Ohio History Journal

Book Reviews

 

 

 

Empire as a Way of life: An Essay on the Causes and Character of America's

Present Predicament Along With a Few Thoughts About an Alternative.

By William Appleman Williams. (New York: Oxford University Press,

1980. xiv + 226p.; notes. $14.95.)

 

Even more than most of the works of William Appleman Williams, this

slim volume is an attempt to influence the social and political currents of

our time. Unfortunately, it is written with no sense of the tensions that

necessarily exist between scholarship and public advocacy and makes no

apparent effort to reconcile the two purposes. As a result, scholarship

emerges as a battered loser.

"The American sense of progress hinges on the lineal projection of the

imperial idea: from the British mercantilists . . . through Harry Truman,"

declares Professor Williams in a concise statement of his thesis (p. 220).

Along the way, almost every figure whose name appears in the annals of

American history-Locke, Franklin, Jefferson, and Lincoln, among

others-is depicted as an imperialist. Every piece of nationalist rhetoric,

every example of geographical, cultural, or commercial expansionism, ev-

ery act of resistance to some aggression, every deployment of military power

in foreign territory, if only to suppress piracy-all become examples of

imperialism. Some of course were imperialist and are generally considered

such; others would seem to require a special definition of that word.

The case of Lincoln most glaringly illustrates the challenge this book

poses to rational historical analysis. From Williams' perspective, the use of

military power to maintain the Union was an act of imperialism, using "one

evil, empire, to destroy another evil, slavery" (p. 91). He goes on to suggest a

bizarre metaphor in which Lincoln becomes "the first major American lead-

er who was truly a Faustian figure" (p. 92). The Great Emancipator's pact

with the Devil amounted to gaining power by engaging in deceit about his

true purpose of destroying slavery and Southern culture, then by being

prepared to wage a quick, cheap war if the South actually seceded. The long,

bloody conflict that followed amounted to a failure to "zap the Confederacy"

(p. 93). Lincoln "had rolled snake eyes with the Devil," and the Civil war

became yet another terrible chapter in the long, unhappy saga of the Amer-

ican empire (p. 93).

The United States is to be sure a nation that long has occupied an impe-

rial position in the world, as does any large powerful nation with far-flung

interests and contacts; and at numerous points in its history it has behaved

toward other countries in a blatantly self-aggrandizing fashion. One may

question, however, whether America has been as uniquely or as consistent-

ly imperialist, in the perjorative sense of the word, as William asserts. The

reality of the American imperial status strikes me as both more complex

and less sinister than he believes.

It is hard to believe that this book is meant to be taken seriously; yet such

seems to be the author's intention, and he has a legion of devoted followers

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338                                                  OHIO HISTORY

 

who consider him the preeminent historian of our time. The sources of his

influence are easy enough to discern. He writes in the still-appealing tradi-

tion of Beardian historiography, however much he has vulgarized it, and his

strictures touch every exposed nerve of the left-liberal and radical impulses

that dominate American intellectual life. Still, with book after book, re-

viewers have pointed out his disregard for factual accuracy and for the

accepted canons of scholarly analysis.

At this writing, Professor Williams is concluding a term as President of

the Organization of American Historians. What that tells us about the state

of the profession is, like the nature of empire, a matter of individual inter-

pretation.

 

Ohio University                                    Alonzo L. Hamby

 

 

Language of Violence: The Blood Politics of Terrorism. By Edgar O'Bal-

lance. (San Rafael, California: Presidio Press, 1979. ³⁶⁵p.; map, bib-

liography, appendix, index. $12.95.)

 

The title of this study suggests that the author has undertaken a compre-

hensive examination of international terrorism. In fact, this is not the case.

The book is primarily a detailed and impressive chronology of the origins

and development of terrorism in the Middle East. In this respect, Mr. O'-

Ballance has certainly done his homework. While he begins by taking the

reader back to the eleventh century when Hassan Ben Sabbah initiated a

reign of terror in order to extend his influence from the Persian Gulf to the

Mediterranean Sea, the author moves swiftly to his main concern, the role

of terrorism in the Arab-Israeli conflict. However, before examining the

principal architects of terrorism in the Middle East, the various Fedayeen

factions, O'Ballance briefly outlines the use of extremist tactics by such

Zionist groups as the Irgun (IZL) and Stern Gang (FFI). He also presents an

interesting discussion of Israel's principal counter-terrorist organization,

the Mossad.

These preliminaries completed, the author turns his attention to the

main focus of the book, the rise of the Fedayeen movements. Spanning some

twelve chapters, O'Ballance weaves an intricate web for the reader. Com-

bining a wealth of information with a readable style, he examines the

origins, factional in-fighting, and international terrorist contacts of the

Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), as well as every major action it

has undertaken. While this is very informative and somewhat intriguing

for the general reader, there is nothing new in this chronological descrip-

tion for the specialist. Additionally, the lack of footnotes may leave the

specialist in the field of political terrorism somewhat dubious about the

reliability of some of the factual material.

If the strength of the study is in the comprehensiveness of its historical

presentation, its major weaknesses lie in the following two areas: one, there

is no attempt to place these events into a larger analytical framework that

would be useful for the academic expert or professional community analyst;

and two, in those few chapters where the author ventures outside the Mid-

dle East, his presentation is sketchy and incomplete. This is certainly true

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Book Reviews                                                   339

 

of his attempt to examine every major terrorist group (in less than 30

pages), as well as his chapters on the profile of a terrorist, the possibility of

nuclear terrorism, and various government counter-terrorist programs.

Particularly in the latter case, the author hardly scratches the surface.

In sum, for the general reader this is an interesting and provocative book.

However, for the academic specialist, as well as members of the professional

and operational communities, the study offers little that is new.

 

Catholic University                                  Richard Shultz

 

 

The NAACP Crusade Against Lynching, 1909-1950. By Robert L. Zangran-

do. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1980. ix + 309p.; tables,

notes, bibliography, index. $19.50.)

 

The NAACP Crusade Against Lynching, 1909-1950 is a solid, scholarly,

and masterful contribution to the history of the Civil Rights Movement.

Zangrando details the efforts made by the most influential biracial reform

organization of this century-the National Association for the Advance-

ment of Colored People-to end lynching and mob violence in the American

society.

In his chapter aptly entitled "At the Hands of Parties Unknown," Zan-

grando surveys the literature and historical implications of lynching and

mob violence and concludes, in unequivocal fashion, that above all else

"lynching was a means to intimidate, degrade, and control black people

throughout the southern and border states, from Reconstruction to the mid-

twentieth century." Neither is there an apologetic tone couched in Zangran-

do's analysis of the many alleged causes of lynching, particularly the "myth

of rape/protection of southern white womanhood" rationale. In the final

analysis, and despite the fact that lynching claimed an occasional white

victim, the "ultimate crime," asserts Zangrando, "was being black in a

white world."

Born in an era that witnessed both a vehement racism and progressive

political rhetoric, the NAACP rose to challenge mobbism and lynch "law."

Zangrando offers provocative insights into the progressive mind and argues

that from the very outset, certain philosophical restraints flawed the "liber-

alism" of progressivism. "In very significant ways," he concludes, "the

NAACP was faced with conditions beyond its means to remedy."

Bleak though its prospects were, the fledgling Association set upon a

course of action to bring an end to a most horrendous societal "tradition."

Perhaps few other histories of the Civil Rights Movement have examined

with such precision the Association's efforts in attempting to establish lines

of communication with various state and local officials, prominent and in-

fluential citizens, members of Congress, the use of the print media, and

finally, to elicit both public condemnation and support from the White

House. From Taft to Truman, the Association, as Zangrando shows, drew

upon all available resources only to see, save the House passage of the Dyer

Bill in 1921 and subsequent measures adopted by this body, politicians

"sacrifice" the ultimate fate of anti-lynching legislation to "larger public

necessities."

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340                                                   OHIO HISTORY

 

While clearly maintaining his focus on the efforts of the Association,

Zangrando peppers his analysis with black-advocated alternatives to the

"establishment posture" of the NAACP. Moreover, he does not neglect the

growth of self-confidence and determination from within the Afro-American

community to meet the challenges of mobbism and lynching.

Zangrando includes many of the internal debates and personality clashes

that found a place within the Association's inner circle. We are given, for

example, a substantial measure of the "stuff" from which such notables as

James Weldon Johnson and Walter White were made. Perhaps too little

attention, however, is given W.E.B. DuBois in the crusade against lynching

before his initial departure from the Association. One also senses in Zan-

grando a personal understanding of the urgency of the crisis confronting

black America, then and now, when he states of Walter White's divorce and

subsequent marriage to a white woman in 1949: [His] "personal life had no

direct bearing on the larger issue of national civil rights legislation. But it

seemed somehow oddly fitting that he should have made this dramatic

change in life style just as the anti-lynching bill, for which he sacrificed so

much, was undergoing its last major test in Congress."

More than any personal decisions made by Walter White, the American

Nation must bear the responsibility for the legislative defeat of anti-

lynching measures during the period. In effect, the nation allowed lynch

"law" to run its course, leaving countless victims in its wake.

In the more than forty years of its struggle to end lynching, the NAACP

did gain national attention, increased both its membership and its coffers,

expanded its interest into other areas and conditions of black life, and in

true American reform tradition, balked at and even battled views and

alternatives advanced by the "left." The Association, initially because of

necessity and later out of a certain self-righteousness, saw itself as the

rightful defender of the Afro-American's civil rights. This was, in part, a

natural development or progression phase for an organization that entered

such a dramatic struggle for greater justice and plain human decency at the

precise moment when most Americans either accepted or stood in quiet

indifference to the status quo of lynching and mob violence. While the

Association, as Zangrando points out, was never truly alone in its efforts, it

did stand head and shoulders above all others in its opposition to mobbism.

In this splendid history of the Crusade against lynching, Robert Zangran-

do has done his part to bring a "healing remedy" to a most shameful era in

the American experiment.

 

University of Arkansas at Little Rock                  Lee Williams

 

 

Over Here: The First World War and American Society. By David Kennedy.

(New York: Oxford University Press, 1980. vii + 404p.; notes, bibliogra-

phy, index. $19.95.)

