depicts

delicately the plight of working women, caught in the inevitable bind of

having to choose between solidarity on the basis of class or sex. Sexism on

the part of male unionists, even the radicals in the Industrial Workers of

the World, and classism on the part of middle and upper class feminists, left

working women in the position of constantly working to maintain alliances

in which they had to guard carefully their own interests. It is an old story in

women's history, and Foner does a superb job of exploring all the complex-

ities of the issue. He does not flinch from exposing the array of sexist at-

titudes and practices of male workers and unionists-from Knights of

Labor founder Uriah Stephens's exclusion of women because he believed

them incapable of keeping secrets to the IWW's reliance on women during

strikes but refusal to consider the special problems of women workers after

the strikes were won. He distinguishes throughout between theoretical

commitment to women's equality, which even the AFL could manage, and

acceptance of women and their demands in practice. He is equally

forthright about the realities of the alliance between working women and

their middle and upper class feminist allies. While exposing their

sometimes patronizing attempts to "uplift" working women, their exploita-

tion of women workers as potential supporters of their own suffrage pro-

gram, and other cracks in a tenuous cross-class solidarity, he uncovers ex-

amples of real sisterhood and recognizes the important role that the

Women's Trade Union League in particular played in the history of union

organizing in the early twentieth century.

The struggle of working women within this context is the theme that

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444                                                  OHIO HISTORY

dominates the book, but sometimes it is overwhelmed by the details of par-

ticular episodes. This is a weakness of the traditional chronological

organization of the book. Foner is aware, he makes clear in his preface, of

the concern among women's historians for rethinking the usefulness of

traditional periodization for studying women's lives. Foner decided, he

says, to stay with a traditional chronological approach because it is im-

possible to separate the history of working women from that of working

men and from the social, economic, and political context of the times. That

is certainly true, but Foner's strict chronological scheme, focusing on the

origins of unions and the development of particular strikes, downplays his

interpretation of events in favor of a descriptive accounting.

Despite the emphasis on description, however, a number of interesting

subthemes emerge from the book. One is the role that strikers' wives played

in the major confrontations of the past-a heroic history recently captured

in the moving film of the great General Motors sit-down strike, "With

Babies and Banners." Another is the long history of sexual harrassment of

working women and their protests against it. Another, likewise related to a

current public policy issue, is the history of occupational safety and health

standards. A last-and one that Foner might have rather easily dealt with

explicitly-is the pattern that emerges in the development of union

organizations. From the Knights of Labor to the AFL to the Women's

Trade Union League, we see a pattern in which the organization begins with

a theoretical commitment to sexual and racial equality, but moves increas-

ingly toward an inegalitarian position, often downright exclusion. Foner

does not take the time to dwell on an explanation of this dynamic.

Certainly a thematic approach to this history would be difficult, and

Foner cannot be seriously faulted for his choice at this stage of develop-

ment in the writing of women's history. The impact of earlier work in

women's history is clear in Foner's refusal to portray working women as

passive victims of capitalism and patriarchy. Foner lets the women speak

for themselves, as they acted for themselves, and the result is a heartening

story of struggle against oppression. Foner recognizes that the women

strikers' demand in the 1912 Lawrence strike for "bread and roses, too"

represents a unique contribution of women to the American labor move-

ment. The strength of the book lies in this kind of recognition.

 

The Ohio State University                             Leila J. Rupp

 

 

The Resurgence of Race: Black Social Theory from Reconstruction to the

Pan-African Conferences. By William Toll. (Philadelphia: Temple Univer-

sity Press, 1979. ix + 270p; notes, index. $19.50.)

 

It is not very often that a monograph comes along which is of equal im-

portance to both the scholar-specialist and the lay-person. William Toll has

achieved this kind of contribution in The Resurgence of Race .... Marred

only by numerous editorial errors and the lack of a bibliography, the

volume should be must-reading for anyone interested in Afro-American

history, or, for that matter, anyone interested in American social and

cultural history in general. Toll is extremely insightfull and perceptive in

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Book Reviews                                                  445

describing the contributions not only of the two giants of the period,

Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois, but perhaps more important on

several significant lesser lights such as Alexander Crummell, George

Washington Williams, T. Thomas Fortune, John S. Durham, William

Monroe Trotter, Kelley Miller and William Ferris.

Except for the emphasis on DuBois and Washington as Black intellec-

tuals attempting to speak for a minority against massive odds, there is lit-

tle new in the volume on either man. As a major event in American cultural

history the debate between the two men is viewed from a different perspec-

tive than most other scholars have presented. The desire of both men to

liberate America from the effects of racism sets a unique framework in

which to examine the different approaches advocated by both men.

Some readers may want to challenge Toll's conclusion that only the Black

elite, the "talented tenth," recognized that a "black culture" did exist

within the Black community. Some may disagree with Toll's emphasis on

leaders, and the influence of certain white intellectuals on Black leaders;

however, in the end every reader will come away challenged in thoughtful

and provocative ways. What more can one ask for from a book?

The controversy between and among Black leaders should in no way

damage their images or contributions. The kind of intellectural exchange

that went on with these men and women only provided thoughtful stimulus

to everyone exposed to the dialogues. And further, the intellectual conflicts

between some Black leaders and some white leaders only added stimulation

to the debates.

The concepts of race and racism were on the minds of many Americans in

the years covered by this volume. Toll makes it clear that the positive

debate went on among Blacks, while the negative debate was largely

restricted intellectually to whites. The literary achievements of the Black

intellectuals that Toll discusses, in and of itself, make the volume

worthwhile. Toll convincingly demonstrates that the contributions and in-

tellectual debate of the period among Blacks involved more than two in-

dividuals-Washington and DuBois- and the other participants are noted

and carefully examined. We now know that the impact of social Darwinism

was not limited to white male Americans.

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse                  George E. Carter

 

 

The Beginnings of National Politics: An Interpretive History of the Conti-

nental Congress. By Jack N. Rakove. (New York: Alfred A Knopf, Inc.,

1979. xvii + 484p.; notes, note on primary sources, index. $15.95.)

 

In the 1950s, Merrill Jensen portrayed the Confederation period as

marked by ideological conflict between fairly cohesive groups of Radicals

and Conservatives. Since then, this relatively ignored field of American

history has been the subject of many state and national studies, generally

utilizing rollcall vote analysis and prosopography to determine the origins

and bases of political conflict. Different as many of these studies are, from

each other and from Jensen's, most of them agree that it is possible to iden-

tify two broad groups with distinctive interests and attitudes that are in

some way the precursors of American political parties.

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446                                                OHIO HISTORY

 

Jack Rakove's important book questions these conclusions. Spurning the

new methodology, he provides us with a well-written, analytical narrative

of the Continental Congress from its origins in 1774 to the Philadelphia

Convention in 1787. In the course of it he attempts answers to several key

questions. How did this body, which began as a convention of delegates to

discuss the Intolerable Acts, acquire authority and legitimacy? What were

the issues in Congress and how were its policies shaped by the exigencies of

resistance and war? Were there well-organized groups with clearly concep-

tualized ideologies or preconceived goals-of either independence in the

1770s or of the new constitutional arrangements that came out of the Con-

stitutional Convention?

Rakove sees the politics of the Confederation as shaped by changing ex-

ternal conditions, temporary expedients, transient problems, and necessary

compromises.

The men who served in the Continental Congress were inexperienced and

resentful of the rigors of congressional service, rather than professional

politicians. Rather than being allied in reasonably permanent factions, the

delegates represented distinct local interests. But, like John Roche's men of

Philadelphia in 1787, they recognized the need for compromise in order to

maintain broad public and state support for the Revolution. Personal

animosities abounded, as well as policy differences, but during the early

years these were subordinated because of a number of factors. The lack of

conciliatory gestures from England, rather than skillful manipulation by a

Radical group, promoted a broad consensus among moderates and radicals

alike on colonial resistance and eventually on the issue of independence.

Other external events-the need for foreign aid, the Lexington affair, the

need for new governments at the state level-limited the alternatives

available and thus the range of debate and conflict within Congress. In any

case, Rakove says, the delegates shared a number of assumptions concern-

ing such things as the need for some central authority to fight the war, and

thus they were intent on preserving the status of the Congress.

