Book Reviews
The Irish in America. By Carl Wittke. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State
University Press, 1956. xi??319p.; list
of works cited in the text and
index. $5.00.)
Dean Wittke's notable contributions to
an objective understanding of the
role of the immigrant in United States
history have stimulated many to
look forward eagerly to the publication
of the present volume. This has
been especially the case because writers
both of Scotch-Irish and of Catholic
Irish antecedents have often been less
than impartial in their appraisal of the
activities of their own people from the
Emerald Isle. The mood of ex-
pectation has been enhanced,
furthermore, by the fact that William Forbes
Adams, who carefully analyzed the
background and the trends of early
nineteenth-century Irish migration in Ireland
and Irish Emigration to the
New World from 1815 to the Famine (1932), died while yet a young
scholar before he could carry his
promising research activities to further
fruition.
Dean Wittke as the son of an immigrant
father is able to enter most
sympathetically into the story of this
outstanding ethnic group which com-
prised one of the most important
elements in the "Old Immigration" as
distinguished from the later "New
Immigration" originating in southern
and eastern Europe. He is, moreover, as
one definitely outside the Catholic,
Presbyterian, and Anglican traditions,
able to view with detachment the
influential religious factor in the
molding of Irish cultural characteristics.
The author definitely excludes all but
incidental discussion of the Scotch-
Irish, hence one finds no reference to
such persons as James Wilson and
his Scotch-Irish sweetheart (soon to be
his wife), who migrated from
Ireland in 1807 and were destined to be
the grandparents of Woodrow
Wilson. Since the Irish Catholics were
few in the English colonies, the
account begins with the national period
and concludes with the period
after World War I, when Irish-Americans
were rather definitely assimilated.
In the volume, one will find a most
readable account of the factors which
led to Irish emigration and of the
vicissitudes of the journey to the New
World. The adjustment of the immigrants
in America to life as farmers,
firemen, policemen, politicians, actors,
athletes, journalists, businessmen,
312
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
lawyers, and priests, is told with
reference to hundreds of different per-
sonalities. The part played by the Irish
in the activities of the Molly
Maguires, the Fenians, and other
organizations in the life of the times is,
moreover, recounted in careful fashion.
The author to some extent endeavors to
bring the story up to the present
day, as when, for example, he mentions
the part played by such recent
figures as Maurice J. Tobin in the labor
movement and that of James A.
Farley, J. Howard McGrath, and others as
chairmen of the Democratic
national committee. He might have
carried his account further in other
respects so as to show, for instance,
that as late as the eighty-first congress
(1949-51) there were three senators
(McCarran, Murray, and O'Mahoney)
and twelve members of the house
(including Mike Mansfield and Mary T.
Norton) both of whose parents were born
in Ireland.
The author suggests with reason that all
of the part played by Irish-
Americans in the struggles within the
Roman Catholic Church in the United
States can hardly be told in a volume
such as that here reviewed. Yet, more
attention might easily have been given
to the vigorous part played by the
Irish-born bishops, Peter Kenrick, John
B. Purcell, and others, in opposition
to the promulgation of the dogma of
papal infallibility by the Vatican
Council of 1870. Even the conservative
Irish-born Bishop Bernard John
McQuaid of Rochester was so emphatic in
his views in this respect that
it is inexact to term him an
"ultramontane Catholic" (p. 94).
The author, however, cannot be
criticized for failure to elaborate upon
every facet of the various topics
discussed in a volume of rather broad scope.
On the other hand, certainly all
students of immigrant groups in the
United States will long be indebted to
him for this interesting, carefully-
documented presentation of a neglected
subject.
Ohio State University FRANCIS P. WEISENBURGER
Land of Their Choice: The Immigrants
Write Home. Edited by Theodore
C. Blegen. (Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press, 1955. xix??
463p.; index. $5.75.)
"America letters," in the
words of the editor of this notable collection
of the letters of Norwegian immigrants,
provide "a composite diary of
everyday people at the grass roots of
American life." They are "the human
core" of the history of
immigration; they voice the hopes and disappoint-
ments, the optimism and frustration, of
the newcomers, and although
frequently overdramatized, they were one
of the main sources from which
Europeans constructed their image of the
New World.