 

In his new book, David M. Kennedy describes and analyzes the American

experience in the First World War. Densely packed with information and

insights, well organized and elegantly written, Over Here reconsiders famil-

iar topics, introduces some new evidence, and synthesizes research by other

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Book Reviews                                                    341

 

scholars, including much of recent vintage. Kennedy does not treat every

aspect of wartime America, but he comes close, tackling key political, social,

intellectual, military, economic and diplomatic developments. His conclu-

sions, though often not original, are arrestingly made. In considering the

war's effect on progressive thinkers, for example, Kennedy insists that Ran-

dolph Bourne "did not have a monopoly on intelligence and courage in

1917." "The remarkable thing about the support that John Dewey and most

other progressive thinkers gave to the war," he suggests, "was its carefully

qualified and highly contingent character. Their conversion from peace to

war signified neither stupid self-delusion nor weak-kneed whoring after

'influence,' as Bourne notoriously argued" (p. 52). Bourne's gloomy prophe-

cy of the reactionary consequences of the war was of course fulfilled, howev-

er, and progressive thinkers consequently lost faith in democracy. "The

spiritual bloodletting," Kennedy concludes, "very nearly drained the last

reserves of utopianism from American social thought" (p. 92).

In a perceptive treatment of the postwar writers of disillusionment, Ken-

nedy points out that they "protested less against the war itself than against

a way of seeing and describing the war" (p. 225). For the generation of

writers "that came to the fore after 1918," Kennedy reflects, the war became

"a fabulously useful, if expensively purchased, metaphor for the corruption

of the culture they had under siege" (p. 227). Interestingly, the postwar

novelists of protest "saw and remembered a different war than that which

most of 'Pershing's Crusaders' had witnessed. Most of the young men in the

AEF had arrived too late and moved too swiftly to be deeply disabused of

their adventurous expectations" (pp. 229-30). The war nurtured a new sen-

sibility in high culture while popular culture adhered to an older one, as

reflected respectively in the novels of Hemingway, Dos Passos, and Cum-

mings, and in the diaries and letters of doughboys.

Kennedy's discussions of more tangible matters are usually equally dis-

cerning. He observes that Wilson and his war managers mobilized the econ-

omy though voluntaristic rather than formal means because of traditional

American distaste for political authority. Shunning such authority, they

actually helped unleash the hysterical authoritarianism of the crowd. In

considering diplomacy, Kennedy recognizes certain manifestations of

America's outward economic thrust, though he is unpersuaded by histo-

rians who argue for the centrality of expansionism. Kennedy instead

emphasizes this country's insularity. "Despite the vastly increased role that

America was now called upon to play in the international economic order,"

he concludes, "she had neither the skills, nor the wisdom, nor the compul-

sion of interest to play that role as productively as Great Britain had played

her part in the nineteenth century" (pp. 346-47). During the fighting, Per-

shing's insistence on keeping the American army separate from Allied

forces also in part reflected this nation's aversion to Old World involvement.

Rather than make a central argument, Kennedy tells a multifaceted

story. Although many individual pieces of the story have been known, no

one previously has tied them together so effectively. Over Here is a very

valuable and extremely well-crafted synthesis which deserves to be brought

out in a less expensive paperback edition in the near future so that it may

be assigned as a text.

 

University of Virginia                               Carl M. Brauer

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342                                                    OHIO HISTORY

 

New York's Forts in the Revolution. By Robert B. Roberts. (Cranbury, New

Jersey: Associated University Presses, 1980. 521p.; illustrations, notes,

glossary, bibliography, index. $27.50.)

 

The study of fortifications readily lends itself to temporal, and to a lesser

extent regional, approaches. Engineers, superintendents of construction

and master builder/carpenters who worked on a specific fort were quickly

recognized as "experts" in their field, and their assistance was frequently

solicited on new fortifications. Thus, a close examination of any group or

series of fortifications often reveals a relatively small group of individuals

involved in the planning and supervision of their construction. This is espe-

cially true where a major geographical feature like a river valley serves to

channel military activities. It logically follows that a wide range of forts

constructed within a specific time period and within a certain region can

have identical architectural features; and studies which promote that type

of comparison can be extremely valuable.

Any architectural study runs the risk of treating buildings in an abstract

manner separate from their human environment and perspectives. The

historian of military architecture must make an effort to appreciate the

military strategy, life, and activities that necessitated and utilized the

structures in the forts, for a knowledge of the former promotes an under-

standing of the latter and vice versa.

Robert Roberts' book on New York forts in the American Revolution is

very sound in concept and approach, since it falls into both temporal and

regional frameworks. The author describes the location, historical context,

structural information, and present conditions of 130 British and American

forts. But his major focus in both the general introductory chapter on the

war in New York and within each article on the various forts is the military

history surrounding the construction of the fortifications. A large segment

of the text discusses the colonial era history of many of the forts, including

several French structures that were later used by Revolutionary armies. In

this manner, Roberts brings together a useful body of material and re-

sources on eighteeth-century American military architecture.

Unfortunately, the overall utility of the volume is marred by some very

significant faults. While the author should be commended for including the

human element of his story, he has, at the same time, created a text bur-

dened with excessive detail. Roberts has apparently made a considerable

effort to obtain the exact facts surrounding the construction and use of each

fort, admittedly a highly worthwhile endeavor; but he seldom takes that

important step backward to see how all these scattered facts and forts relate

to one another. It is a classic case of not seeing the forest for all the trees.

Some of the details of the text are, in fact, irrelevant to the specific temporal

and geographic framework of the various articles. The several pages of the

proprietary history of Constitution Island are certainly an example of this.

Roberts' preparation of notes for only selected fortifications and his employ-

ment of an abbreviated listing of sources for the remainder also restrict the

practical efficiency of the volume.

The publisher, too, has done less than could be expected. Many of the

textual deficiencies could be corrected with a comprehensive editorial job.

Further, the omission of statewide or regional maps locating the forts tends

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Book Reviews                                                  343

 

to work against all but the most familiar with New York geography. Finally

the size and quality of many of the illustrations are disappointing, and some

are reproduced in such small format as to be illegible.

By the end of the Revolution, New York was dotted with fortifications of

many sizes and forms. There were so many that the Mohawk Indian Chief,

Joseph Brant, reportedly complained that the effectiveness of their raids on

American villages was restricted because the settlers ran into forts "like

ground-hogs." This situation in New York compares favorably with that of

Ohio at the end of the War of 1812. Population density of the two states was

very similar during these two periods, a fact reflected in the construction of

numerous stockades and blockhouses in Ohio in 1812. To date, no compre-

hensive study of these latter structures has been done, and Roberts' work on

New York should help to inspire a similar work about the Ohio forts.

 

Ohio Historical Society                          David A. Simmons

 

 

 

An Early Latter Day Saint History: The Book of John Whitmer Kept by

Commandment. Edited by F. Mark McKiernan and Roger D. Lanius.

(Independence, Missouri: Herald Publishing House, 1980. ²13p.; notes,

bibliographical essay, index. $8.00 paper.)

 

The subtitle of this work could truthfully be written as "Nobody Knows

the Trouble I've Seen." In 1831 a group of the growing Mormon Church

suggested to Joseph Smith that the organization should have a history; a

revelation came to the Churchleader. This work resulted and John Whitmer

became the historian by command.

The main years covered are 1831 to 1835, with some overlapping at each

end. The geographical area extends from western New York to Kirtland,

Ohio, and then to Nauvoo for a limited extent, mainly pivoting about the

tumultuous area of western Missouri. The turbulence somewhat resembled

that of the Kansas of John Brown's period. Many of the Mormons coming

into the area had New England backgrounds, and hence were abolitionists

in the minds of many hostile Missourians. Add to this hostility the religious

leadership of Joseph Smith and the closely knit communal beliefs of the

Mormons and trouble was certain to occur; it did, with a vengence. Reli-

gious beliefs, if adhered to steadfastly, often cause violence; such was the

case during the years of the Mormon hegira. The Church was beset with

problems not only from without, but from within as well. John Whitmer,

himself, was excommunicated from the Church, as were his father and

brother. In addition, other leading men of this period, such as Oliver Cow-

dery, Sidney Rigdon and Martin Harris, were expelled. These men were

ousted although they had seen the golden plates and never denied their

belief in Joseph Smith. Thus although this organization suffered from con-

stant inner turmoil, its members, including many of those expelled, re-

tained their steadfast belief in the power and influence of Joseph Smith.

The editors provide an opening explanation of John Whitmer's recordings

and also offer much useful information about individuals and places men-

tioned in the text. The bibliography is extensive, including books, history

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344                                                 OHIO HISTORY

 

magazine articles, dissertations, and newspapers-a mine of information

for those delving into the early history of Mormonism.

 

Oxford, Ohio                                          W. J. McNiff

 

 

Business and Government During the Eisenhower Administration: A Study

of the Antitrust Policy of the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department.

By Theodore Philip Kovaleff. (Athens: The Ohio University Press, 1980.

x + 313p.; illustrations, notes, bibliography, appendices, index. $17.95.)

 

An administration thought to be biased toward the giant corporation

actually proved a rigorous enforcer of antitrust laws. Dwight Eisenhower's

original cabinet may have consisted of eight millionaires and a plumber,

but his Justice Department's Antitrust Division determined to prevent new

mergers increasing companies' shares of the market. The proposed com-

bination of Bethlehem Steel and Youngstown Sheet & Tube was stopped;

Minute Maid did not swallow Snow Crop. Kodak's firm grip on photo proces-

sing was loosened, and a price-fixing scheme by thirty-two electrical equip-

ment manufacturers was exposed, the perpetrators fined and jailed.

The recounting of such endeavors adds to that budding literature rehabil-

itating Eisenhower's reputation. His "part-time" presidency and under-

lings' involvement in conflict-of-interest scandals did not weaken the re-

solve of his trustbusters. The general's preference for rich men as bridge

partners did not lessen either his or the Justice Department's determina-

tion to contain oligopolistic economic organization. Defense Secretary

Charles Wilson may have been president of General Motors, but Justice

took on Du Pont, a major GM shareholder, for violations of antitrust law.

Indeed, the warrior president worried about General Motors' size and sug-

gested that the giant automaker be dismembered. In contrast, the Truman

and Kennedy Justice Departments less impressively enforced antitrust

strictures. The requisites of the Cold and Korean Wars apparently dam-

pened Truman's antitrust fervor; the Kennedy administration's relative

lethargy is plain yet harder to comprehend, though Victor Navasky's Ken-

nedy Justice is suggestive. Compared to either president, Eisenhower estab-

lished a superior record in antitrust enforcement.

Through careful research, Theodore Philip Kovaleff rescues that achieve-

ment of the Eisenhower trustbusters. Kovaleff corresponded with many of

the participants and reviewed the relevant records at the Eisenhower Li-

brary and Justice Department. He also understands enough about the com-

plexities of antitrust litigation to explain them clearly and show just how

remarkable the Eisenhower antimerger initiatives were.

Partly because Kovaleff stresses the purely legal aspects, however, the

work possesses too narrow a view. Kovaleff fails to offer more than a cursory

summary of larger economic and political changes concerning large-scale

capital organization. He does not, for example, describe new, philosophical

divisions over the desirability of antitrust after 1945, when many liberal

Democrats found themselves defending the big corporation. With such

prominent writers as David Lilienthal and Allan Nevins defending bigness

so heartily in the early 1950s, Eisenhower's antitrust preferences appear all

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Book Reviews                                                  345

 

the more striking. But instead of treating such issues, Kovaleff devotes an

entire chapter to the Attorney General's National Committee to Study the

Antitrust Laws, a discussion which adds little to his overall presentation

and analysis.