After 1777, this consensus tended to break down. It did so, however, not

because of the ideological differences of two "parties," but because

delegates necessarily represented the distinct interests of their states. Such

questions as western land claims, protection of New England fisheries in a

peace treaty, support of the army, Robert Morris's financial program, and

proposals to give Congress the power to tax and regulate commerce, af-

fected different states in different ways. Rakove does not see the Articles

as the triumph of a Radical, democratic group, nor the Constitution as the

preconceived goal of a tightly-knit nationalist faction.

Rakove sees history as a gradually unfolding process, with the out-

come-whether it is the decision for independence or the Constitu-

tion-dependent on the rather immediate, pressing problems of the day.

This is a check to the historical presentism that projects the issues of 1787

back to 1777. Professor Rakove, however, carries this sense of the

immediate-as-cause so far that it somewhat damages the persuasiveness of

his argument. One is not entirely convinced that history unfolds virtually

week by week as it does in his very tightly woven narrative, especially on a

topic like the evolution of republican thought, where Gordon Wood's work

remains preeminent. Rakove has done extraordinary research, but his book

is a record of what leaders thought, and it is very strictly from the national

• 4
 

Book Reviews                                                447

 

perspective. It might be even stronger than it is had he considered such

issues as the return of loyalists and such legislative divisions at the state

level as Jackson Main and others have described. It would certainly be

stronger if one got a sense of what the people thought about all this.

 

Cleveland State University                          John H. Cary

 

The Astors. By Virginia Cowles. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979. 256p.;

illustrations, family tree, appendix, select bibliography, index. $17.95.)

 

In this handsome book, Virginia Cowles continues her illumination of na-

tional cultures through the presentation of family biographies. Virginia

Cowles, born in America but long a resident of England and the Continent,

has already published Edward VII and His Circle, Winston Churchill, The

Kaiser, The Romanovs, and The Rothschilds.

The author is thus particularly well qualified to record the story of the

five generations of the Astor family, the members of which have figured so

prominently in history, both in the United States and abroad. From the ear-

ly years of the nineteenth century, through two world wars to the present,

the history of the family has been broadly representative of the growth of

and the changes in American culture.

Probably the most valuable aspects of the volume are those which make

use of the pictorial arts-painting, architecture, and photography-to

clarify and reinforce the changing society of the United States. There are

many possible approaches to history, but this richly illustrated account

places each generation of the family against the shifting panorama of

American values and society. Not only is the reader treated to a record of

dress, sports, and social mores of the Astors and their contemporaries, but

he or she is also given photographic studies of early New York,

Philadelphia, and Washington and of the early harbors and fur trails

leading to Astoria, the trading center for the American Fur Company.

When Cowles describes how the Astor family shifted its base to real estate,

the illustrations provide telling contrasts between slum life and elaborate

social events in magnificent settings.

It is interesting to note that the earliest American Astor-John Jacob-is

one of the most colorful. Arriving in Baltimore from Germany in 1783, John

Jacob at first aimed only at the sale of musical instruments. But the

fascination of the potential wealth obtainable from the fur trade led him on-

to the dangerous, lonely Indian trails toward becoming the richest man in

America. When he died in 1848, he had achieved his goal and had estab-

lished an empire and a dynasty.

Although the male descendants were always historically interesting, the

domination of real estate empires was less fascinating than the adven-

turous activities of the earliest entrepreneur. In later years it was two

women, Caroline Astor and Nancy (Lady) Astor, who provided the most col-

orful chapters in the family saga.

Caroline Astor quite literally shaped the "society" of a newly self-

conscious nineteenth century America. She invented the New York Four

Hundred (the capacity of her ballroom); gave balls costing $200,000, which

was money gained from slum ownership; and made or broke the ambitious

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448                                                OHIO HISTORY

nouveau riche who were struggling to rise in New York society. Even the

Vanderbilts failed to gain admission to Caroline's magic circle until an

equally determined woman, Alva Vanderbilt, planned such an intriguing

costume ball that Caroline capitulated in order to receive an invitation.

In the twentieth century, the vibrant, vociferous, often controversial

Nancy Astor, member of Parliament, became the gadfly of no less an impor-

tant figure than Winston Churchill. As leader of the Cliveden Set during

the 1930s, she supported Chamberlain and spoke on behalf of Hitler. But

with the actual attack on Britain, she became an inspirational leader under

fire, giving herself and her wealth to the cause of her adopted nation.

Although the "old wealth" is no longer dominant in society, the author's

friendship with and knowledge of members of the Astor family make the

last pages of the book timely indeed. Color photography is lavishly used,

especially for the residences at Cliveden and Hever Castle. The reader

wishes that previously unpublished documents and letters might have been

available to illuminate the modern era as successfully as those used for the

account of the earlier Astors. It would aid the reader to make a personal

judgement of the family rather than to accept a single viewpoint.

Although not a deeply scholarly book, and not containing new documen-

tary evidence, The Astors opens many anecdotal doors and provides in-

teresting and revealing glimpses of ourselves and of our culture.

Bowling Green State University                      Alma J. Payne

 

 

The Bakke Case: The Politics of Inequality. By Joel Dreyfuss and Charles

Lawrence III. (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979. ix + 278p.;

selected bibliography, index. $8.95 cloth; $3.95 paper.)

 

The Bakke Case has attracted the attention of many scholars and civil

libertarians. Important treatises on this subject would include Allan P.

Sindler's Bakke, Defunis, and Minority Admissions and J. Harvie Wilkin-

son III's From Brown to Bakke. Other scholars are presently preparing

works on Bakke; yet to date, perhaps Joel Dreyfuss and Charles Lawrence

have presented in their work one of the most prolific studies on the Bakke

Case. While adding depth and balance to our understanding to the Bakke

Case and the whole issue of "Reverse Discrimination," this book is also

mosaic in character.

The Bakke Case provides some insight into the medical school admission

policy at the University of California at Davis and discusses well-known

civil rights and Supreme Court activities. It also attempts to analyze

Bakke's dilemma from his point of view.

Dreyfuss and Lawrence's discussion of the case before the Supreme

Court describes both the attorneys for all parties and problems faced by Ar-

chibald Cox and Donald Reidharr, the attorneys for the University. While

Cox argued "from a trial court record not of his own making," he presented

their case well. As for Wade McCree, representing the United States

Government, and Reynold H. Colvin and Robert Links, who represented

Bakke, their arguments were just as ably presented as Cox's.

The Bakke decision, according to the authors, was "one of the most anx-

iously awaited legal decisions of the century." "Four Justices, Steven,

• 6
 

Book Reviews                                               449

Burger, Stewart and Rehnquist, had voted to order Allan Bakke admitted to

the medical school at Davis." Four others, Brennan, White, Marshall, and

Blackman, "had voted to uphold the Davis admission program." Justice

Lewis F. Powell straddled the fence and voted yes on the issue of Bakke's

admission and "that it was legitimate to use race as a factor in selecting ap-

plicants." Thus, the court had attempted to appease all parties in its deci-

sion.

Dreyfuss and Lawrence chronicled some of the then pending cases before

the Supreme Court, among them, Weber V. Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical

Corporation, and the impact that they would have on affirmative action.

Since this and other cases involved the argument by white males that they

were "being treated unfairly," the authors theorized that Americans were

refusing to see the inequities in the system as it had previously existed.

A minor criticism of this work is that the authors have failed to fully

understand the judicial system and perhaps the politics behind Supreme

Court decisions. They have also failed to comprehend the meaning of such

terms as "reverse discrimination," "competence," and "qualifications," to

see that they are "code words" for what Dreyfuss and Lawrence call "New

Racism." Another glaring problem is the omission of footnotes, and the

bibliography is quite inadequate for such an important topic. In spite of

these flaws, no one will be able to fully understand the Bakke cases without

reading this book.

North Carolina Central University               Percy E. Murray

 

 

Terrorism: Threat, Reality, Response. By Robert Kupperman and Darrell

Trent. Foreword by Walter Laqueur. (Stanford, California: Hoover Insti-

tution on War, Revolution and Peace, 1979. xxiii + 450p.; figures,

selected readings, notes, bibliography, index. $14.95.)