BOOK REVIEWS 313
This selection of immigrant letters, by
Dr. Blegen, our foremost authority
on Norwegian immigration, was made
primarily from the files of nineteenth-
century Norwegian newspapers, which
regularly printed such communications
from the United States, and from
original manuscripts. All the letters have
been translated from the Norwegian; they
cover the period from the 1820's
to the 1870's, and are now made
available in this attractive volume from
the University of Minnesota Press. Some
of the letters have appeared else-
where, and readers familiar with Dean
Blegen's two-volume work on the
Norwegian Migration will recognize many of them as the source material
for that definitive study of Norwegian
immigration. But many are new; it
is good to have them collected between
the covers of one book; and the
editor's introduction to each section
provides an informative, running com-
ment on many phases of our immigration
history.
One can do no more than call attention
to the great variety of items to
be found in a collection like this,
which deals with the human story of
everyday people, at home and in the new
land of their choice. These letters
stress the freedom and equality which
America offered her adopted citizens,
and the absence of class distinctions.
They describe the Atlantic crossing,
and the mode of travel in the United
States, as Norwegians moved west-
ward with the advancing frontier. We get
interesting bits of information
about prices, in days when "bed and
board, a bottle of Bavarian ale,
tobacco and a pipe" cost only
eighteen cents in Milwaukee; about social
institutions, pioneer farming, the
immigrant press, problems of health on
the raw frontier, the status of labor,
the efforts of the pious to build a
Norwegian-American Lutheranism, at a
time when a beer glass had to serve
as a chalice at the primitive religious
services on the frontier; about the
beginnings of political life in
immigrant communities, and early maneuvers
to court the foreign-born voter. Dr.
Blegen has included a large section on
the transatlantic Gold Rush, and many
pages deal with early Texas. Several
of the most interesting letters were
written by women. There is some new
information about Ole Bull's quixotic
plan to build a "New Norway" in
Pennsylvania, and the volume reaches a
fitting climax in a section on the
"Glorious New Scandinavia" of
Minnesota!
This collection of America letters is
indispensible for all who work in
the field of immigration history. It
should also interest everyone who
would like to know what "the voice
of America" meant to Europeans a
century ago. A good index makes
selection for reading on a wide variety
of subjects relatively easy.
Western Reserve University CARL WITTKE
314
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Johnny Green of the Orphan Brigade:
The Journal of a Confederate Soldier.
Edited by A. D. Kirwan. (Lexington:
University of Kentucky Press, 1956.
xxviii??217p.; maps, illustrations, and
index. $3.50.)
Professor Kirwan has done an excellent
job in editing this journal. He
gives an introductory account of the
Orphan Brigade and of the life of
Green, and precedes each chapter with an
illuminating brief discussion of
the great military campaigns covered in the
journal. His battle maps place
Green's narrative in clearer
perspective, and footnotes correct some his-
torical errors and identify nearly all
of the many names mentioned.
The Orphan Brigade was probably so
called because, when organized
in the autumn of 1861, Kentucky was
still neutral and because the brigade
was often deprived of its commander,
either as the result of death or of
transfer to other service. These
volunteers saw arduous and virtually con-
tinuous service, took part in such
battles as Shiloh, Murfreesboro, Vicksburg,
Chickamauga, Atlanta, and others, and
after leaving Bowling Green in
February 1862, "never set foot on
their native soil again until after their
surrender and parole in April,
1865." The losses of the brigade, which often
covered the rear on retreat, were heavy.
It consisted of 5,000 men in the
beginning, and fewer than 900 in the
fall of 1864. Its ranks were never
refilled with draftees and desertions
were very rare.