In some instances, Kovaleff probably gives Eisenhower and his appoin-

tees too much credit for anti-merger proceedings. The author implicitly

assumes that antitrust actions began in the Oval Office or the Attorney

General's suite. Yet Washington in 1953 already had a large, floating

bureaucracy capable of influencing administrative actions regardless of a

president's partisan or personal prejudices. Many at Antitrust were not

Eisenhower Republicans but career civil servants. At least some of the cases

brought to court had first been contemplated in the Truman period. More-

over, certain congressional Democrats continually demanded that the Jus-

tice Department act against combinations. The Antitrust Division could

hardly have ignored many mergers with Representative Emanuel Celler

and Senator Estes Kefauver-neither swayed by other liberals' acceptances

of bigness-more than willing to humiliate the reluctant regulator.

Such exceptions should not detract from Kovaleffs work, its clarity and

meaning to the historians' restoration of Dwight Eisenhower and the "Mod-

ern Republicanism" he tried to govern by. But had he more fully realized his

work's significance to postwar politics and economics, he would have

fashioned a much more important-rather than merely solid-monograph.

 

University of Wisconsin-Madison                James L. Baughman

 

 

A History of Retirement: The Meaning and Function of An American In-

stitution, 1885-1978. By William Graebner. (New Haven: Yale Universi-

ty Press, 1980. x + 298p.; notes, bibliographic essay, index. $22.50.)

 

This is an important volume in the social history of American capitalism.

The focus in on retirement as an institution, showing how retirement came

to be embodied in statutes, employer policies, civil service regulations, pro-

fessional customs, and especially federal economic policy. Professor Graeb-

ner explains the ideologies that underpinned retirement, and explores how

the institution evolved as a response to observations of tension between

aging workers versus a vigorous business system.

Retirement emerged after 1885, rooted in assumptions about the require-

ments of work in a technologically and bureaucratically complex economy.

In a less industrial setting, retirement was not fixed as a separate stage in

life, nor were aging persons thought of as a distinct category of people. The

problems that older Americans faced were handled by traditional institu-

tions, and it was not assumed that, because a person was old, he or she was

less capable of contributing to the community good. The idea of retirement

flourished in the Progressive Era when leaders began to consider the disso-

nance between being older and being able to stay abreast of work or profes-

sional activity. One result was the development of pension systems for

whole categories of people, including college professors, that would enable

employers to remove them in favor of younger, presumably more vigorous,

workers. Retirement, in short, was necessary for efficiency.

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346                                                 OHIO HISTORY

 

Personnel policies of the 1920s adopted this ideology, but retirement did

not arrive as a full-blown social institution until the New Deal. Graebner's

perspective provides a fresh understanding of the significance of the Rail-

road Retirement law and of the Social Security Act. Whereas the prevailing

interpretation of Social Security places it as the linchpin of a "humanitar-

ian" New Deal, Graebner shows that the politicians and planners who de-

vised the law saw it as an instrument for removing people from the work

force. Retirement was not just desirable for the sake of efficiency, but now

necessary for "full employment."

Retirement as an institution blossomed in the 1950s and 1960s. Politi-

cians, personnel officers, insurance salesmen, and the like promoted the

idea of "senior citizenship" as a time of deserved leisure that followed work.

This doctrine was promulgated so long as it served the perceived needs of

the economy, but, as Graebner shows, it began to break down in the 1970s

when corporate officials and government planners realized that the age

distribution of the American population no longer made feasible the kind of

retirement system devised forty years earlier. In a brilliantly insightful

passage, he argues that President Carter asserted leadership to change the

institution of retirement, acting as a kind of neo-progressive worried about

the efficiency of the American economy beset with vigorous international

competition. By 1978 there was confluence of this concern with the realities

of demography that led to modifications in the statutes governing retire-

ment.

This book should attract interest not just because it addresses a new

subject, but because its author has explained how a social institution that

affects us all was shaped by liberal capitalism. Graebner's use of sources is

ingenious, and he raises questions that he does not answer about the chang-

ing lives of retired people. I can only add that a comparative approach in a

new social history might gain insights.

 

The Ohio State University                          K. Austin Kerr

 

Great Expectations: America and the Baby Boom Generation. By Landon Y.

Jones. (New York: Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, 1980. 380p.; illus-

trations, notes on sources, bibliography, index. $15.95.)

 

In the subject of the baby boom, Landon Y. Jones has seized upon a topic

which may well demand more attention from historians in the future. His

book claims a wide significance for the dramatic population growth of the

decades following World War II, suggesting that in various and powerful

ways the boom contributed to such problems as unemployment, inflation,

crime, inadequate housing, family deterioration, and declining SAT scores.

Though Jones is not himself a scholar and the most compelling parts of his

narrative are openly derivative, readers unfamiliar with recent population

studies will find in Jones some intriguing summaries of demographic argu-

ments and modest bibliographical aid toward further investigation. Lovers

of the piquant tidbit or the savory statistic may also find some satisfaction

here. Yet if the material in Great Expectations allows a discerning reader to

assemble an adequate buffet lunch, the book by no means offers a fully

satisfying meal.

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Book Reviews                                                 347

 

The topic and the period addressed would give Jones enough trouble even

if he were clear and sensible in his use of the generational concept; he is not.

The "Introduction" to Great Expectations is a patchwork of confusion and

inflated assertion on the matter of generations. Jones seems to agree with

the sources he cites in his opening remarks that there are about three

generations for every hundred years (p. 3), but he identifies at least six

"generations" in twentieth-century America at various places in his text.

This more frequent division might be fine if presented as part of a conscious

and sustained argument; instead, the reader finds Jones creating "genera-

tions" out of convenience rather than conviction, with total disregard for the

three-to-a-century guideline or any other. Amidst the conceptual fog, Jones

makes the bald claim that "a generation is the primary agent of social

change" (p. 4); this assertion stands singularly without substantiation-the

reader is apparently expected not to think. How this assumption is to be

reconciled with the remark two pages later that "change is not caused by

the baby boom" (p. 6), or for that matter with the vague notion of a genera-

tion as "something that happens to people" (p. 3), is not at all clear. A second

declaration holds that the "impact of a generation ... is directly related to

its size" (p. 5). Historical context thus has no significant meaning and-

since Jones cares little about proportionate size-the baby boom generation

automatically becomes, as Jones unblushingly says, the generation that has

"changed us more than any other," the "decisive generation in our history"

(p. 1). Such claims in all their extremity serve as the premises of the whole

work. On such a foundation, no solid structure can be built.

A lack of historical sensitivity and a carelessness of statement mar the

book throughout as Jones tries to sustain his grandiose idea of the boom

generation's significance. Jones attributes the teen culture of the fifties to

the rise of a generation whose oldest members were just reaching high

school as the decade ended, and he blithely claims the "landscape of the

road" (p. 70) as a product of baby boom writers and artists in glorious denial

of Jack Kerouac and a lengthy tradition. He particularly wants to argue

that the social upheavals of the sixties resulted from the aging of the post-

war babies. Thus, Jones desperately tries to make 1964 a pivotal year, not

because of its earthshaking events but because children born in 1946 were

turning eighteen. That the early stages of the civil rights movement, the

student movement, and the Vietnamese war clearly belonged to an older

group he does not wish to recognize. Extreme experiences are declared

"typical," more common ones are raised to universality, and the record of

the "generation" is too frequently homogenized. When Jones attempts to

claim the shift from a production to a consumption economy as a consequ-

ence of the boom (p. 262), any lingering historical credibility takes flight.

Finally, the style in which the book is written is occasionally jarring and

tasteless. Tormented metaphors pile atop one another, particularly near the

beginning of the book; stray lines of remembered poetry are dropped into

unlikely sentences, as if some quality of insight might thus be kidnapped;

glib remarks too often serve as exits when the problem at hand turns diffi-

cult. Jones is a journalist and his book is hasty journalism. Solid attractions

for a scholarly audience are minimal.

 

The University of Puget Sound                     Terry A. Cooney

• 11
 

348                                                 OHIO HISTORY

 

The ACLU and the Wagner Act: An Inquiry Into the Depression-Era Crisis

of American Liberalism. By Cletus E. Daniel. (Ithaca: Cornell University

Press, 1981. 142p.; notes, index, $13.50 cloth, $7.95 paper.)

 

This small volume is an analysis of the American Civil Liberties Union's

Depression Era labor policy rather than a history of the enactment, the

provisions, or the enforcement of the Wagner Act. The brief, sharply-

focused essay delineates and analyzes the ACLU's shift from initial opposi-

tion to New Deal labor policy (1933-36) to its increasingly firm support for

enforcement of the Wagner Act (1936-40).

As such, the book is of more interest to the student of civil liberties and of

left-of-center political ideology than to the labor historian. Readers who are

intrigued, as I am, by the personal political odysseys of liberals in the

thirties will enjoy the brief biographical sketches of ACLU director Roger

Nash Baldwin (pp. 78-84, 127-36) and ACLU labor relations expert Mary

Van Kleeck (pp. 62-73, 134). Persons interested in women's history will

enjoy the career of Ms. Van Kleeck, a Smith College graduate who solidly

established herself in the male-dominated field of labor-management rela-

tions and industrial sociology.

From 1933 to 1936, the ACLU opposed the National Recovery Act, Sec-

tion 7(a) and passage of the Wagner Act, believing that government in-

tervention would discriminate against minority and militant unions, in-

hibit the right to strike, and enhance capitalist domination of workers. As

an opponent of pro-union legislation, the ACLU found itself arrayed with

conservative and reactionary employers and trade associations, as well as

the Communist party, against legislation supportd by the American Fed-

eration of Labor, members of the National Labor Relations Board, promin-

ent labor relations experts, religious leaders, some "enlightened" em-

ployers, liberals and Socialists. Isolated from the labor movement and its

own rank-and-file membership, the ACLU's national leadership lent no

support to passage of an act unparalleled in its impact on labor's civil

liberties. Then, in 1936, the ACLU joined the AF of L, the CIO, liberals,

Socialists, and Communists in supporting the National Labor Relations

Board.