 

The 1970s can certainly be characterized as the "decade of the terrorist,"

and current assessments predict a continuation and possible increase in the

magnitude of transnational and international terrorism in the 1980s. As

one might expect, the escalation of terrorism has resulted in a proliferation

of books, articles, Congressional hearings and reports, conferences and

media exposes that range from crass sensationalism to serious analytical

investigation. The Kupperman and Trent study unquestionably fits into

the latter category. Drawing on their extensive experience in crisis manage-

ment at the federal level, the authors take the reader beyond the frequently

examined tactics, motivations, and weapons of the contemporary terrorist,

to investigate the effectiveness of current U.S. counterterrorist programs,

as well as to recommend new measures that they believe will improve our

ability to thwart future terrorist strikes. While this alone constitutes a ma-

jor contribution to the study of terrorism, the authors further enhance their

study by including eight essays by noted theorists and practitioners that

focus on countermeasures.

The study begins with a parsimonious review of current terrorist tactics,

weapons, targets, and cooperation both among various guerrilla groups and

with sympathetic governments. While only a prologue to the central theme,

for the uninformed reader this section will serve as an instructive introduc-

• 7
 

450                                                   OHIO HISTORY

 

tion. This is accompanied by a broadly gauged speculation of future ter-

rorist targets, as well as a thought-provoking discussion of the possible use

of nuclear, biological, or chemical devices by a terrorist group. This com-

pleted, Kupperman and Trent turn to the main purpose of the study-a

critique of current U.S. counterterrorist response, programs, and pro-

cedures. While they approach this reassessment of federal incident manage-

ment procedures and emergency preparedness programs in a "constructive

spirit," there is little doubt in this reviewer's mind that the authors find

current policy to be woefully inadequate. According to the authors, "to

curb terrorism before it produces more serious sacrifices to the deities of

apocalyptic destruction, architects of an effective counterterrorism

strategy must begin to have conviction-to care about the importance of

their task to prevent the gratuitous waste of further killing."

In light of this negative assessment, Kupperman and Trent, as well as the

theorists and practioners who contribute articles to their study, propose a

number of corrective measures for expanding and improving the federal

government's counterterrorist response repertoire. Kupperman and Trent

specifically focus on the issues of governmental reorganization, planning

and preparedness, international cooperation, and the employment of con-

comitant technological resources to thwart domestic and international ter-

rorist activities. With respect to the potential for technological responses,

the authors believe such measures are especially useful in "raising

barriers" and "hardening the sites" of societies highly vulnerable and

fragile nodes. Among the most vulnerable targets, they include "commer-

cial aircraft, natural gas pipeline, electric power grids, offshore oil rigs, and

computers storing government and corporate records." These are the type

of highly sabotage-prone targets where various technologies can lower the

vulnerability to destruction. In addition to technological factors, Kupper-

man and Trent propose a number of other measures that should be expand-

ed and developed in order to improve the U.S. counterterrorist response

repertoire. These include contingency planning, intelligence gathering,

crisis management routines, emergency preparedness programs, as well as

improved coordination and cooperation among the various federal agencies

involved in such operations. To round out their policy recommendations,

the authors include the afore mentioned eight essays. These focus on such

specific problem areas as the vulnerability of the oil and natural gas in-

dustries, crisis management procedures, the application of quantitative

techniques and computer-based heuristic modeling procedures in decision-

making, and methods for hostage negotiating.

In sum, the study constitutes a major contribution to the academic and

professional literature on terrorism. However, the authors' evaluations and

recommendations are intended to be more than merely an academic exer-

cise. They are a warning from two former insiders that to be complacent

about the threat of terrorism could result in nightmarish future events.

Catholic University                                  Richard Shultz

 

 

Interstate: Express Highway Politics, 1941-1956. By Mark H. Rose.

(Lawrence: The Regents Press of Kansas, 1979. xii + 169p.; notes,

selected bibliography, index. $14.00.)

• 8
 

Book Reviews                                               451

 

The Federal Highway Act of 1956 terminated a decades-long debate over

the merit, scope, and method of financing a comprehensive highway

building program. Although the 1956 legislation provided for the construc-

tion of 41,000 miles of limited access interstate highways and increased

federal aid to modernize established federal highways and rural roads, it

also "foreclosed most of the options in American road politics" (p. 95). The

modern interstate and urban freeway systems were the main physical

results of the program established by the Act.

Mark H. Rose has written a brief historical overview of the debate over a

national highway program. The book focuses on the period 1941-1956,

although Rose begins the study with a chapter that traces the origins of the

issue back to the 1890s. Except for a special topical chapter, "The Highway

and the City, 1945-1955," which will be of special interest to urban

historians, the work is essentially a straight chronological treatment of the

politics of the highway controversy.

The book is a good case study of the conflict between a national interest,

theoretically supported by many, that was blocked for a number of years by

parochial, regional, professional, and bureaucratic in-fighting. Consequent-

ly, the movement for a comprehensive national highway program remained

unrealized for so long because the major highway user groups and state and

federal highway officials had conflicting expectations about what the

highway system should be and contended bitterly over how it should be

financed. Narrow economic considerations, Rose argues, were more impor-

tant than major national needs or partisan politics in shaping the main con-

tours of the debate over and the final configuration of the highway pro-

gram.

A comprehensive highway program remained unrealized until the

pressure of traffic on the nation's highways became so acute by the middle

of the 1950s that the Eisenhower administration pushed for a solution.

Senator Hale Boggs (Dem., La.) and Representative George H. Fallon (Rep.,

Md.) finally unclogged the political traffic jam. From a wide variety of

demands and proposals, they pieced together a highway plan and a finan-

cial formula which provided something for nearly everyone without taxing

any economic interest too heavily. For the first time, most of the main par-

ties to the debate-commercial trucking interests and automobile clubs,

vehicle manufacturers, road contractors, oil companies, state road

engineers, farm interest, toll way officials-and their supporters in Con-

gress, the administration, and the federal bureaucracy found enough

positive features in the plan to support the Boggs-Fallon legislation.

Rose draws heavily upon federal archival sources, especially the records

of the Bureau of Public Roads and presidential papers at the FDR, Truman,

and Eisenhower libraries. Equally important is his use of papers and pro-

ceedings, both published and unpublished, of various highway user groups.

Contemporary periodicals devoted to highway matters, published govern-

ment documents, newspapers, popular magazines, and other contemporary

sources as well as a wide variety of secondary literature on the subject

round out an impressive bibliography.

Rose's writing style is clear and direct, if not exciting. Short, tightly

organized chapters help the reader travel what at times could have been a

rather tedious historical road. The author might have aided the reader more

by providing selected tables of statistics on highway mileage and funding.

• 9
 

452                                                 OHIO HISTORY

 

Although his preface promises more than the book delivers, the study is a

worthwhile introduction to the topic whose several dimensions may be

usefully studied in more detail by others. Urbanists, economic historians,

and historians of technology will undoubtedly derive the most from it.

Political and social historians will find it less useful, although all can find

within it themes for greater exploration.

 

Wright State University                            Paul G. Merriam

 

 

Double-Edged Secrets: U.S. Naval Intelligence Operations in the Pacific

during World War II. By W.J. Holmes. (Annapolis: Naval Institute

Press, 1979. x + 240p.; illustrations, maps, index. $11.95.)

 

By now every historian interested in the Second World War realizes that

intelligence derived from intercepted enemy communications-whether

known as "Magic" or as "Ultra"-shaped allied and American tactics and

strategy both in Europe and in Asia. Such intelligence, in this case wrested

from Japanese codes and ciphers, constitutes the "double-edge secrets" of

this book's title-double-edged, in the author's view, because tight secrecy

such as that surrounding World War II code-breaking can hurt as well as

help. As a naval officer, Holmes worked with Ultra in Pearl Harbor

throughout the war with Japan. His honest and balanced treatment of

secret intelligence in the Pacific naval war details both the triumphs of the

code-breaking efforts in which he took part and the disasters that

sometimes resulted from inability to convey information thus gained to

commanders and forces in mortal danger.