John W. Green, who never attained rank
above that of regimental ser-
geant major, was strongly devoted to the
southern cause and volunteered
for service before reaching the age of
twenty. While his journal is char-
acterized by faulty spelling and
punctuation and other flaws in expression,
it does contain an interesting and a
moving story of the many-sided life of
a soldier in the ranks. Humor, pathos,
heroism, kindness, and tragedy all
are revealed in these pages. For
instance, the problem of food supply was
a serious one for Green's brigade, but
the serious portrayal is interspersed
with the author's amusing description of
his futile efforts as a cook. Heroism
and strong human feeling were combined
when, as southern soldiers around
Atlanta faced withering fire to remove
wounded men, Union men suddenly
ceased firing and applauded the action.
The grim realities in the wake of
Sherman's march and General Bragg's
order that a deserter be shot just when
the members of the Orphan Brigade were
turning their minds to Christmas
suggest the tragedy and sorrow
associated with the great conflict. The
pathos incident to war is well expressed
by the author in describing a lull
in the fighting at Chickamauga:
"The moon had gone down but the heavens
were studded with stars. The terrific
roar of artillery had ceased, the con-
tinuous roll of musketry was hushed, no
sound was heard save the groans
BOOK REVIEWS 315
of the wounded and the wheels of the
ambulances and the sullen rumble of
the artillery wheels as the batteries
were moving into position to do their
deadly work on the morrow" (p. 93).
Green and his brigade were sorely
grieved when surrender came, and
found it difficult to believe that Lee
and their own beloved commander,
Joseph E. Johnston, had capitulated. The
saddened soldier made his way
back through parts of the South
ultimately to Kentucky, sometimes en-
countering guerrillas but usually very
kind treatment on the way.
Ohio State University HENRY H. SIMMS
The Struggle for the Indian Stream
Territory. By Roger Hamilton Brown.
(Cleveland: Western Reserve University
Press, 1955. ix??104p.; maps,
note on sources, bibliography, and
index. $3.00.)
"The sheerest gambling, Sir, and
the boldest cheating. They buy they
know not what, and they care not
what--they never see the lands--they
know nothing of the title or the
law--they buy only to sell." This diatribe
against land speculation appeared as a
front-page leader in an 1835 issue
of Isaac Hill's New Hampshire
Patriot. But speculation in land values has
been an ancient and honorable pursuit in
American history. It was the stock
exchange of the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries: a popular and risky
route to quick profits. Washington,
Franklin, Jefferson--almost any
prominent person we can name--invested
their money and hopes in land
companies.
There can be no doubt that the land
speculator is an important subject
of historical investigation, as
significant as the pioneer farmer or fur trapper
or cattle operator; some argument
develops, however, over the effects of
his contribution. Mr. Brown seems to
feel that these effects were inevitable
yet, in large part, execrable. The
desire for profit was the determining
factor: it dashed "with the
doctrine that a man is entitled to such land as
he can occupy and cultivate";
"it was not unusual for the speculator to
obstruct the orderly development of the
very states for which he was re-
sponsible." In short, "if his
activity brought the first stages of civilization
to the wilderness it was incidental to
his own pursuit of profit." One may
raise certain questions: Were not other
groups of frontiersmen--the in-
dividual squatter, for example--also
driven in part by profit motives? Were
not their effects on America, in part,
equally execrable?
However, the author is concerned only
with the land speculator, and he
documents--and well documents--his
conclusions in this study of an
316
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
area of 250,000 acres located in the
boundary region between New
Hampshire and Canada. Two rival
companies competed for control of this
land, one located at Concord and led by
Jonathan Eastman, Jr.; the other
under the direction of "a singular
frontier character," Moody Bedel. (Indeed,
this reviewer found the few remarks of
Mr. Brown on the character of
Moody Bedel highly provocative and
wished that further delineation of the
man was offered.) Largely omitting the
story of the dispute between Eng-
land and the United States over this
territory, and confining the account of
border warfare at Indian Stream to a few
pages--for these aspects have
been covered elsewhere--the author
concentrates on the machinations of
the Eastman and Bedel companies, their
ultimate amalgamation in 1830, and
their relations with the state
legislature.
It is a creditable performance, marred
only by a writing style which leaves
much to be desired.
Ohio State University MORTON BORDEN
Our Michigan Heritage. By Kathleen Isabel Gillard. (New York: Pageant
Press, 1955. 259p.; bibliography and
index. $5.00.)