The author, in the final analysis, finds "it ... impossible to avoid the

conclusion that the ACLU's vacillatory reaction to the Wagner Act was

uniquely a function of the migratory politics of Roger Baldwin" (p. 135), the

"organization's founder, director, and guiding force" (p. 16). Baldwin first

shifted in the early thirties from liberalism to radicalism because he des-

paired of the gradual reform of capitalism and shared the Communist view

of the New Deal as a conspiracy to lure the American worker into a capital-

ist-dominated fascist state. Until 1936, he threw his decisive support behind

the anti-New Deal, left-wing majority on the ACLU's board of directors that

opposed both the NRA and the Wagner Act. Then, in 1936, simultaneous

with the Communist party's adoption of a united front strategy, Baldwin

abruptly switched to support New Deal labor policy. Later alienated from

the Communists by the Soviet purge trials and the Nazi-Soviet Non-

aggression Pact, he transferred his support to the conservative, anti-

Communist faction on the ACLU's national board, and both his and the

organization's support for the Wagner Act grew firmer and more sincere.

• 12
 

Book Reviews                                                  349

 

Daniel concludes that without Baldwin's "active collaboration and en-

couragement, the board's pro-Communist members could not have exer-

cised the illiberal influence in 1935 for which they were called to account in

1940" (p. 135).

The study rests on research in the ACLU records and contemporary liber-

al and radical periodicals, supplemented by the standard histories of the

ACLU and labor in the decade. Some use should have been made ofJerold S.

Auerbach's Labor and Liberty: The La Follette Committee and the New Deal

which stressed the transformation in liberal attitudes toward government

in the 1930s. Previously viewing big federal government as the greatest

threat to civil liberty, liberals came to welcome its intervention as a protec-

tor of civil rights for labor and minorities. The absence of a bibliography is

partly offset by copious end-of-chapter notes.

 

The Ohio State University-Lima Campus             John W. Hevener

 

 

Power and Powerlessness: Quiescence and Rebellion in an Appalachian Val-

ley. By John Gaventa. (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1980. xi

+ 267p.; tables, charts, maps, index. $16.50.)

 

John Gaventa sets himself a formidable intellectual task in this study: to

fashion a theoretical model of the exercise of political power and then to

illustrate and validate his theory by an empirical investigation of the uses

and the consequences of power as they have functioned in an Appalachian

valley. Methodologically, Gaventa combines the analytical tools of political

science, historical research, and the comparative method. The result is an

important book distinguished by subtle insights into the complex processes

of power whose outcomes raise disturbing questions about the actuality of

conventional democratic assumptions.

Studies of political power have traditionally grappled with a variety of

fundamental issues, such as the existence or the myth of political elites, the

tension between democratic theory and the persistence of inequality, the

coexistence of an ideology celebrating opportunity, mobility, and individual

success with the realities of stratification, the institutionalization of wealth

and poverty, the ideal of participatory democracy and the existence of

pervasive apathy. Scholars have produced around these themes a rich and

combative literature of contention and counter assertion. Gaventa is an

astute observer of this theoretical debate, but instead of joining sides in the

controversy, he extracts valuable lessons from it.

Thus, Gaventa initially presents his analysis of conflicting power

theories, identifying in his synthesis their complementary components. He

calls this integrated theory the three dimensions of power. The first is

equivalent to the pluralistic approach and stresses observable political con-

flict as expressed in the public agendas of governmental bodies. The second,

with its focus on mechanisms for excluding groups and issues from the

decision-making process, emphasizes the barriers that are used to contain

or silence conflict. The third involves more subtle devices of psychological

control which reinforce pre-established patterns of thought and behavior. In

short, Gaventa argues that the varied techniques of power of all three

• 13
 

350                                                   OHIO HISTORY

dimensions must be viewed as interrelated if one is to understand their

total impact.

This theoretical discussion is a prelude to a detailed historical reconstruc-

tion of the region surrounding the Cumberland Gap. This rural land, its

small farm way of life and mountaineer culture were all radically trans-

formed by the impact of industrialization beginning in 1887. The agent of

modernization was the American Association, Ltd., of London, an English

multinational which invested $20 million to create an industrial complex

and the "model" city of Middlesboro. What ensues is a vivid description of

the colonizing process at work, its essentials being the imposition of an

alien overlord, the monopolization of land and resources by absentee own-

ers, the creation of wealth which is siphoned off to distant investors, leaving

the native mountaineer-miners impoverished and politically subdued.

How does a system of gross inequality, once established, perpetuate it-

self? One answer is expressed in the fatalistic maxim that "those crushed to

earth are crushed to earth." Another popular view indicts the oppressed

themselves by explaining their condition as the product of their own short-

comings: poverty, poor education, low status, and political apathy. Gaventa

demolishes these explanations by analyzing the subsequent history of

Clairfield County and the Yellow Creek Valley to the present. To penetrate

seeming acquiescence, Gaventa looks closely at a series of crises which

offered opportunities for the quiescent to rebel against the American Asso-

ciation and its supporting network of local institutions led by a dependent

elite. In each instance-the bankruptcy of the original company and its

reorganization, the labor organizing drives during the Great Depression,

the War on Poverty, and the repercussions of the Boyle-Yablonski episode-

the mechanisms of power briefly loosened, challenge emerged, and "the

hidden faces of power" were exposed.

 

New York University                               Albert U. Romasco

 

 

Passionate Liberator: Theodore Dwight Weld & the Dilemma of Reform. By

Robert H. Abzug. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980. xi + 370p.;

illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. $19.95.)

 

What primarily differentiates Robert Abzug's excellent biography of the

noted abolitionist organizer, Theodore Dwight Weld, from earlier accounts

of his life is the keen psychological insights Abzug brings to his analysis.

Abzug, who teaches history at the University of Texas at Austin, attempts

to determine why Weld's life followed the course it did: why Weld, brought

up in a conservative Congregational home in Connecticut, embraced the

Finneyite revival and the image of a rough-and-ready westerner; why he

was drawn towards abolition, phrenology, temperance, and Grahamism but

rejected Millerism, pacifism, and perfectionism; and, above all, why he sud-

denly gave up the life of an antislavery apostle in mid-course in 1836,

resumed his identify as an easterner, and spent the remainder of his life in

the quieter pursuits of writing, teaching, and farming.

Psychological studies of abolitionists have suffered in the past from a

tendency to deal either too harshly or too protectively with their subjects.

• 14
 

Book Reviews                                                    351

 

Abzug's portrayal of Weld, however, is both subtle and complex, bringing

forth the man's humanity but in neither a derogatory nor a hero-

worshipping fashion. Weld emerges as a man of passion and inner torment

who used "heretical" ideas as a means to court attention and who identified

with slaves because of his own ambiguous feelings about duly constituted

authority.

Abzug concludes that Weld withdrew from active antislavery organizing

in 1836 not because he lost his voice (most of Weld's illnesses were psycho-

somatic according to Abzug) or because he wished to marry and settle down

(Weld's courtship of Angelina Grimke is analyzed in detail), but rather

because his failure to organize an abolitionist society in Troy, despite ex-

traordinary efforts to do so, destroyed his heroic self-image. No longer find-

ing an answer to his inner needs in antislavery oratory, Weld turned for

meaning to the personal, non-institutional practice of piety. Thus, Abzug

seems to say, Weld's individual psychological makeup shaped his tactics as

a reformer but his essential ideological commitment to reforming principles

remained constant throughout his life. Weld was neither a hero nor a vil-

lain, but simply a sensitive, talented individual pursuing Truth in its differ-

ent guises.

Abzug is an imaginative and resourceful biographer, making the most of

every clue concerning Weld's life. Realizing that the latter's recollections of

his childhood given as an old man were probably inaccurate, he uses them

instead to indicate Weld's perceptions of his family and his relationship to

his parents and siblings. Similarly, lacking the texts of many of Weld's

antislavery speeches, he examines a letter from a listener to illustrate the

images of slavery Weld was successful in evoking.

Many readers, of course, will be less interested in Weld, the man, than the

movements of which he was a part. Fortunately, Abzug excels in making

not only Weld but the intellectual history of an epoch come alive. He is

particularly effective in describing the wide range of reform movements of

the antebellum era in which Weld and his friends were involved and in

relating these to both evangelical religion and democratic values. Abzug is

an extraordinarily good writer, which adds further appeal to his analysis.

While the biographical mode limits Abzug's ability to generalize about

antislavery and reform as a whole, he does have some suggestive insights in

specific areas. His depiction of the leadership of the antislavery movement

shows the extent to which conflicts at that level were based on personality

as well as ideology. And the discussion of Weld's changing interests in the

area of reform is a reminder that "reform" itself is not a static but an

everchanging phenomenon. Well-written, well-researched, and extremely

imaginative, this book should definitely stimulate its readers.

 

Ohio University                                      Phyllis F. Field

 

John Adams and the Diplomacy of the American Revolution. By James H.

Hutson. (Lexington: The University of Kentucky Press, 1980. vii +

¹⁹9p.; notes, note on sources, index. $13.00.)

 

This slight, very readable volume is one of the most unflattering portraits

ever drawn of one of our founding fathers. In James Hutson's book, John

• 15
 

352                                                OHIO HISTORY

 

Adams comes off as one of the most blundering, tactless, ill-informed, dis-

agreeable, heavy-handed diplomats in modern history. He appears as a

mean-spirited, jealous little man, whose vanity was equaled only by his

extraordinary paranoia. Yet, with a talent for self-delusion that leaves one

agape, he believed that he was both a paragon of moral virtue and talent

and the most influential individual in achieving American independence.

John Adams served abroad for nearly ten years following his appoint-

ment as a commissioner to France in 1778. During that period he was

minister plentipoteniary for peace negotiations, commissioner to investi-

gate commercial agreements, a member of the American peace commission,

and representative to the Netherlands and England. One surely assumes

that he must have accomplished much. But Hutson makes it clear that he

did not, and that many of his activities were "profoundly mischievous." One

might question the author's fairness, except that the most damaging evi-

dence concerning John Adams's character and incompetence come from

Adams's own letters and diary. The portrait of Adams as a man wracked by

vanity and suspicion is not entirely new, but Hutson's accumulation of

quote upon quote results in a devastating depiction.

As for his diplomacy, John Adams exhibited no talent for flattery and not

much for common courtesy, thereby alienating the French foreign minister,

Vergennes, whose good will was essential to the new republic. Vergennes

became so angry that he refused to correspond further with Adams, and had

his representative in the United States lobby with Congress to have

Adams's commission revoked. Having a deep suspicion of French inten-

tions, Adams ignored the generally shrewd advice of the French ambassa-

dor to the Netherlands, and both alienated and embarrassed potential

friends of America in that country. He was convinced that Benjamin Frank-

lin and Vergennes were conspiring against him, and refused to let either of

them know the exact nature of his commission from Congress or precisely

what he planned to do. Dutch recognition of American independence was

eventually forthcoming, but it was almost entirely owing to factors in Euro-

pean diplomacy and was in spite of the counter-productive activities of

Adams. He, however, called the happy outcome "the greatest action of my

Life past or future." He came to believe that it "accelerated the peace, more

than the capture of Cornwallis and his whole army," that it was more

decisive than any battle of the entire war, and that it forced Britain to

acknowledge American independence and concede favorable peace terms at

Paris. Adams saw an earlier memorial he had presented to the Dutch as

contributing to the Dutch naval victory over Britain in the North Sea and

encouraging the Austrian emperor to declare religious liberty. In other

areas, this self-esteem led him to feel that he, rather than Jefferson, was

chiefly responsible for the Declaration of Independence and that he was the

architect of the Constitution of 1787.