Many points in this volume will be of interest to historians of World War

II, naval warfare, or intelligence. The author leaves no doubt of the essen-

tial connection between signals intelligence and the effectiveness of the

submarine war against Japan; as portrayed here, submarine successes

depended almost totally on accurate information concerning Japanese ship

positions and routes. The author reiterates-correctly-the great respon-

sibility of combat intelligence units for correcting the inevitable tendency

to exaggerate losses inflicted on the enemy. Holmes also illuminates the

subtle relationship between the personality of commanders and the

character of military organizations in action. In addition, he touches on

several of the now-familiar controversies of the Pacific war. He believes, for

instance, that Admiral Kimmel was ill-treated in the aftermath of Pearl

Harbor. He also declares that American casualties in a final campaign

against the Japanese homeland would have been at least the 1 1/2 million an-

ticipated in discussions concerning the use of the atomic bomb; and he sug-

gests that they could easily have been twice that number.

In the enlarging literature on World War II signals intelligence, this book

stands out. It is well written and edited. Although it lacks source notes,

doubtless because of restrictions still in force pertaining to cryptographic

materials, it is nonetheless a fine addition to "technical revisionism" on

World War II.

Naval War College                                   Thomas Etzold

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Book Reviews                                                453

 

On the Hill: A History of the American Congress, From 1789 to the Present.

By Alvin M. Josephy, Jr. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979. 414p.;

illustrations, bibliography, index. $14.95.)

 

This work was first published in 1975 as The American Heritage History

of the Congress of the United States, which contained some three hundred

illustrations. Now, we are offered the same text, with an additional twenty

pages or so to bring the work up to date, and a bare fraction of the original

illustrative material. As it stands, this book probably should not have been

republished.

On the Hill contains no preface or introduction. So, not only do we not

know to whom Josephy is grateful, but also, among other things, we are left

in the dark, at the outset, about what his approach to the subject was, and

we are never told why he wrote the book or what his strategy with respect

to the use of sources was. Beyond this, the book has only a one-page conclu-

sion, unworthy of the name, and there are no footnotes or endnotes

whatever. The author does give us a bibliography, but it is a scant three

pages containing 116 works of which approximately 20 percent are pub-

lished primary sources. Since the author calls it a "bibliography" and not a

"selected bibliography," one must assume that these are all the sources

Josephy used; and this is troublesome. He lists no newspapers, unpublished

manuscript collections, or scholarly articles from any field; he does not even

include the Congressional Globe or Congressional Record. Even the works

he does name raise serious questions. His choice of biographies, for exam-

ple, is highly selective and limited, whether of Presidents or Congressmen,

and he often opts for outdated studies. Similarly, Leonard White's, The Jef-

fersonians appears in the bibliography, but none of White's other fine

tomes on presidential administrations. Again, he lists very few of the

multitude of recent monographs that have made use of quantitative tech-

niques to study Congressional behavior. At the very least, the author

should have written a bibliographical essay to explain his rationale for the

selection of sources.

Part of the problem may be related to Josephy's decision to discuss the

personnel and events in both houses from the first Congress through a por-

tion of the 96th Congress. To complete this task adequately in a single

volume with nine chapters would strain anyone's ability. This book lacks

depth and penetration, but not alone because of its ambitious chronological

scope. On the Hill is a narrative history that lacks critical acuity, offers no

new interpretations about Congress and its activities, and provides rather

superficial analyses, especially where congressional voting is concerned.

All of this is not to suggest that the book is devoid of a thesis and sub-

themes. The main thesis is that, although the legislative branch may not

always respond to the will of the people, "Congress is the people." Yet,

Josephy provides no empirical evidence that even the main socioeconomic

features of the public in various periods have been reflected in Congresses.

Perhaps this is so because the author does not primarily discuss Congress

as an institution. Rather, he focuses upon personalities and the most

dramatic and controversial events and crises that involved the nation's

legislators over the years. The main thrust of this work is national politics

ogled through the prism of Congress and vice versa. Josephy, however,

does treat, to a lesser extent, the growth of the role of parties in Congress;

• 11
 

454                                                   OHIO HISTORY

 

the languid evolution of Congressional rules, procedures, and traditions;

the development of internal structures in both houses, such as standing

committees and burgeoning staffs; and the periodic shifting in the propor-

tions of power between the Senate and House, as well as between the

legislative and executive branches.

Josephy, on the whole, writes with clarity and vigor. His sketches of im-

portant and sometimes outrageous legislators are interesting and often ex-

citing to read, as are his many descriptions of major crises. But it is just

these features that may present another problem. Though he indicates that

Congress moves slowly most of the time, his selection of topics and in-

dividuals tends to distort this characteristic. We are left with a falsely

dramatic image of an essentially dull, deliberate, and sluggish body of

government.

So, On the Hill is not scholarly, original, or particularly penetrating. It

does, however, provide a handy, well written, one-volume narrative account

of certain aspects of the relationship between Congress and American

politics. It contains, as well, interesting facts, anecdotes, and a few more or

less obvious trends. For these reasons, the book may be appropriate and

useful for the general reader, the person for whom almost certainly it was

written and published.

University of South Dakota                           Gerald W. Wolff

 

 

Americans on the Road: From Autocamp to Motel, 1910-1945. By Warren

James Belasco. (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1979. ix + 212p.; illustra-

tions, itinerary, notes, bibliographic guide, index. $14.95.)

 

Americans on the Road is further evidence of the gathering interest that

scholars have been showing in automotive history in recent years. It is an

especially welcome addition to the literature because the author, Warren

Belasco, an assistant professor of American studies at the University of

Maryland, deals with an aspect of the automobile's social impact, a subject

which has thus far received far less attention than that relating to the

manufacturing side of the automobile's development.

Interest in the automobile's social effects on twentieth-century America

has been greatly stimulated by the environmentalists' views which

depicted the car as perhaps the major contributor to the conditions that

were having such a negative impact on the quality of life in the latter years

of the century. Belasco admits that he was initially swayed by "the anti-

automobile arguments of the 1970s" and that he found himself "concen-

trating on negatives such as pollution, traffic, and central-city deteriora-

tion." Fortunately, he realized that even though he and many others today

do not like what the motor vehicle has done to our society, Americans in an

earlier day welcomed this new form of transportation with nearly unbound-

ed enthusiasm. As a historian, he decided he had a responsibility to seek to

determine the causes of these earlier attitudes, rather than writing another

anti-automobile historical tract for our times.

Belasco began by investigating some of the ways in which the early

owners made use of their cars. Going on the assumption that Americans

before World War II used their cars primarily for recreational purposes, an

• 12
 

Book Reviews                                                  455

 

assumption whose validity may well be questionable in the latter part of

this period, when evidence points to a sharply rising trend toward work-

related automobile driving, Belasco soon discovers that the early motorists,

in spite of the problems they had with their cars and the generally horrible

condition of many of the roads, rated the recreational travel opportunities

offered by the automobile as a decided improvement over those provided by

railroads and other existing means of transportation. Cost, convenience,

and increased flexibility in the use of travel time were factors cited in the

automobile's favor, but in addition there was the sense of adventure that

the automobile travellers shared. There was the widespread feeling that

they were pioneers in a new, freer, healthier kind of life. The problems they

encountered bound these motorists together, as a group, promoting a sense

of camaraderie among them, regardless of social status or the kind of car

they drove, with democratic implications appropriate in an era when the

Progressives were promoting an increased democratic participation in the

political sphere.

Why the author chose 1910 as the starting point for a study of the

automobile's impact on American travel habits is not clear. Accounts of

motoring trips were appearing in print by the late nineties and were becom-

ing increasingly numerous in the first decade of the twentieth century,

especially in the automotive trade journals, such as Motor Age and

Horseless Age, a group strangely absent from Belasco's lists of sources for

the period he does cover. However, by his third chapter the author has

shifted the emphasis from "Americans on the Road" to the development of

accommodations for these tourists, the subject of his subtitle. Hotels came

to be shunned by much of the motoring public both because of the inconve-

nient location of these accommodations, built to serve the railroads, and

because the services they provided, oriented toward a male, businessman

clientele, made the wives and families of the motorists' feel uncomfortable.

As an alternative to hotels, motorists took to camping along the roadside,

an approach in keeping with the healthy, fresh-air, back-to-nature image

popularized by the very character of the open cars and primitive roads of

those early years. By the period of World War I, however, many com-

munities were providing free camping facilities to encourage motorists to

stay in town and spend some money. By the early twenties more and more

communities began to charge fees and limit the number of days tourists

could stay in the camps, as a means of screening out so-called

"undesirables" and preventing the free camps from becoming a haven for

the increasing number of transients who were living more or less per-

manently on the road. Once public camps began to charge people to use

their facilities, they began to face competition from privately operated

camps which, for only a small additional charge, began to offer the motorist

who was weary of camping the luxury of a cabin as an overnight accom-

modation. From there it was only a short move to more elaborate roadside

facilities, although the Depression of the thirties and World War II delayed

the full-scale emergence of the motel and motor hotel concept until the

postwar decades.