Our Michigan Heritage is essentially a history of literature in Michigan.
The volume includes evaluations of many
writings about Michigan in ad-
dition to biographical sketches of some
of the authors. Here, under one
roof, so to speak, is a book to acquaint
the average reader with Michigan's
literary past.
Geographic factors are well treated in a
brief introductory section en-
titled "Description and Background
of the Study." Thereafter, the author
has chosen to follow a strict
chronological arrangement. Each of the four
main periods--Indian, French, British,
and finally, American--is treated in
separate chapters. This last chapter, on
the American period, comprises ap-
proximately one half of the volume.
The author weaves her story by
introducing very pertinent quotations.
Fortunately, these are never too
lengthy. Likewise, none of the selections
are boring. The choice poetry of
Sandburg and Longfellow, in particular, add
to the literary excellence of Our
Michigan Heritage.
Dr. Gillard has included many passages
that add to the understanding of
the general political, social, and
economic development in her discussion
of the French and British eras. By way
of illustration, selections from the
Articles of Capitulation dictated by
General Amherst in 1759 are given
in some detail. The list of prices paid
for Indian goods in 1761 should ac-
BOOK REVIEWS 317
quaint the reader with the intricacies
of the fur trade. The description of
Mackinaw from Washington Irving's Astoria
is especially impressive.
Quotations from the account books of
Indian missions bring the reader
close to the daily life of the French
settlers.
Obviously, any chapter with the
ambitious title, "The American in
Michigan History and Literature,
1796-1948," poses a major problem of
selection. Pioneer songs, the
antislavery movement, the founding of the
University of Michigan, lumbering,
mining, and the automobile industry
are among the subjects included. The
last mentioned centers around Henry
Ford and General Motors. Little emphasis
is given to many of the con-
temporary problems that have placed
Michigan in the limelight.
The many admirers of Ring Lardner and
Clarence Buddington Kelland
will be pleased at the recognition given
to these writers. Four pages are de-
voted to Paul Bunyan. The excerpts from
the writings of James Stevens
should satisfy the most discriminating
among the Paul Bunyan fans.
Unfortunately, throughout the entire
volume, the historical background is
so briefly sketched as to have little
value. Typographical errors are numerous.
This reviewer also deplores the absence
of an index.
In spite of minor criticisms, Our
Michigan Heritage can be recommended
even to the most critical reader. The
study is unusually well documented. The
very complete bibliography is a
testimony to the many hours of labor of the
author. Dr. Gillard has made every
effort to avoid a mere cataloging of
names and publications. Far more
important, the volume presents a fund
of information in a most readable style.
Wayne State University SIDNEY GLAZER
Soldiers Without Swords: A History of
the Salvation Army in the United
States. By Herbert A. Wisbey, Jr. (New York: Macmillan Company,
1955.
viii??242p.; illustrations, appendices,
bibliographical essay, and index.
$4.00.)
The story of the Salvation Army in the
United States is an interesting one
from any angle. And not the least of its
interest results from its inextricable
connection with the autocratic and
zealous founder, William Booth, an
Englishman who only reluctantly agreed
that the infant institution should
be nurtured on American soil. He
conceived the organization in 1865, as a
result of his evangelical work with the
London slum dwellers, and until
1931 the generalship of the world
headquarters was held within his own
family. In the United States, for more
than fifty years after the small band
318
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
of eight Britishers landed in New York
in 1880, the command of this
American branch was held by one of the
eight Booth children.
Professor Wisbey has not utilized the
drama inherent in the Booth
story to the fullest because of his
desire to stay with a chronological outline
(a scheme that is constantly upset by
the introduction of background
material). Hampered by the fact that
there is no Salvation Army repository
to call upon, he has done exhaustive
researching to uncover scanty and at
times biased reports. Nevertheless, the
vigor of the crusade and the fervor
of the dedicated men and women shines
through.