With respect to psychology, Hutson diagnoses Adams as a man who lost

all touch with reality, projected his envy on Franklin and others, and was so

paranoid that contemporaries remarked on it. He felt that his hotel in

Amsterdam was full of spies, he viewed Silas Deane as a conspirator-"a

wild boar, that ought to be hunted down"-, and said, or implied, that

Franklin was a liar, a vain imposter, a "Demon of Discord" who was incom-

petent in diplomacy, and a traitor. He arrived in Paris secretly, refused to

• 16
 

Book Reviews                                                  353

 

call on Franklin, and told a friend that he would not do so until the Doctor

visited him first. The friend quietly asked how Franklin could visit him if

Adams refused to tell him he was in town. Much of the world was in con-

spiracy against John Adams, but he would see that "Blockheads" were not

elevated above him and that Knavery did not get the better of Honesty, "nor

Ignorance of Knowledge, nor Folly of Wisdom, nor Vice of Virtue."

Hutson's book is a blood-chilling portrait of John Adams, but the author

intends it to be something more. In the opening and closing chapters, he

argues that American revolutionary diplomacy was derived from very tra-

ditional European diplomatic ideas of the time. Those ideas emphasized

power and self-interest as the motivating forces of nations, and the mainte-

nance of a balance of power as a key to world order. Espionage, intrigue,

secret treaties, and conspiracy were clearly a part of diplomatic practice.

Hutson attempts to show that American diplomatic thinking, with its

emphasis upon power, self-interest, and conspiracy, was much more tradi-

tional than previous historians have suggested. Francis Wharton and Felix

Gilbert suggested that American diplomacy represented a new departure

from European ideas, both in its conduct and its substance. Hutson focuses

on John Adams, apparently in the belief that he represents broad strains in

American diplomacy of the period; but the overwhelming evidence he pro-

vides of Adams's personality flaws and mental quirks leads the reader to

conclude that he was very nearly unique. Hutson's thesis is interesting, but

its proof would seem to require a study that pays greater attention to Ben-

jamin Franklin, the Committee on Foreign Correspondence, and the records

of the Continental Congress, rather than one based upon the records of John

Adams's delusions. One might add that there is much that is admirable

about John Adams, but in his fascinating study Hutson concentrates only

upon the darker angel of his nature.

 

Cleveland State University                            John H. Cary

 

 

The Presidency of William McKinley. By Lewis L. Gould. (Lawrence: The

Regents Press of Kansas, 1980. xiv + 253 pp.; notes, bibliographical

essay, and index. $15.00.)

 

In this book, another volume in the American Presidency Series, Lewis

Gould joins the Margaret Leech and H. Wayne Morgan "school of histo-

rians" who are concerned with rehabilitating the reputation of William

McKinley and his presidency. Together with those writers, he contends that

the long-held view of McKinley as "the spokesman for untamed business in

the Gilded Age, the compliant agent of Marcus A. Hanna, and the irresolute

executive in the Cuban crisis that led to war with Spain" (p. vii) is not

supported by the evidence now available. However, the new dimension

which Gould adds to this interpretation of McKinley as a strong president is

that he was "the first modern President," that he made "important con-

tributions to the strengthening and broadening of the power of the chief

executive" (p. vii). It was William McKinley who laid the foundations for

the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt and the other presidents of the twen-

tieth century.

• 17
 

354                                                   OHIO HISTORY

 

As his footnotes and excellent bibliographical essay testify, the author's

research for this book is truly impressive. He has delved into the relevant

primary and secondary source materials both here and abroad. Most of this

material has been available to other writers on the McKinley era with the

exception of the George B. Cortelyou papers which became available in the

late 1960s. According to Gould, these papers of the president's secretary "fill

the gaps in the McKinley Papers and provide new light on numerous epi-

sodes of the presidential years" (p. ix).

On the basis of imposing research, Gould presents his thorough, detailed

analysis of the McKinley years in the White House. He begins his narrative

with some biographical background, an account of the election of 1896, a

description of the rigors of putting his administration together before inau-

guration day, and a lengthy analysis of the inaugural address. From the

outset, one of the characteristics of McKinley's presidency would be his

accessibility to the public and particularly to the press. While the president

did not give interviews and was not to be quoted directly, there were regular

briefings of the press by the president's secretary. This activity Gould sees

as establishing the office of the president as a significant source of news

which, in turn, did much to increase presidential power.

Thus, Gould skillfully proceeds to develop the operations of McKinley's

presidency. Generally, he traces the story of the presidency chronologically,

but there is an inclination to separate foreign affairs from domestic affairs.

This is especially true when dealing with the Spanish-American War, to

whose events fully forty percent of the book is devoted. But this kind of

attention is justified by the tendency for a war to preoccupy the attention of

an administration. For the most part, the account of McKinley's presidency

adds nothing new, except for the special thesis of Gould. It is the thesis-

that McKinley was the first modern President-and its supporting evidence

which makes this book uniquely interesting to historians.

Insistently and convincingly, Gould drives home his thesis. The campaign

for the Hawaiian Islands demonstrated McKinley's deft use of presidential

power to press Congress into acquiring those islands. By asking for large

discretionary power in his April 11, 1898, message to Congress, the presi-

dent was expanding the scope of presidential power. In Gould's words, "the

debate over the message in the next week would pivot on the issue of the

president's leadership in the conduct of foreign policy and implicitly on his

power as commander in chief' (p. 86). McKinley also laid the foundation for

the modern presidency by his day to day supervision of the war. Gould sees

McKinley's speaking tour in the fall of 1898 not one to seek the will of the

people on the destiny of the Philippines but to persuade the people to sup-

port him in his commitment to acquire the islands. In this respect, "McKin-

ley's use of what Theodore Roosevelt called the bully pulpit is still one of his

least recognized contributions to the emergence of the modern presidency"

(p. 137). In addition, Gould sees McKinley's successful effort to obtain Sen-

ate approval for the Peace of Paris as comparable to Franklin D. Roosevelt's

exercise of presidential power. Finally, shortly before his death the presi-

dent was planning a series of speeches on behalf of tariff-reciprocity treaties

on which the Senate was reluctant to act. Convinced of the efficacy of

reciprocity, McKinley was prepared to throw the weight of his office behind

this policy of his administration. While there may be those who will want to

• 18
 

Book Reviews                                                  355

 

quarrel with this thesis, in light of the author's evidence it seems to this

reviewer that, at most, the quarrel could only be one of degree.

A valuable summary and interpretation of the presidency of William

McKinley, the book's principal shortcoming is its pedestrian narrative

style. While the historian is likely to discipline himself to read the book for

its professional benefits, the general reading public (for whom the series is

also intended) is likely to lose interest fast because of its considerably less

than scintillating style. Since the book is intended for a wide audience,

scholars seeking more adequate footnoting may examine a fully annotated

text which is available for inspection at the University of Texas at Austin

archives.

 

Capital University                                Donald E. Bensch

 

 

Murat Halstead and the Cincinnati Commercial. By Donald W. Curl. (Boca

Raton: University Presses of Florida, 1980. ix + 186 p.; notes, bibliogra-

phy, index. $17.50.)

 

The initial chapters of Donald Curl's biography of Murat Halstead pre-

sent a compelling, if somewhat sketchy, picture of a brash but virtually

inexperienced reporter who took control of the undistinguished Cincinnati

Commercial and, within a decade, transformed it into one of the most in-

novative and prosperous newspapers in the country. When Halstead came

to the Commercial in 1853, it was publishing four pages of ads and untimely

literary features per day. Within several months, Halstead was acting as

editor. By using telegraph dispatches from eastern newspapers and by em-

ploying modern printing processes, he began to publish larger editions filled

with late-breaking news. He was also one of the first editors in the "West" to

insist his readers have eyewitness coverage of national events; therefore, in

1860 he attended each of the seven national party conventions, risking

personal harm by venturing into southern states for several of these. His

vigorous and often controversial reports of the prolonged nominating pro-

cess were reprinted around the country, first projecting his name into

national prominence.

The Commercial continued to prosper in the postwar era, far surpassing

any other newspaper in Ohio in circulation and reputation. During his

quick rise to national prominence, Halstead, along with several other prom-

inent editors, among them Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune, Horace

White of the Chicago Tribune, and Samuel Bowles of the Sprignfield Re-

publican, had participated in an evolution in the philosophy of newspaper

management which, as Curl shows us, had immediate impact on newspaper

practice in that era, as well as far-reaching influence on the development of

the modern popular press at the turn of the century. The movement, known

as "independent journalism," called for newspapers to be operated on sound

business principles, to emphasize impartial gathering and reporting of

news, and to carry an editorial opinion which frees itself from partisan

political support by relying on private advertising revenue.

Curl's interest in Halstead grew out out of a study of the Liberal Republi-

can party convention of 1872. This reform movement was an intense and

• 19
 

356                                                 OHIO HISTORY

 

short-lived opposition to the corruption of the Grant administration. It had

begun in Missouri, but was brought to national attention by Halstead and

the other practitioners of independent journalism. These journalists-

turned-politicians gathered in Cincinnati to nominate a presidential candi-

date, and Curl's description of the high-toned political intrigue which char-

acterized their proceedings is by far the most appealing portion of his book.

Halstead, with characteristic enthusiasm, backed an impossible candidate

in Charles Francis Adams. On the sixth ballot, what Halstead later de-

scribed as a "motley collection" of self-appointed delegates nominated

Horace Greeley. Without the candidate of his choice to spearhead the move-

ment, Halstead felt bitterly frustrated. However, he did back Greeley

staunchly enough to damage the reputation and financial stability of the

Commercial after Grant's popular victory.

While Curl found biographies detailing the lives of the other prominent

newspapermen at the convention, he found none of Halstead. Curl's study

admirably fills the void, but one wonders why it had not been filled before.

Curl insists that Halstead's importance rests with the far-reaching effects of

independent journalism on the development of American newspaper prac-

tice. However, while independent journalism may have had lasting influ-

ence, Curl shows that Halstead's own independence was completely eroded

by the mid-1880s, leaving tarnished his commitment to the movement and

suggesting the difficulty of adopting such a lofty editorial policy during the

Gilded Age.