Although the reader will regret that the author does not dwell more on

the adventures of the motorists, including such famous names as Emily

Post, whose account of her cross-country trip in 1916 is one of the many

fascinating travellers narratives he has unearthed, the thorough account

• 13
 

456                                                OHIO HISTORY

 

that Belasco provides in this pioneering study of the rapidly shifting nature

of the response to the motorists' needs for travel accomodations makes the

book a major contribution to an understanding of the numerous by-

products of the automobile's universal adoption.

Eastern Michigan University                        George S. May

 

 

Northwestern Fights and Fighters. By Cyrus Townsend Brady. (Lincoln:

University of Nebraska Press, 1979. xvii + 371p.; illustrations, notes,

appendix, index. $5.50 paper)

 

During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the United States

government systematically subdued discontented Indian tribes that

demonstrated unhappiness with their reservations. Cyrus Townsend Brady

chronicles the stories of two such tribes that resisted white subjuga-

tion-the Nez Perce and Modoc. Using eyewitness accounts and

reminiscenses of participants, Brady presents numerous views of the white

and Indian cultural conflict which culminated in the ultimate pacification of

the Nez Perce and Modoc tribes. Initially published in 1907, this reprint in-

troduces important primary source material garnered from army officers

and civilians who were directly involved in the Nez Perce and Modoc wars.

In two parts, this book provides a synthesis of the conflicts. In each sec-

tion Brady first gives a general overview of each war, preparing a setting

for subsequent first-hand accounts. For many of the major military actions,

Brady includes illustrations and maps. These complement the study and

enlighten the reader by depicting principal characters and the terrain on

which their battles were fought.

Brady begins with a narrative of the Nez Perce flight for freedom. Por-

traying the plight of these Indians as an injustice inflicted by the United

States government, the author tells how conflict developed over the Nez

Perce lands in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. In 1877 the Nez Perce were

ordered to occupy a reservation away from their traditional lands. General

0. O. Howard was to use force in removing these Indians to their reserve, if

necessary. Prompted by clashes between their people and the whites, Nez

Perce leaders such as Joseph, White Bird, and Looking Glass opted to take

their people in strategic retreat toward Canada. Over rugged mountain

trails and in harsh, inclement weather, the Indians fled. Soldiers recorded

their reminiscenses about the ensuing fights at locales such as White Bird

Canyon, Big Hole, and the Camas Meadows. Finally, tired of running and

fighting, and with his people exhausted, Joseph surrendered to General

Nelson Miles in October of 1877. The Nez Perce had forstalled some 2,000

troops with less than 300 warriors in eleven engagements while retreating

more than 2,000 miles. Considered a "military exploit of the first

magnitude," the Nez Perce trek was admired by white adversaries who

would label Joseph the "Red Napoleon of the West" for his role in the cam-

paign.

The second part of Brady's book details the Modoc War of 1872-1873 in

Oregon, where Kientpoos (better known as Captain Jack) led his Modoc

people into the lava beds of the region. There they fought the United States

Army in what Brady described as "the most costly war in which the United

• 14
 

Book Reviews                                                 457

 

States engaged, considering the number of opponents." Like the Nez Perce,

the Modocs were fighting to protest removal from their ancestral lands. In

the maze-like "land of burnt out fires," approximately 50 Modocs were able

to resist some 1,200 regular and volunteer troops at a cost of more than a

half-million dollars to the government. As tragically as the war began with

the deaths of General E. S. Canby and other whites at the hands of the

Modocs, it dramatically ended with the fugitives being betrayed by their

own people, resulting in the hanging of Captain Jack and three fellow

tribesmen. The details of the chase and eventual capture of the Modocs

were recounted lucidly by participants in the action.

These two stories of the cultural conflict between advancing whites and

the resisting Indians illustrate, in case study, the classic struggles that oc-

curred constantly on the American frontier. Brady and the contributors to

his work documented this period in the development of the American na-

tion. Brady appended letters from army officers which pertain to the Battle

of the Little Big Horn and the Wolf Mountain Campaign of 1877. These ad-

ditions serve to supplement the valuable primary information contained in

the text, the useful maps, complementary illustrations, and helpful index.

Students of the Indian wars and the American West will find this work

readable, informative, and worthwhile.

 

Northwestern Oklahoma State University          Timothy A. Zwink

 

The Narrative of Hosea Hudson. His Life as a Negro Communist in the

South. By Nell Irvin Painter. (Cambridge; Harvard University Press,

1979. xiv + 400 p.; illustrations, notes, bibliographical essay, index.

$17.50.)

In 1931 Hosea Hudson became a member of the Communist Party of the

United States of America. Such a reaction to the economic problems of the

Great Depression was not uncommon, even in Birmingham, Alabama. Not

even his background as a poor sharecropper and regular participant in fun-

damentalist religious activities made Hudson's action especially novel.

Hudson's decision was noteworthy because he was black. Even more sur-

prising was his continuing affiliation with the party for more than forty

years. Hudson needed the economic alternative: he wanted racial equality

as well. A life spent in increasing second-class status as the Jim Crow

system intensified was Hudson's stimulus to seek something better. His

decision to join the party came as a result of the Scottsboro boys' problems

with the system. The case was a sign to Hudson that hope for him lay only

in changing his society. The Communists offered to bring about that

change. Economic and social equality were sufficiently attractive to keep

Hudson faithful through the ideological shifts of his party and the persecu-

tion he endured both for his membership and for his race. The Narrative of

Hosea Hudson attempts to recreate Hudson's life from his birth in a

sharecropper's shack to his expulsion from the Mine and Mill Workers

union in 1947 for Communist activities.

As oral history, as an attempt to have a participant tell his own story in

his own way, The Narrative of Hosea Hudson is invaluable for scholars. It

helps to counter the tendency to think of the Communist Party of the 1930s

• 15
 

458                                                OHIO HISTORY

 

and 1940s as an organization of northern and western white persons. Hud-

son's story is dominated by black southern Communists. The contrast pro-

vides a better understanding of the movement.

However, the book has a flaw. Implicit in both the subtitle and the

chronology of Hudson's life, which Painter provides early in the work, is a

promise to discuss the years and events from 1898 to 1977. Painter's in-

troduction does trace the life from the beginning and at least mentions ac-

tions taken in the thirty years before 1977. But the narrative ends suddenly

in 1947 with Hudson's marriage destroyed and his association with the

union severed. The reader is left hanging, and the result is disappointment.

The narrative is so fascinating that its seeming incompletion provokes

frustration.

Despite the weakness, The Narrative of Hosea Hudson is a valuable con-

tribution to an area which has been sadly neglected. At a time when most

studies of the American Communist Party slight the South and when the

few that deal with the South are written from the less than objective

perspectives of dedicated Communists or aggressively repentant former

Communists, a Southern Communist without need to apologize is welcom-

ed.

Painter has done a skillful job of combining a number of interviews into

one connected narrative with only minimal repetition and virtually no intru-

sion of the editor into the story. Indicative of the smooth coordination of

the young historian and the old radical is the ability of both Painter and

Hudson to provide explanatory footnotes without disrupting the flow of the

narrative. The result is a successful collaboration without undue duplica-

tion of effort and a long overdue study of a neglected aspect of Southern

and black history.

 

Oklahoma State University                      J. Herschel Barnhill

 

The Vulnerable Years: The United States, 1896-1917. By Irwin Unger and

Debi Unger. (New York: New York University Press, 1978. vii + 205p.;

notes, index. $13.50.)

 

The title of this book is somewhat misleading. The dust jacket gives the

reader the impression that he will receive here a new insight, a new thesis

about the Progressive Era. Nothing of the sort. The Vulnerable Years is

merely a capable synthesis of research done by others. It is written on the

college textbook level. I found nothing particularly new or insightful in it.

