ROBERT BUTLER
Book Notes
The Life and Adventures of Daniel
Boone. By Michael A. Lofaro.
(Lexington:
University Press of Kentucky, 1978. x +
141p.; map, illustrations, bibliography.)
This brief biography, part of the
Kentucky Bicentennial Bookshelf, provides an
easily-read introduction to Boone and
his times. Besides the standard account of his
life, Lofaro adds numerous anecdotes
such as the fact that James Fenimore Cooper
used Boone as a model for many of his
fictional frontiersmen. The author's work
will provide general readers with all
the facts about the life of Daniel Boone.
Scholars can only regret, though, that
only a simple narrative has been attempted;
the epilogue has no more than a
paragraph discussing Boone as a mirror of "the
conflict of civilization and the
wilderness," the "spirit of America." Such a study
would have much more value for an
understanding both of Boone and ourselves as
Americans; after all, as Lofaro notes,
the Boy Scouts of America were patterned by
their founder, Dan Beard, on the image
of Daniel Boone.
The Delawares: A Critical
Bibliography. By C. A. Weslager.
(Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 1978. viii +
84 p.; bibliographic essay. Published for the
Newberry Library, History of the
American Indian Bibliographical Series.) Critical
bibliographies can be uniquely
informative sources, especially in areas of history
where many contributions have yet to be
made. Weslager's selective bibliography
omits some journal articles and all
manuscript sources, on the grounds that they are
too difficult to find. He discusses the
many different types of work being done on the
Delawares, such as investigations of
their figurative emasculation and enforced
feminization after a defeat by the
Iroquois in 1742. The author points out fields in
which more work needs to be done and
recommends books for a basic library
collection on the subject; works
suitable for secondary school students are also
denoted. Overall, this bibliography and
the series of which it is a part are useful
reference tools, especially for those
with little or no background in American Indian
studies.
Discographies of Commerical
Recordings of the Cleveland Orchestra (1924-
1977)and the Cincinnati Symphony
Orchestra (1917-1977.) Compiled by
Frederick
P. Fellers and Betty Meyers. (Westport,
Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1978. xii +
211p.; indices, appendices,
bibliographies.)Marshall Mcluhan's exhaltation of the
spoken as opposed to the written word is
only one demonstration of the fact that the
annals of our society are increasingly
made up of recorded sound. Discographies
classify recordings of all kinds and
will become ever more numerous in the future.
The authors have identified all
commercial recordings, whether released or not, of
Ohio's two premier orchestras. There is
a composer index, performing artist index,
bibliography, and historical
introduction for each symphony. Music libraries in
particular will find this a useful
addition to their reference shelves.
352 OHIO HISTORY
Cherish Our Differences: A Source
Book For Cincinnati's Ethnic Heritage. By
Paul L. Simon with Regina A. Simon.
(Cincinnati: Xavier University Press, 1978.
121p.; index.) Cincinnati's position as
the Queen City on the Ohio River acted as a
magnet in drawing immigrants; indeed, in
the 1850s the city more than tripled in
population. Its seventeen major ethnic
groups are covered in this selective
bibliography, aimed primarily at
secondary and college students and the general
public. In a helpful innovation, the
work also indicates where each group cited can
be found in the Cincinnati area.
Educators might also be interested to learn that
seven hour-long television shows have
been produced on the city's more prominent
ethnic groups; copies are available to
local school systems from WCET
(Cincinnati), educational television.
Copies of the bibliography itself are available
without charge to libraries and
educators from Dr. Simon at the History
Department, Xavier University,
Cincinnati, Ohio.
"Icastinyanka Cikala
Hanzi," The Little Shadow Catcher: D. F. Barry,
Celebrated Photographer of Famous
Indians. By Thomas M. Heski. (Seattle:
Superior PublishingCo., 1978. 175p.;
illustrations, appendix, bibliography.) David
Frances Barry was one of the foremost
photographers of the American West at the
close of the nineteenth century. Heski's
biography ably captures the spirit of the
man and the era he lived through, not so
much in words (the style is rather choppy at
times) as in the innumerable excellent
examples of the photographer's work
reprinted here. Barry numbered among his
friends such men as Chief Gall, a Sioux
victor at Little Big Horn, and Buffalo
Bill Cody; both sat repeatedly for him. The
photographer recorded such vignettes as
Sitting Bull's trial in 1886 and the Sioux
Commission of 1888 that broke up the
Great Sioux Reserve. What Barry captured
with his camera, in fact, was the march
of American civilization, the decline of
Indian culture, and the men who
accomplished both. Barry's work is an invaluable
record of the passing of the frontier;
historians with an interest in Indian History or
the American expansion westward will
find this book delightful.