In direct contrast to his independence, a detailed description of Halstead's

editorial career after 1873, such as Curl gives us, emphasizes his excessive

and often blundering commitment to partisan positions. Perhaps the most

damaging example would be his editorials against Grover Cleveland in

1884. Halstead had been hired by the Republican National Committee to

edit a campaign publication in New York City called the Extra. He attacked

Cleveland's private life viciously, while himself coming under attack for his

turnabout in support of James G. Blaine. In support of Rutherford Hayes for

the Republican nomination in 1876, he had attacked Blaine's involvement

in a railroad bond scam. In 1884, Halstead's defense of Blaine in the Extra

seemed a desperate adherence to party line; the Extra was lampooned by

Democratic and Mugwump papers, contributing to Blaine's defeat in new

York. Cleveland won the close election, although Halstead did not accept

the results for three days and again embarrassed himself by claiming fraud.

Curl also puts forth a view of Halstead which emphasizes his political

contributions. By this measure, Halstead's excessive editorial positions are

tolerated as straightforward contributions to an on-going debate on policy.

Throughout the seventies and eighties, his political views kept pace with

the emerging conservative Republican party line. He often advised state

and national politicians, most notably his friends Hayes and Benjamin

Harrison, about cabinet selections. But even this view of Halstead cannot

obscure his unfortunate lack of shrewdness. In 1883, after a decade of sup-

porting Republican candidates, he attacked a group of Republican senators

for their refusal to vote to investigate Henry B. Payne (Payne was the

appointed successor to a vacant senatorial seat from Ohio; Halstead pub-

lished rumors that Payne, a Democrat, had received payments from Stan-

dard Oil). Five years later, some of these senators, still chafing from Hal-

• 20
 

Book Reviews                                                 357

 

stead's intemperate attack, blocked his appointment as Harrison's Ambas-

sador to Germany.

Halstead, then, survives as a curious, yet compromised figure. His con-

tributions to journalism earned him the name of the "Murat of Independent

Journalism," yet the accomplishments are embarrassing in light of his later

editorial career which was often marked by intemperance to the point of bad

taste. Also, his influential position as adviser to Presidents Hayes and

Harrison does not absolve his questionable involvement in several minor

political scandals, not the least of which drew him Senate censure in 1889.

These contradictions must in some way explain the short duration of his

reputation and the lack of interest in him by historians of this century.

Donald Curl's study should interest historians of Gilded Age ethics, both

political and journalistic. Much can be learned from Halstead's accomplish-

ments, as well as his transgressions.

Curl's account is straightforward and, though brief, quite exhaustive.

Unfortunately, in several places it reads like a summary of Halstead's

editorials. Curl admits his picture of Halstead is one-dimensional, but says

this is not for lack of research into Haltead's private life, but for lack of

evidence of a "truly private life" in Halstead. According to Curl, Halstead

was totally devoted to newspapers and politics. One indication of such devo-

tion is shown in Halstead's wedding to Mary Banks of Cincinnati in 1857:

the couple's honeymoon, arranged by his partner at the Commercial and

financed by the paper, consisted of a trip to Washington to cover Buchanan's

inaugural. (Despite bearing him twelve children, Mrs. Halstead's influence

on her husband's public life could not have been substantial, since she is

mentioned only this one time in the biography.)

 

Otterbein College                                  James Gorman

 

 

William Louis Sonntag: Artist of the Ideal, 1822-1900. By Nancy Dustin

Wall Moure. (Los Angeles: Goldfield Galleries, 1980. ¹²5p.; plates, check

lists, chronology, index. $35.00.)

 

The recent exhibition, American Light: The Luminist Movement, 1850-

1872, at the National Gallery of Art awakened the public to the sometimes

forgotten delights of American landscape paintings. Mrs. Moure's book res-

cues from oblivion another landscape artist of this period. William Louis

Sonntag began his artistic career in Cincinnati in 1842. His art seems to

have been originally inspired by the wilderness which he had seen in 1840

on a journey to the Wisconsin Territory, the picturesque topography of

Kentucky, and the didactic landscape paintings of Thomas Cole. His scenes

are not direct transcriptions of nature but rather are studio compositions

which combine direct observation, recollection, and compositional ideas of

how nature should appear: classically ordered and calm.

Sonntag's first years as an artist in Cincinnati were difficult, but the

initial year (1847) of the city's Western Art Union provided the needed

patronage. His reputation grew so quickly after this that by the early 1850s

buying a Sonntag was the vogue in Cincinnati. In 1856 Sonntag took up

residence in New York where he reached the height of his popularity in the

• 21
 

358                                                 OHIO HISTORY

 

early 1860s with paintings of New England and the mid-Atlantic states. His

works of these years, such as Landscape with Fisherman, are typical of the

Hudson River School salon style in which a vast panorama acknowledges

the presence of man, but his incursions on the frontier are slight. Sonntag's

compositions generally contain a low foreground and body of water which

are framed by descending mountains or trees with mist-shrouded moun-

tains in the distance. This standard compositional formula of the 1860s

gave way in the next decade to more intimate views, such as Log Cabin,

Pond and Fisherman, with a greater interest in atmospheric effects due to

the influence of the Barbizon School paintings which were introduced into

the U.S. at this time. Sonntag continued painting until his death and, like

many others of his generation, had the misfortune of seeing his style go out

of fashion.

This is the first monograph written on Sonntag, and some of its problems

are due to the lack of previous scholarship. Mrs. Moure, of necessity,

attempted to accumulate all the data she could find on the artist and his

work. Her diligence results in a well-documented text which, unfortunately,

makes quite pedestrian reading. The notes which follow each section often

quote letters and contemporary criticism and frequently are more interest-

ing and insightful than the text itself. The section on Sonntag's work would

have profited from more in-text examples to illustrate her statements and

from an analyis of the relationship between Sonntag's art and that of his

contemporaries, such as Asher B. Durand and John F. Kensett, since their

works are quite familiar to us and seem to have eclipsed Sonntag's paint-

ings, which are generally unknown today.

The most annoying flaw in the book, however, is the relationship between

the index, the catalogs and the text. Because the text contains no references

to the reproductions in the book, the reader must look up the title of the

painting in the index, which also provides no citations to illustrations. It

does list the catalog entry number for that painting. The reader, therefore,

must find the entry in the catalogs and finally discovers here the location of

the reproduction. The very fine catalogs would be more useful to research-

ers if an arrangement other than by size had been used. Since a work such

as this tends to standardize titles, this would be a logical choice and would

ease the reader's search for illustrations by eliminating the need to turn to

the index.

Although this book serves as an introduction to William Louis Sonntag,

with better editing the splendid research of Mrs. Moure could have resulted

in a major addition to the scholarship of nineteenth-century American land-

scape painting. Hopefully this necessary initial step in documentation will

lead to a more analytical examination of the work of this prolific artist.

 

The Ohio State University                              Lynell Morr

 

 

Shock, Physiological Surgery, and George Washington Crile: Medical In-

novation in the Progressive Era. By Peter C. English. (Westport, Connect-

icut: Greenwood Press, 1980. xi + 271p.; notes, bibliography, index.

$25.00.)

• 22
 

Book Reviews                                                    359

 

Shock, as the author explains in the preface to this impressive mono-

graph, is a "complex response of the human body to injury." Before the

latter half of the nineteenth century, war and accidents were the primary

causes of shock, but advances in anesthesia and in controlling sepsis lead to

surgery itself becoming one of its major causes. The controlling of infection

and the practicality of keeping the patient under anesthesia for extended

periods of time allowed the development of increasingly radical surgical

procedures. Thus, more and more physicians, both qualified and unqual-

ified, used surgery as the treatment of first resort, with the result that

shock became the major cause of death following surgery. After 1890, many

surgeons began questioning the use of "radical surgery" and began a move-

ment toward "physiological surgery." The movement was called physiolog-

ical surgery because of the physiological data used to measure the patient's

condition as a means of assuring his safety. Such now common physiological

measurements that came into use during the period were those for blood

pressure, blood, urinalysis, pulse, and respiration.

One of the surgeons who began his career during the beginning of the

movement for physiological surgery was George Washington Crile. Crile

graduated from the College of Wooster's Medical School, located in Cleve-

land, in 1887. After spending a year in postgraduate training, he joined a

private industrial practice in Cleveland which specialized in industrial acci-

dents. His early exposure to injuries which resulted in shock led him to seek

a better way to understand exactly what caused shock and the best possible

ways of treating it. In the three decades between 1888 and 1918, Crile

became one of the world's leading authorities on shock and his ideas became

the focal point in the debate over its causes and treatment. By 1918, many

of Crile's theories had been overturned; but, he had by then played a major

role in the bringing of physiological methods to bear on the problem.

The value of this book is twofold. First of all, it is a scholarly study of the

debate over the causes and treatment of shock which agitated the medical

community from 1890 to 1918. Were this the author's only accomplishment,

the book would be a success. Secondly, however, the author goes beyond the

technical aspects of the history of shock to put his subject into a wider

historical perspective. He places shock within the broader history of Amer-

ican surgery and does a particularly fine job describing the history of Amer-

ican surgery during the Progressive Era and in describing the history of the

education of surgeons during that period. For Ohio history there is an

interesting chapter on medical education in Cleveland and how it affected

Crile's career, and how he in turn helped bring about significant reforms.

Also, of general interest are the author's chapters which trace shock as a

concept from 1740 to 1918, and the use of blood pressure as a physiological

measuring tool.

The one negative comment I have is that the author has tried to accom-

plish too much. The subtitle of the book is Medical Innovation in the Prog-

ressive Era and one of his subthemes is that Crile, the physiological

surgeon, and the Progressives shared a common ground as reformers;

particularly in their use of science as a way to reform. Progressivism as a

movement was much more than the application of science to social prob-

lems, although this was a major part of the movement. It is not that Dr.

English is wrong, but rather that the point is significant enough to have

• 23
 

360                                                 OHIO HISTORY

 

deserved greater development. However, this is a minor point and in no way

detracts from the value of the book. Dr. English has given us a monograph

which can serve as a model for such works and he should be highly com-

mended for his efforts.

 

University of Cincinnati Medical Center            Charles A. Isetts

 

 

Popular Consent and Popular Control: Whig Political Theory in the Early

State Constitutions. By Donald S. Lutz. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State

University Press, 1980. 258p.; notes, tables, maps, selected bibliography,

index. $21.50.)

 

For most of American history it has been a standard interpretation that

American political thought only began with the Revolution and, particular-

ly, with the Constitution of 1787. But then came the revolution of the 1960s,

and in no place was the work of historians more compelling than in the area

of the Revolution and the Constitution. Particularly Bernard Bailyn in his

Ideological Origins of the American Revolution and Gordon S. Wood in his

The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787 began the process of

creating a sound theoretical framework of American politics before the

Constitution. In Popular Consent and Popular Control Donald Lutz, a poli-

tical scientist, examines a long-neglected aspect of this period-the various

state constitutions which followed on the heels of the outbreak of war with

Britain-and combines his conclusions with the work of his historian prede-

cessors.