Like a true army the Salvationists lived
in a disciplined military atmos-
phere. The "general" spread
the word to the corps down the ranks from
the captains to the lieutenants. Their
newspaper was the War Cry. Month-
long "sieges" of evangelical
activity were waged against Satan. Revival
spirituals and drinking songs were
refitted with new lyrics, for as General
Booth declared, "Why should the
Devil have all the best tunes?" In spite
of being military in organization, a
Salvation Army meeting in a hall or on
the streets was anything but dull.
Of course there were rumblings of
discontent over the despotism of a
system whereby the general owned all the
group property, made the policy,
transferred workers without
consultation, and appointed his own successor.
But the force of Booth's personality was
such and the appeal of the work
so great that the schisms tended only to
weed out all but the most zealous
and sincere.
The early eighties can be called the
"Brickbat Era" of the Salvation
Army in America--for not everyone took
kindly to its unrelenting war
against sin, liquor in particular.
"Hallelujah Females" and their brethren,
armed with nothing more than a big bass
drum, tambourines, and a call
to serve, often met with public
hostility. But the time was ripe for a
"Church of the Poor." Its
simple theology embraced a belief in a divinely
inspired Bible, the Trinity, original
sin, salvation for all who willed it, and
immortality of the soul. As part of a
mission, church, and social service
organization, the soldiers without
swords concentrated on raising the
standards and the morals of the rejected
city men and women who had
almost lost hope.
As time went on, the scope of the
activities was widened to include
disaster relief, rescue homes,
rehabilitation workshops, orphanages, employ-
ment offices, and most widely known of
all, aid to the soldiers at the front.
"Doughnuts for Doughboys" is a
slogan well remembered by World War
I veterans who were solaced by the
lassies who went right to the battlefields
of France.
BOOK REVIEWS 319
Woven into this success story are the
personality clashes within the Booth
family itself, growing organizational
democratization, and the complexities
of administering a rapidly expanding
American command. Although one
wishes that Professor Wisbey had spent
more time analyzing the American
contributions within the framework of
the international pattern, Soldiers
Without Swords fills a definite gap in the social history of urban
America.
American Embassy, New Delhi CHARLES A.
JOHNSON
George Washington in the Ohio Valley.
By Hugh Cleland. (Pittsburgh:
University of Pittsburgh Press, 1955.
xiii??405p.; illustrations and index.
$5.00.)
Not least among the achievements of
George Washington were his travels
and military service in the Ohio Valley.
Late in the autumn of 1753, when
he was only twenty-one, he was sent as
an ambassador to the French at
Fort Le Boeuf by Governor Robert
Dinwiddie of Virginia. He did not
return until mid-winter, January 16,
1754. His next service in the upper
Ohio country was as a colonel in the
Virginia militia at Fort Necessity
in 1754. A year later, in 1755, he was
aide-de-camp with the rank of
captain to General Edward Braddock, who
lost his life on July 9, 1755, in
the battle of the Monongahela. Almost
immediately, he was again a colonel
in command of a Virginia regiment
charged with the responsibility of de-
fending the western frontier against the
French and their Indian allies.
In 1758, under the command of General
John Forbes, Colonel Washington
and his Virginia troops advanced upon
Fort Duquesne, which was taken on
November 28, 1758.
Washington did not return to the Ohio
until the autumn of 1770, when he,
an old friend, Captain William Crawford,
and a party set out to examine
the lands along the Ohio. They went
downstream as far as the Kanawha,
which they ascended for a distance of
about fifteen miles. On Sunday,
November 4, 1770, he and his party began
the long, hard journey up the
Ohio to Pittsburgh and on to Mount
Vernon, which he reached on
December 1.
When the Revolutionary War was over and
Washington had returned
to Mount Vernon, he had an opportunity
to turn his attention to his
personal affairs. In September and early
October of 1784 he visited his lands
in the upper Ohio country. On this
journey he did not go far enough west
to see his lands along the Kanawha
River.
As president of the United States
Washington was confronted with what
320 THE OHIO
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
became known as the Whiskey Rebellion of
1794. By the use of strong
language, by sending troops to
Pittsburgh, and by negotiating with repre-
sentatives from the western counties of
Pennsylvania, the insurrection came
to an end. As president he had taken the
necessary measures to hold the
West as a part of the new nation.