The authors begin with the election of 1896 and end with America's

declaration of war in 1917. They cover all the usual points that one would

expect. The Ungers are abreast of the latest research in the field. In-

terspersed throughout the text are little bibliographical discussions of

various interpretations of disputed points that undergraduates should find

quite useful.

In the matter of the Populists, the Ungers side with those who point out

their bigotry rather than their tolerance. They take issue with those leftist

historians who offer a purely economic interpretation for imperialism dur-

ing the 1890s. They reject both the Marxists and the New Left, not only on

this matter but throughout their work. They accept Hofstadter's thesis of

• 16
 

Book Reviews                                                459

 

cultural and psychological causes underlying imperialism, although they

are willing to grant some status to Social Darwinism and economics. Cer-

tainly self-interest and economics were involved, but idealism, however

misguided, did pay a role, they say.

They offer a similar fence-straddling interpretation for American policy

in Latin America. True, they say, the United States bullied small, weak

countries, but their fates would have been worse "had a powerful nation

with Teutonic, Gallic, or even British values and attitudes sat north of the

Rio Grande...." If anything, they conclude that the United States "exer-

cised considerable restraint in its policies toward its weaker neighbors."

The authors hit their stride when they reach the subject of the Pro-

gressive Movement. Here they seem much more authoritative. They take

issue with the skeptical view of Gabriel Kolko, Samuel Hayes, and James

Weinstein that it was essentially an upper-class movement. They point out

that the lower classes were also intimately involved and benefited greatly

from the new legislation. Many of the reforms were designed specifically to

aid the poor. The middle-class did not perceive the poor as a threat to them

as their European contemporaries evidently did. Quite the contrary, the

middle-class felt that American democracy was endangered by plutocrats,

and aided the poor.

However attractive the Ungers seem to find the Progressives, they do not

offer us a whitewash. They keep their perspective, and acknowledge that in

matters of race and nationality the Progressives were sadly deficient. "Pro-

gressives like the economist Richard Ely, Albert Beveridge, and [Theodore]

Roosevelt," the admit, "were often unselfconscious bigots who accepted ex-

plicitly the superiority of the white race and especially its north European

branch.... Southern progressives were unrelenting on the color line. . "

Nor did President Wilson pass muster in this matter, his administration be-

ing characterized by a hardening of segregation.

Their discussion of Wilson's Latin American policy and the nation's en-

try into war is also thoughtful and middle-of-the road. They like Wilson, but

deplore his lack of sophistication in world affairs. The Fourteen Points and

the League of Nations were in their opinion "the finest expressions of the

progressive spirit...." They acknowledge that Wilson's dream did not lead

to paradise. But Wilson's failure, like that of Progressivism itself, they say,

was not because of any inherent defects, but because they "demanded too

much of men in the way of dedication and vigilance."

Despite its errors of judgment and failures of omission, they conclude,

the Progressive Movement was far superior to what followed it.

Kent State University                            Harold Schwartz

 

Repealing National Prohibition. By David E. Kyvig. (Chicago: The Univer-

sity of Chicago Press, 1979. xix + 274p.; illustrations, notes, biblio-

graphy, index. $21.00.)

 

Historians have never explained adequately the reasons and process by

which the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment occurred. The

historiography of this unique event is clouded with views ranging from the

contention that repeal was brought about by a powerful clique and elite to

• 17
 

460                                               OHIO HISTORY

 

further its own selfish ambitions, to the widespread belief that repeal of pro-

hibition was nationally supported and thus an inevitable outcome. In

Repealing National Prohibition David Kyvig shows that neither manipula-

tion nor fate can stand alone as the explanation for the amendment's rever-

sal. The task of obtaining support from two-thirds of Congress and three-

fourths of the states required agressive leadership, bold organization, and

massive public approval.

The adoption of national prohibition was the product of a century-long

temperance crusade, the progressive spirit of the early twentieth century,

and wartime sacrifices. The rapid ratification of the Eighteenth Amend-

ment in 1919 by state legislatures was indicative of the widespread public

acceptance. However, national prohibition would rise and fall in a span of

two decades, from first proposal to final collapse. Kyvig uses this unique

phenomenon to examine social and political ideas and practices within the

American system.

Public response to prohibition was essential to the repeal movement. But

what influenced and molded mass public opinion? Thus the emphasis of the

book concerns the leadership and organization of the advocates of repeal.

Using newly accessible materials from Wesleyan University and the files of

Pierre S. du Pont at Eleutherian Mills Historical Library, the author traces

the establishment of repeal groups, such as the influential Association

Against the Prohibition Amendment (AAPA) and the million-member

Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform (WONPR).

The concern of these groups represented much more than the desire to

legalize the liquor industry. With great detail and thorough documentation,

Kyvig demonstrates that the uniting theme of the repeal organizations was

their objection to an increasingly active and authoritative federal govern-

ment as it attempted to enforce the law. Many believed that prohibition, un-

popular and frequently violated, inculcated criminal behavior and fostered

disrespect for government and law. William H. Stayton, founder of the

AAPA, believed firmly in the rights of states and local communities to

make their own decisions about the liquor issue, and thus he feared the con-

centration of power within the federal government. The Eighteenth Amend-

ment was a threat to the right of the public to govern in local affairs.

Fearing and feeling increased federal regulation in the business sector of

the country, the du Pont brothers-Pierre, Irenee, and Lamont-along with

their close associate, John J. Raskob, came to view national pro-

hibition as a threat to governmental and social order. These men became so

active in the AAPA that they came to personify the repeal movement.

The effective women's repeal organization, the WONPR, which appeared

in 1929 and was propelled by Pauline Morton Sabin, successfully challeng-

ed the Anti-Saloon League's and Women's Christian Temperance Union's

attempt to maintain the popular assumption that women overwhelmingly

supported national prohibition. Mothers had believed that prohibition

would eliminate the temptation of drink from their children's lives, Sabin

argued, but instead they found that their children had developed a total

lack of respect for the Constitution and the law.

It was inevitable that the prohibition problem would be drawn into na-

tional partisan issues. As the party in power during the 1920s, the

Republicans became identified with the law's enforcement, while the

Democratic party shifted increasingly toward advocacy of repeal. With the

• 18
 

Book Reviews                                                461

 

sweeping Democratic victory in 1932, the repeal crusade not only was

assured but also it would have broader political influence as it affected con-

cepts and views about acceptable limits to legislative reform and govern-

mental regulation. Kyvig argues that the prohibition experience was

reflected in the cautions nature of the early New Deal reforms.

Opposition to what many regarded as the increasingly radical course of

the New Deal was developed, and was led by prominant repeal leaders, in-

cluding not only the du Pont brothers, John Raskob, and William Stayton,

but also Pauline Morton Sabin and two former Democratic presidential

nominees, John W. Davis and Alfred E. Smith. Practically the reincarna-

tion of the AAPA, this group formed the American Liberty League, a new

national organization calling for a "return to Constitutional government."

Thus the principal architects of repeal continued to have a strong political

voice as Franklin Roosevelt moved cautiously with the programs of the

first New Deal. Not until the landslide election victory in 1936 and the col-

lapse of the Liberty League did President Roosevelt move with renewed

confidence and boldness. Had it not been for the national prohibition cir-

cumstance, Kyvig concludes, the path of the New Deal might have been

substantially different.

 

Langston University                              W. Edwin Derrick

 

 

Not God: A History of Alcoholic Anonymous. By Ernest

Kurtz. (Center City, Minnesota. Hazelden Educational Services, 1979.

xiii + 363p.; appendix, notes, bibliography, bibliographic index and

general index. $12.95.)

 

Alcoholism has been a traditional social problem throughout American

history. Over the last several decades there has been a growing understand-

ing among historians and sociologists as to the nature of the groups which

periodically rise in America to fight alcoholism. Ernest Kurtz' history of

Alcoholics Anonymous will prove, with some reservations, a useful addition

to that literature. The title of this book is, however, somewhat misleading

in that it is not a narrative history of A.A., but a series of essays in which

the author offers his reflections on the history, meaning, and problems of

the organization. The first and longest essay does contain a basic history of

A.A., but its primary focus is philosophical and religious. Although the

work is based upon the author's doctoral dissertation, the historical details

become mere pegs upon which he can build a theological interpretation of

Alcoholics Anonymous. This purpose takes over completely in the last 40

percent of the volume which is devoted to a series of essays on various

aspects of A.A.