The results are fascinating. Lutz demonstrates that the first essays into

constitution-making by Americans were not the crude fumblings of political

babes-in-arms, but the expression of one hundred and fifty years of particu-

lar political experience. He finds two particular focuses of that experience.

One was a dedication to local self-government and a sense of community in

which the interests of all were assumed to be the same and where individual

rights were subordinated to the common good. In England the local institu-

tions from which the American originated had been replaced by a strong

national government, but in America they remained the heart of the politi-

cal experience. The second focus was a suspicion of executive power. Amer-

icans saw government on the colony-level as an arena of conflict between

the irresponsible governor and his council, appointed from England, and the

representatives of the communities. It was entirely consistent then, says

Lutz, when the Revolution presented the opportunity, for Americans to

construct state constitutions which reflected this experience. The first state

constitutions thus tended to provide for legislatures which were intensely

sensitive to the communities-annual elections, instructions to representa-

tives, recall, and so on-and for executives constrained almost to the point

of impotence. These radical Whig principles also governed the Articles of

Confederation.

Over the next few years, however, the inadequacies of these principles,

when applied at the state level and above, became obvious to a growing

number of Americans. They came to see that there could be a tyranny of the

majority as well as of the executive and, indeed, that a weak executive could

• 24
 

Book Reviews                                                 361

 

increase this tendency. Thus the second wave of state constitutions, which

Lutz sees as beginning with that of New York, tended to include stronger

executives and provisions, such as bills of rights, to restrict the previously

unlimited power of the legislatures. These were the product of moderate

Whig influences. But, at the same time, other Americans, most prominent

among them Madison, Hamilton, and Jay, led by experience and by the new

enlightenment ideas from Europe, developed a substantially different con-

cept of government. Committed both to republicanism and to popular

participation, yet wary of both executive and popular tyranny, they con-

structed a system based on the separation of powers and checks and bal-

ances and, equally important, a system which recognized not the principle

of community of interests but that of conflicting interests. Their construc-

tion was the Constitution of 1787. Although the Federalists were in the

minority at the state ratifying conventions, deeply opposed by the radical

Whigs, nevertheless, their deft appropriation of Whig symbolism (but not

content) allowed them to bring over to their side the requisite number of

moderate Whigs to achieve ratification.

The book is not without its problems. Although it does not essentially

affect his analysis, Lutz's account of government and society in colonial

New England would have benefited from a study of the work of Perry Miller

and his students. More important, in his analysis of the development of

American political theory he tends to lump the state and federal levels

together. The old idea that a Federalist was merely someone who wanted a

federal government more powerful than that provided for under the Articles

of Confederation is surely inadequate. But it is equally inadequate to define

him merely as a moderate Whig seeking to control the localism and popular

democracy which came with the first phase of constitution-making and

ignore the felt need to find a system by which the federal government could

be made more powerful and yet not infringe upon the integrity of the states.

One could also complain about an organization which at times is strained

and difficult to follow. But none of this overrides the basic excellence of the

study. Professor Lutz brings together a whole generation of research about

the social and political ideas which lay behind the developments of the

Revolutionary period and adds to it some very provocative ideas of his own.

He gives form to pre-Revolutionary American political thought and shows

how fundamentally it influenced the Revolutionary period. His book should

both enlighten us and lead us into new areas for research.

 

State University of New York at Buffalo          R. Arthur Bowler

 

 

The Structuring of a State: The History of Illinois, 1899-1928. By Donald F.

Tingley. (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1980. viii + 431p.;

illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. $20.00)

 

To his credit, Donald F. Tingley is aware that "state and local history can

degenerate into antiquarianism"-unless the specific is related to the

general (p. vii). According to the dust jacket, he "deliberately avoids a

simple chronicling of political personalities and events" by "building his

• 25
 

362                                                 OHIO HISTORY

 

historical narrative 'from the ground up'," focusing upon average people

rather than elites.

Tingley's thesis is that political, social and economic life underwent in-

creased organization and centralized direction during this thirty-year

period. Political machines extended their manipulative control. The evolu-

tion of oligopolies in manufacturing and food processing by 1900 merely

anticipated chain-store retailing in the 1920s. Workers and farmers sought

relief in separate organizations. Entertainment underwent a similar pro-

cess, as booking agencies packaged vaudeville shows and later films, radio

stations formed national networks, and league organizations dominated

college football and professional baseball. Even support of opera in Chicago

shifted from individual patronage to a permanent organization that sought

self-supporting culture.

Using a topical approach, the author is at his best integrating state with

national trends in exploring economic activities-agricultural, industrial,

and distributive. His chapter on popular culture in the 1920s sets Chicago

vaudeville, radio and film developments within a broad perspective. Ting-

ley sees World War I as a watershed, as "the people of Illinois found them-

selves organized, taxed, regulated and regimented in unprecedented

fashion ...." (p. 196). Evidence underscores his structural thesis while

drawing overdue attention to one aspect of the Great War's impact.

Unhappily, dust jacket promises are not always reliable. Separate chap-

ters on labor and blacks do exemplify history "from the ground up" by

highlighting their plight. However, Tingley's handling of Illinois politics,

dust jacket notwithstanding, is "a simple chronicling of political personali-

ties and events." Labor legislation is handled in a similarly dreary fashion.

The political focus is disappointing on several counts. Examining biennial

elections serially as an end in itself serves no useful purpose. Worse yet,

potentially meaningful questions of Illinois politics, such as the relative

balance of power among the three branches of state government, receive no

attention. The era witnessed a resurgence of gubernatorial power, exempli-

fied elsewhere by Robert La Follete, Hiram Johnson, and Woodrow Wilson.

While governors Edward Dunne, Frank Lowden, and Len Small were not of

the same reformist stripe, their administrations suggest strong executive

leadership-perhaps at legislative expense. Further, failure to use Walter

Dodd's extensive compendium Constitutional Convention Bulletins (Spring-

field, 1920?) bypassed an opportunity to compare Illinois' legal and constitu-

tional status with other states. Thus Tingley's assertion of Illinois unique-

ness (p. vii) remains untested.

Unfortunately, the author also relies on dated interpretations. John

Buenker appears as the last word on Progressivism. World-War I opened up

job opportunities for women that apparently continued into the twenties,

despite William Chafe's evidence to the contrary. All the stereotypes of

universal flaunting of prohibition laws appear here as well. Where histo-

rians adopt traditional assessments, they do well to acknowledge the exist-

ence of more recent interpretations.

There are several glaring omissions. Tingley's failure to treat immigrants

as thoroughly as he did blacks is striking. Further, the University of Chica-

go surely merits attention other than that devoted to its athletic program. A

political map of Illinois would also have been a welcome addition. Occasion-

al typographical errors and misdated events are bothersome.

• 26
 

Book Reviews                                                  363

 

Writing historical state surveys is admittedly a difficult and often thank-

less task. Authors are painfully dependent upon secondary sources, which

all too often follow a narrative or antiquarian format. Yet survey authors

must be prepared to order such data to seek out meaningful changes. To this

end Professor Tingley makes at least a welcome beginning.

 

The Univerity of Kansas                            Lloyd Sponholtz

 

 

The Worldly Economists. By Robert Sobel. (New York: The Free Press,

1980. xi + 260p.; illustrations, selected bibliography, index. $15.00.)

 

Robert Sobel, a prolific writer of books on economic subjects, has produced

another excellent survey for the general reader. This book concentrates on

presidential advisers since the advent of the New Deal and might be enti-

tled "The President's Economists." "Worldly" is used in the sense of public

policy advisers and implies that there are economists of other kinds, maybe

those of the academic life, but the better distinction is that this book deals

with overall national economic policy rather than with the policies of com-

panies or industries. It is macroeconomics with only slight attention to the

work of the microeconomists. Sobel devotes separate chapters to each of six

major figures and lesser space to another ten, from George Humphrey,

Eisenhower's Secretary of the Treasury, to Wassily Leontief, a microecon-

omist who is well-known to his fellow professionals.

First of this new breed was Leon Keyserling, a lawyer-come-economist

who drafted much of the New Deal legislation and put his stamp on the

Employment Act of 1946, which was a keystone of the Fair Deal. Although

not close to the seats of the mighty since the end of the Truman administra-

tion, Keyserling has remained active on the Washington scene, continuing

to press for a liberal point of view that would bring justice as he saw it.

Arthur Burns played a similar role for Eisenhower and has also continued

to exert his moderately conservative influence in the years since then so

that Sobel feels he may have had more influence than any of the others,

especially as he brought to bear his great understanding of business cycles

and had a second period of major influence during the Nixon years. John

Kenneth Galbraith has been the most liberal of any of these major figures,

but he had to give much of his advice to the Kennedy administration from

his post as Ambassador to India and later found that Nixon came closer

than any president to following his plans. Galbraith did not really serve as

an in-house economist; instead, much of his broad fame came from one of his

books, The Affluent Society, and from his frequent television appearances.

The second half of Sobel's list of stars starts with another who did not

shine on the Washington scene as much as he did in other parts of the public

lens. Paul Samuelson was an adviser during the Kennedy years, but his

fame rested more on his writing for fellow professionals and his college text

in which he spelled out his middle-of-the-road revisions of Keynesian

thought. Closely akin to Samuelson was Walter Heller, whose advocacy of

the new economics helped persuade Kennedy and Johnson to use the full

bag of economic measures to support the extended prosperity of the 1960s

and especially demonstrated the economic power of well-timed tax cuts.

• 27
 

364                                                  OHIO HISTORY

 

Milton Friedman, the most conservative of these economists, did not oper-

ate in Washington but has become nationally known by his public appear-

ances and his criticism of the new economics, his emphasis on individualism

and his distrust of government action in most spheres of life.

To the professional economist this book will seem simplistic, but the

intelligent layman will leave it wondering why all of this expert economic

advice has not enabled our leaders to find an economic paradise. Could it be

that Presidents and Congresses have not followed their advice or that the

great complexity of our problems and the political realities of American life

have precluded success?

 

University of Cincinnati                         George B. Engberg

 

 

Politics and Ideology in The Age of The Civil War. By Eric Foner. (New

York: Oxford University Press, 1980. 250p.; notes, index. $15.95.)

 

With this collection of his essays published between 1965 and 1980, Foner

seeks to refocus attention on the "centrality of the Civil War to the experi-

ence of nineteenth-century Americans." Topics include the historiography,

politics, and ideologies related to the origins of the war, the "ambiguities" of

the antislavery movement, and issues of land and labor after the war. What

links such seemingly disparate subjects is Foner's thesis that antislavery

was a "central terminus, from which tracks ran leading to every significant

attempt to reform American society after the Civil War" (p. 76). In the

single new essay written for this volume, Foner gives the point an ironic

twist: Reconstruction "began with southerners trying to adjust to the north-

ern system of free labor. It ended with northerners having to accept the

reality of conflict between capital and labor-a reality that southerners,

white and black alike, had understood all along" (p. 127). Readers familiar

with Foner's Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men (1970), and Tom Paine and

Revolutionary America (1976), will recognize his underlying themes: the

contradiction between republican ideology and the expansion of capitalism

(virtue vs. commerce) and the intrinsic relationship between American

radicalism and economic independence.

Foner is convinced that recent historiography, particularly the "new so-

cial history" (or "new political history"), has obscured the Civil War as the

focal point of nineteenth-century America. This seems overstated. Histo-

rians can concede that we need to know more about how power was ordered

and exercised (p. 9), that the "new social history" is guilty of historical

determinism (p. 18), without agreeing that the debate about the origin of

ideology (abstraction vs. social process) is over (p. 8), or that there has been

an attempt "to read the Civil War out of American history" (p. 11).

Foner also exaggerates the distance between himself and the new social

historians. They are also interested in politics, ideology, as well as the

timing of the antislavery movement (p. 22). Foner admits his debt to these

historians when he says that the antislavery crusade "could not have en-

tered politics until the instruments of mass democracy had developed" (p.

31). And they, like Foner, believe that "the social cleavages that existed in

antebellum America were bound to be reflected in politics" (p. 30).

• 28
 

Book Reviews                                                 365

 

There is more to be skeptical about in this volume than Foner's creation

of historiographical straw men. His interpretation of abolitionist ideology

as being "utterly individualistic" is inconsistent, unconvincing, and it

obscures the historic ambivalence that Americans have maintained toward

individual and communal values. Did the older vision of a society of order,

harmony, and organic unity break down in the 1820s and 1830s as he

contends, clearing the way for a complete antislave ideology based on indi-

vidual competition and the requirements of an expanding, market-oriented

society (p. 23)? He admits that abolitionists often criticized the uncontrolled

spirit of competition, individualism, and greed, adding that while most

abolitionists accepted social inequality as a natural reflection of individual

differences, and perceived the interests of capital and labor to be harmo-

nious (p. 63). Moreover, how consistent was the abolitionists' impulse to-

ward "moral stewardship" (p. 72) with their desire for a society of self-

governing individuals (p. 25)? If abolitionists held to an antimonopoly, anti-

corporate, egalitarian ethos, why was the Jacksonian party not more prom-

inent in, rather than opposed to, antislavery (p. 24)? Foner's logic dictates

that were it not for the Jacksonian party's "southern connection," it would

have been the most likely antislave organization. Perhaps the reason it was

not is that abolitionists had not abandoned their dream of a society of order,

harmony, and organic unity.

Although the volume is thematic, not all of the essays are well-

integrated. "Racial Attitudes of the New York Free Soldiers," important in

its own right, is tangential; and the longest selection, "Class, Ethnicity, and

Radicalism in the Gilded Age: The Land League and Irish America," strains

to link the postwar Irish to the Protestant reform tradition (p. 181). Such

unevenness is not unusual, however, in anthologies of this kind. In spite of

the reservations noted above, this is a useful and stimulating collection that

generally fulfills Foner's aim.

 

Humboldt State University                            Stephen Fox

 

Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth Century

Evangelicalism, 1870-1925. By George M. Marsden. (New York: Oxford

University Press, 1980. xiv + 306p.; illustrations, notes, bibliographical

indexes, index. $19.95.)

 

The elections of Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Ronald Reagan in 1980

brought conservative evangelical Christianity once again onto the front

pages of the nation's newspapers. Here was a seemingly new force. It shaped

Carter's national concerns and provided the impetus for his "human rights"

foreign policy. Reagan supporters credited it with the slaying of scores of

liberal politicians. What was this "fundamentalism?" Where did it come

from? George M. Marsden's book goes a long way toward providing an

answer.

Professor of History at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Mars-

den represents one wing of the movement he describes. He terms his work

"an essay in distinctly Christian scholarship" (p. vii). This perspective has

given him great sympathy with fundamentalism, but it has not blunted his

• 29
 

366                                                 OHIO HISTORY

 

critical analysis of it. His book is the best, most comprehensive study yet to

appear.

Since American society had so few national institutions, Marsden argues,

its shape was forged largely from the impact of Protestant revivalism. He

even postulates an "evangelical establishment" in the Gilded Age, best

represented by the smiling visage of Dwight L. Moody. This tradition cele-

brated a common-sense (termed here "Baconian") interpretation of Scrip-

ture. Two new religion traditions, both borrowed in part from England,

were grafted onto this establishment. The first was Dispensationalist pre-

millennialism. This was a complex scheme of interpreting God's interaction

with humanity which saw the world as getting worse and worse until Christ

returned to usher in the millennium. Second was the Holiness movement.

Holiness writers stressed personal experience, especially the feelings of

inward joy and peace. For them, one was "saved for service." Thus, these

people soon became involved in social work in the nation's slums. Marsden

concludes that fundamentalism was "a mosaic of divergent and sometimes

contradictory traditions and tendencies that could never be totally inte-

grated" (p. 43).

In the early years of this century, however, this mosaic began to shape

itself in opposition to liberal theologians and the social gospel. During

World War I, the conservatives incorporated a militancy into their move-

ment which, in the early 1920s, led to an unsuccessful campaign to drive the

liberal Protestants from several main-line denominations. The Scopes trial

of 1925 signalled the high point of this militant crusade; it faltered soon

afterwards.

After the trial, Marsden argues, the fundamentalists retreated and began

to regroup. Some fifty years later the movement emerged as a loosely orga-

nized "post-fundamentalist coalition." This coalition has spread its net

widely. It now includes: conservatives from most denominations, Southern

Baptists, Adventists, Pentecostals, Nazarenes, and numerous indepen-

dents. These people prefer the name "conservative evangelicals." The once-

proud term "fundamentalist"-first coined in 1920-has now come to imply

intellectual obscurantism.

Marsden writes from within the most scholarly wing of conservative

evangelical Christianity. This may have led him to overemphasize the

theological dimension of fundamentalism. With few exceptions, turn-of-the-

century conservatives were no match for their liberal counterparts in the

arena of scholarship. But they delivered a message that spoke to the needs

of their contemporaries. Thus, the cultural dimension of fundamentalism

looms larger than is implied here. Fundamentalism in the 1920s expressed

an aspect of the social revolt against the "experts." Be they biblical critics,

scientists, or politicians, these experts dictated "truths" unacceptable to

many citizens.

Marsden often implies that fundamentalism was self-contained. But, as

the song has it, it takes two to tango, and the other side of the theological

coin-liberalism-is eclipsed. For example, he equates the efforts of liberal

Henry Ward Beecher with conservatives Jonathan and Charles Blanchard.

But these are apples and oranges. Beecher wrote numerous important

works and was widely heralded as the most prominent clergyman of the

century. The Blanchards, on the other hand, were known only in limited

• 30
 

Book Reviews                                                 367

 

circles. Marsden also parallels the roles of Harry Emerson Fosdick and J.

Gresham Machen. But Fosdick's sermons gave him an international reputa-

tion while Machen's scholarship affected only conservative Presbyterians.

What remains to be charted is the parallel emergence of fundamentalism

and liberalism. One cannot be understood without the other. But until this

is done, Marsden's study is the best account available.

 

University of New Mexico                          Ferenc M. Szasz

 

 

Women and Temperance: The Quest for Power and Liberty, 1873-1900. By

Ruth Bordin. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1981. xviii +

221p.; illustrations, appendix, notes, index. $17.50.)

 

This excellent analysis of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in

the last three decades of the nineteenth century fills a large void in women's

and temperance history. It is a fine example of the revival of interest in the

prohibition movement, and the first book to emerge from the Ohio Histori-

cal Society's microfilm edition of the WCTU and Anti-Saloon League pap-

ers.

Bordin is especially interested in the WCTU as the first large organiza-

tion formed and operated exclusively by women. At its inception during the

woman's crusade of 1873-74, the WCTU did not challenge the doctrine of

"spheres" that placed woman's role as homemaker and mother. But from its

origins as a group seeking "home protection" from the saloon, the WCTU

evolved, especially under Francis Willard's leadership, as a political orga-

nization combining feminist goals, especially suffrage, with prohibition. Its

local organization extended to nearly every county, and its emissaries

helped foreign women establish their own Unions. This structure permitted

hundreds of thousands of women to gain practical political experience.

The author explains the emergence of the woman's crusade and the subse-

quent growth of the Union as a function of the development of a larger

middle and upper class, some members of which were appalled by the ubiq-

uity of the saloon. Her collective biography deepens our knowledge of her

leadership, but it fails to differentiate those women who joined from those

who did not. Not surprisingly, the largest group of leaders had business or

professional husbands, and were Methodists.

Much of this book centers on the activities and ideas of Willard, who

emerges as a charismatic person who sought power. She manipulated the

Union to depose its first president, Annie Wittenmyer, in 1879. President

Willard envisioned a grand "do everything" program that broadened and

deepened the Union's activities. She skillfully promoted an image of a

sweet, charitable person of noble motives and an undying affection for the

sisterhood.

But Willard also schemed for power as well as prestige. Possibly to

obscure this trait, her papers were carefully edited after her death in 1898.

Bordin is only partially successful in working within that restriction. She

ably explains the limits placed upon Willard by a more conservative follow-

ing. Willard used her appointive powers to keep control of the Union, and

was devious in leading it to a controversial affiliation with the Prohibition

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368                                                   OHIO HISTORY

 

Party. Her chief failure came in the early 1890s when the Union refused to

endorse gospel socialism and to attempt a grand coalition of feminists,

populists, and socialists. But Bordin's analysis, good as it is, can only par-

tially succeed when the primary sources used are almost exclusively those

left by Willard and the national WCTU. For instance, Annie Wittenmyer

falsely appears as a conservative person interested only in "gospel temper-

ance" when in fact she organized a Pennsylvania prohibition campaign in

the 1880s and helped found the Anti-Saloon League in the 1890s.

This flaw can only be corrected by stepping outside of "official" WCTU

sources to explore the thoughts and actions of the women Willard opposed.

Such research will help place the WCTU in the larger context of the entire

prohibition movement. Moreover, further work in state and local WCTU

sources may also lead future scholars to different perspectives upon the

schemes, disputes, and visions of national leadership. But as an analysis of

women emerging from quiet obscurity to play a large role in American

social reform, Bordin's book stands without peer.

 

The Ohio State University                            K. Austin Kerr

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