The A.A. idea began in 1934 when William Griffith Wilson, himself still

an alcoholic, realized that the way to sobriety was through one alcoholic

helping another. From this basic insight, Wilson, with the aid of other

alcoholics, built an organization which has proved of great benefit to

alcoholics throughout the world. However, as the author emphasizes,

Wilson's ideas offered much more than practical advice, because they were

based upon a solidly spiritual foundation. Wilson's own rejection of alcohol

• 19
 

462                                                 OHIO HISTORY

 

was based on a religious conversion and although a religious conversion has

never been a precondition for an alcoholic to join A.A., religious ideas and

imagery pervade the orgainzation's history. In explaining the relationship

between religion and A.A., Dr. Kurtz places great emphasis on the idea of

the alcoholic not being God. This idea, first developed by Wilson in the ear-

ly years of A.A., refers to the principle that before the organization can help

an alcoholic, the alcoholic must realize his or her powerlessness over

alcohol. There is also the concept of "not-God" which the author uses to

refer to the spiritual connectedness of the organization. Upon these two

themes the author builds a religious interpretation of Alcholics Anonymous

which emphasizes that it has historically been a spiritual fellowship of

alcoholics helping one another.

However, in building his interpretation, Dr. Kurtz does not go beyond the

context of the organization itself. His sources, some of which are not

generally accessible to historians, are drawn almost entirely from within

the organization. The author's almost complete reliance on inside sources

and religious imagery makes the book read as if it were an apology, or a vin-

dication, of Alcoholics Anonymous. For example, one can easily read the

first chapters, which describe the fall of Bill Wilson to alcoholism and his

ultimate redemption by a conversion experience, as a religious allegory. We

also find much space given to a detailed exegesis of Wilson's spiritual

struggles, but we are never told how he made his first fortune on Wall

Street in the 1920s. Dr. Kurtz does use broad generalizations drawn from

American history and from the history of religious ideas, but these do not

add up to a coherent and independent appraisal of the history of Alcoholics

Anonymous. The reader will get from this book a thorough understanding

of what it means to be a member of A.A., but we will have to wait for an ob-

jective appraisal of the place of Alcoholics Anonymous in the history of

America's alcohol problem.

 

University of Cincinnati                          Charles A. Isetts

 

 

A Ghetto Grows in Brooklyn. By Harold X. Connolly. (New York: New

York University Press, 1977. xv + 248p.; figures, notes, epilogue, index.

$15.00.)

 

The urban riots of the sixties angered, confused, and worried Americans,

but once the fires subsided, the emotions and concerns they spawned

dissipated. The repositories of interest are black organizational leaders who

still attempt to create a sense of urgency over unaddressed problems of the

present and historians who are building a library of studies of ghetto forma-

tion in the past. Harold X. Connally tries to bridge this gap between ghetto

development and contemporary social problems by extending this survey

of Bedford-Stuyvesant beyond the twenties and thirties, when earlier

monographs of northern ghettos concluded.

A Ghetto Grows in Brooklyn describes the increasingly familiar story of

expanding residential impaction and misery, low economic status and

dislocation, and the other ramifications of racial discrimination, ranging

• 20
 

Book Reviews                                                 463

 

from segregated political representatives to inferior public schools.

Bedford-Stuyvesant erupts upon the Brooklyn landscape later than

already-chronicled Harlem in Manhattan or the ghettos of Chicago and

Cleveland, demonstrating that this urban process spans the twentieth cen-

tury, even if the board outlines of development possess depressing

similarities.

But certainly there were differences as well, and Connally's study cries

out for comparative analysis. Bedford-Stuyvesant deserves its day between

book covers, but it requires comparison with those minority communities

that have been described in the historical literature. And to be able to carry

on that type of analysis, Connally would have had to present a much more

complex portrait of this ghetto than he has furnished. With few exceptions,

the subtle complexities of social structure, occupational patterns, institu-

tional and leadership roles, and ideological response to changing conditions

do not receive the sensitive, in-depth treatment they need and deserve.

Along with the absence of a comparative framework, the reader misses the

distinctions within this ghetto and its inner dynamics which would dispel

the notion of an expanding mass of urban blacks, undifferentiated by time,

place, and demographic variables other than race.

In part, the cursory treatment of so many factors may have resulted from

Connally's expressed desire to enlarge his chronological framework.

Extending his study beyond 1930 permits him to explore sporadic federal

government policies and their impact on growing ghettos. Here too,

however, the treatment is often more superficial than the reader would

want. The section on the rise of Bedford-Stuyvesant extends from 1900 to

1940, thereby masking the specific effects of the Great Depression and New

Deal programs on this community of northern blacks. Connally treats the

more recent interaction among the public war on poverty, community

development programs, and seemingly intractable ghetto problems in

greater detail and with better grasp. Still, a more intensive explora-

tion-even a case study-of an institution like the Bedford-Stuyvesant

Restoration Corporation would have documented the high expectations,

the inner tensions, and the ultimate failures of this project which raised

private funds, created jobs, and restored physical structures but failed to

gain or refused to permit community input and control. Even a case study

approach to one program of the Office of Economic Opportunity could have

underscored the bureaucratic and attitudinal shortcomings of federal

policy, could have assessed the possibilities of ameliorating festering social

and economic ills, or proved, as Connally implies, the ultimate futility of all

these approaches should the national political climate rediscover and make

a commitment to the minority poor.

In his brief conclusion, Connally raises the distressing but realistic issues

concerning the future of northern, urban blacks in light of persistant racist

values and changing spacial and demographic phenomena. Does it make

sense, he asks, to direct intelligence, good intentions and financial

resources "to save and restore the battered remnents" of decaying,

depopulated urban areas? Given moderate to heavy doses of racist and anti-

urban values, will Americans ever seriously address the problems of the

ghettos? This reader believes that Connally has asked the right questions.

Unfortunately, the quality of the historical evidence upon which the

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464                                               OHIO HISTORY

 

answers to these questions concerning public policy should rest is super-

ficial and disappointing.

 

Case Western Reserve University                      Lois Scharf

 

 

If All We Did Was to Weep at Home: A History of White Working-Class

Women. By Susan Estabrook Kennedy. (Bloomington: Indiana Universi-

ty Press, 1979. xx + 331p.; notes, bibliography, index. $17.50.)

 

Today they are called the "silent eighty per cent," but observers believe

that female blue- and pink-collar workers will have a louder voice in the next

decade. Susan Estabrook Kennedy in this well-documented study agrees

that white working-class women have begun to forge an identity of their

own at last. Indeed, Kennedy's book, part of the Minorities in Modern

America Series, demonstrates that this group has gained some recognition

among social scientists and historians.

This work, in chronicling the fate of the white working-class woman from

colonial times to 1977, focuses on the post-industrial period and on working

women. Throughout the book, Kennedy describes the attitudes of these

women toward employment and class, using testimony of middle-class sym-

pathizers, or, for the recent past, oral history sources.

The first female operatives in the New England textile factories were

Yankee farm girls who planned to return home and marry after a fairly plea-

sant and profitable interlude in the mills. Often working only eight to ten

months a year, they never thought of themselves as members of the work-

ing class. Irish, Italian and Polish immigrant women gradually replaced the

Yankee pioneers. They, too, rarely thought in terms of career or class and,

like their predecessors, planned to marry and leave the work force. Unlike

the Yankee women, however, the immigrants went to work to meet current

expenses, rather than to save for the future.

Although some women occasionally banded together to protest poor

wages and working conditions, most did not join unions, even when en-

couraged to do so. Participating in public affairs was considered unwoman-

ly. Furthermore, as Kennedy contends, most working-class women regard-

ed their situation as a temporary one. Since they believed they would soon

leave the work force, they had little incentive to participate in working-

class organizations.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, a new group of im-

migrant women, East European Jews, brought their tradition of work and

working-class consciousness with them to America. Much of the literature

on the sweated trades in New York records the plight of these women and

their heroic efforts to improve conditions. But there was little communica-

tion among ethnic groups. Even the national emergency of war failed to

unify working women or substantially improve their lot. After demobiliza-

tion, women who had taken non-traditional, often high-paying jobs, were

shifted back to traditional low-paying positions.

Since World War II, middle-class women have entered the work force in

increasing numbers. But the goals of these women-self-fulfillment and

economic advancement-were different from those of working-class women.

• 22
 

Book Reviews                                                465

 

The ideal of the latter remained marriage and motherhood. Employment

was not viewed positively, but rather reluctantly taken up when

economically necessary to supplement the earnings of the primary bread-

winner.

But the working-class woman's isolation has decreased in the last decade.

Ethnic studies have brought the white working-class woman and her prob-

lems to the attention of the public. The women have gained a new esteem

as a result. Kennedy's book is but one example of the recent spate of in-

terest in the working, or popular classes. Women, Work and Family by

Louise A. Tilly and Joan W. Scott (1978) investigated working-class women

in eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth- century France and England.

Unlike Kennedy, they studied the working-class woman within the con-

texts of family, economy and demography. They also considered the

domestic servant, the agricultural worker and the unemployed woman, all

of whom are given short shrift by Kennedy. These lapses and a lack of sub-

ject definition ("... working-class women may or may not be employed. If

they are employed, the nature of their employment usually has something

to do with their working-class status. For those who do not hold paying

jobs, their working-class status might be determined by the principal man

in their lives,...") weaken Kennedy's presentation. In sum, Kennedy

seems to rely more on anecdote than analysis. If All We Did Was to Weep

at Home is a highly readable overview of a timely but complex topic.

Wilmington College                               Mary L. Wagener

 

Hitler vs. Roosevelt: The Undeclared Naval War. By Thomas A. Bailey and

Paul B. Ryan. (New York: The Free Press, 1979. xi + 303p.; illustrations,

maps, references and notes, index. $12.95.)

Hitler Vs. Roosevelt treats a period in American history which has receiv-

ed copious attention from historians in the past. Consequently, parts of the

book are little more than restatements of well-known facts and interpreta-

tions. Its value, however, lays in the context from which Bailey and Ryan

approach the material. They focus on the undeclared naval war between

Germany and the United States, stressing the individual naval confronta-

tions and their impact on both the relations between the two countries and

the established principles of international law. A scenario depicting a per-

sonal struggle between Adolph Hitler and Franklin Roosevelt emerges.

In the authors' view, Roosevelt was a committed and realistic American

aristocrat. Acutely aware that Germany posed a threat to the United

States, he worked to oppose this threat in a manner intended to preclude

use of American troops in the European conflict. The "arsenal of

democracy" was more than a political ploy. The president hoped that aid

such as Lend-Lease would be sufficient to reinforce England and stop

Hitler. The authors admit deception in some of Roosevelt's actions, most

notably his handling of the Greer episode, but they take him at his word on

most occasions, contending that he was being straightforward with the

American People. Furthermore, Roosevelt's preoccupation with Hitler

leads them to conclude that he did not want war in the Pacific either. War

with Japan would hamper aid to Britain and thus jeopardize American

security.

• 23
 

466                                                  OHIO HISTORY

With national interest his primary concern, Roosevelt led the American

people, but he did not posture himself too far ahead of public opinion. Inter-

preting contemporary political polls, Bailey and Ryan argue that his

policies insured that the interests of the majority were not thwarted by the

interests of a vocal isolationist minority. Roosevelt led the country well, us-

ing to the fullest his powers but not overstepping the limits set for him by

the Constitution. He learned from past presidents and drew a distinction

between the "war-making" power of the commander in chief and the "war-

declaring" power which the Constitution delegated to Congress. Thus his

measures to protect Lend-Lease shipments could be exonerated.

The book treats Hitler, the other principal in this personal duel, quite ob-

jectively, albeit unfavorably. The German dictator, it suggests, fostered a

deep personal animosity toward Roosevelt. Yet this seldom interfered with

his cautious judgment. Faced particularly with his predicament on the Rus-

sian front, he tried to avoid escalating the naval confrontations, despite

numerous "unneutral" provocations on the part of the United States. In

fact, the book's analysis leads to the conclusion that on numerous occasions

it was the United States which violated international law, not Germany.

Both leaders, as the preceding discussion suggests, wanted to avoid all-

out war, but the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor dashed their hopes.

Hitler then blundered disastrously when he declared war on the United

States soon after the attack. And Roosevelt, while he had not really wanted

it, led the country into war with the overwhelming support of the American

people.

This monograph offers no strikingly new research or interpretations. But

it makes interesting reading for both the scholar and the student of history.

Political cartoons and references to public opinion polls add to the nar-

rative. And the treatment of the famous and not so famous naval en-

counters makes more understandable the machinations of both the United

States and Germany in the ominous years preceding Pearl Harbor.

 

St. Louis University                              T. Michael Ruddy

 

Elusive Equality: The Status of Black Americans in Higher Education. By

Lorenzo Morris. (Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press, 1979.

xvii + 369p.; tables, figures, comment, appendix, notes, bibliography,

annotated bibliography, index. $10.95.)

 

There is a traditional belief among ethnic students that knowledge

bestows power. Obviously this is a belief held by many non-ethnic peoples,

as pointed out in the data presentation by Lorenzo Morris's Elusive

Equality. The data suggests that learning makes people better

people-moving them closer to the source of all knowing, but at the same

time, elusive to most people, especially African-Americans. Morris does

not, however, make a clear distinction between certification and education;

that is, education ceases to be a self-realization and the acquisition of real

life skills for the majority of the American people. H. G. Wells once pointed

out that ever since the Renaissance and Reformation, Western education

has been "devoid of its soul." The presentation of the data in this work in-

dicates that special people attain special knowledge. This situation has

been especially obvious to African-American students and other ethnics

who see some white Americans having access to seemingly special

• 24
 

Book Reviews                                                467

knowledge such as books, programs, and specialized institutions of learn-

ing (See tables 7-17, 18, 19, 20).

On the other hand, Morris's presentation of the data in some aspects of

live research suggests again that white Americans are not particularly

special, and that the knowledge which seemingly has made them masters of

the world is, in fact, a cold and shallow knowledge with a lack of real life

skills that are beneficial to most peoples other than some whites.

This important book does fill a major gap in institutions of higher educa-

tion demographics since the 1960s because it seeks to expand the boun-

daries of research concerning the role of educating ethnic peoples by con-

centrating on the characteristics and perceptions of the education of ethnic

groups in selected colleges and universities throughout the United States.

This writer feels that the study had two objectives: to provide insight in-

to the selection process through which ethnic students were admitted to

respective institutions of higher education; and to provide data regarding

the admission of these students.

Over the past few years, ethnic and African-American student

enrollments in institutions of higher education have become a major focus

of educational administrators. Much of this attention has been centered

around recruitment and retention. To date, a number of studies have been

made involving enrollment patterns in post-secondary institutions

throughout the United States in terms of racial parity.

The variations in the racial distribution of American college students ex-

pressed in the author's search of the literature, related to enrollment and

degrees awarded, does suggest that a perpetuated system of inequality of

educational opportunity still prevails in the United States because it does

not seek to meet the needs of the "grass roots." To provide this study with

more genuinely useful information about the status of ethnic and African-

American students in predominantly non-African-American colleges and

universities and those that are predominantly African-American, more

precise enrollment figures on African-Americans and ethnics are needed.

The definition of a "non-black" college or university used in the study could

be explained to indicate that an African-American and ethnic enrollment of

eight percent at a white college or university with twelve thousand

students is probably more significant than an African-American-ethnic

enrollment of fifty percent at an institution with fewer than nine hundred

students. Furthermore, the data does not support recent surveys of two-

year institutions. Data collected by the United States Office for Civil

Rights on ethnic composition in two-year colleges are several years old and

not altogether reliable at this time. Therefore, only a sampling of enroll-

ment data from two-year colleges has been included in this study in view of

the ever-changing racial composition in two-year college enrollment

patterns, which points out that it is difficult to measure total "Elusive

Equality" in higher education for African-American and ethnic students

due to the absence of any latest data on enrollment patterns in two-year in-

stitutions.

Again, a more in-depth inquiry based on more specific student

characteristics could determine more clearly what ideas and values in-

fluence the ethnic and African-American students' school selection

patterns. For example, the African-American Church has always been a

multi-faceted institution shaping ideas and values for potential students.

 

Cuyahoga Community College                      Sylvester E. Davis

• 25