This account of George Washington's
contacts with, and travels in, the
upper Ohio Valley is unequally divided
between a reproduction of the
pertinent documentary material and brief
commentaries by the author. The
documentary material contains in
extenso much material from Washington's
journals, letters, and proclamations.
The diaries and letters of his con-
temporaries complement the writings of
Washington himself and make this
work a most useful source book.
The reviewer, who has long been
interested in Washington's contacts
with Ohio, did not find any reference to
the lands near Cincinnati which
he once owned, nor did he find any
reference to his own study of
Washington's journey along the Ohio in
1770. However, Professor Cleland
has performed an important service by
providing the student of the Ohio
country with the documents concerned
with Washington's contribution to
our knowledge of this area and with the
record of his participation in the
dramatic events so important in the
early history of America. It might be
suggested that George Washington in
the Upper Ohio Valley would be a
more appropriate title for this work.
Ohio State University GUY-HAROLD SMITH
The Socialist Party of America: A
History. By David A. Shannon. (New
York: Macmillan Company, 1955.
xi??320p.; bibliographical essay and
index. $4.50.)
Third parties have frequently risen and
just as frequently disappeared
from the American political scene.
Professor Shannon believes that the time
is ripe to describe the rise, life, and
disappearance of the Socialist party
as a part of American political life. He
does this in a workmanlike manner,
beginning with a survey of the regional
socialist groups that joined in
the first decade of the twentieth
century to form a political party in the
American tradition of political union of
sympathetic but somewhat diverse
groups. The Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan
groups were among the most
radical, in definite contrast to the
conservative Pennsylvania wing, for
example. The disparity is also indicated
by a consideration of the principal
BOOK REVIEWS 321
types of individuals--immigrants,
intellectuals, millionaires, and ministers--
who played leading roles in the growth
of the party. The party grew in spite
of a series of intra-party battles and
reached a high point under the leader-
ship of Eugene V. Debs in the 1912
presidential campaign.
World War I and the three decades
following brought little but trouble
for the party. The bulk of the members
stood firm in opposition to war in
both 1914 and 1917, but in doing so had
to accept loss of contact with
European socialists, with some of the
leading American socialists, and with
the general American public, which
condemned even such conservative
socialists as Congressman Victor Berger.
Dr. Shannon is inclined to defend
the conservative groups in the bitter
fighting for party control, in which
the extreme leftists usually lost and
the efforts of the American left were
consumed in intramural battles rather
than in the struggle against capitalism.
During the 1920's the party listed
toward the right, partly as a result
of the determination of its leaders to
resist the attempts of the communists
to seize control. Norman Thomas brought
a new breath of air to the party,
but one which continued to blow it in
the conservative direction. His hope
of capitalizing on the troubles of
capitalist society during the depression
of the 1930's foundered on the New Deal
program, for the American
voters, even many of former socialist
leanings, would not accept the
socialist program as an alternative. Dr.
Shannon concludes with a dis-
cussion of the reasons for the failure
of the Socialist party in its futile
attempt to gain support in the United
States and emphasizes the aspects of
American life which lead him to conclude
that it never again will have
even the limited success which it
achieved during its short half-century of
existence.
The author of this well-rounded history
of one of our important third
parties leaned heavily on party records,
especially the extensive collection
at Duke University. Interviews with many
veteran socialists provided in-
sights likely to come only from participants
in the struggles. Socialist news-
papers and press releases and eastern
newspapers provided much of the
contemporary material. Many of the
socialist leaders are described briefly,
for Dr. Shannon shows an ability to draw
succinct word pictures of men
and trends. An appendix showing party
membership, officers, and presi-
dential vote would have been a welcome
addition to this well-documented
and judicious account of an important
movement in American political
and social history.
University of Cincinnati GEORGE
B. ENGBERG
322
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
The Life of Matthew Simpson. By Robert D. Clark. (New York: Macmil-
lan Company, 1956. xi??344p.; notes and
index. $5.50.)
Only five years old in 1816, when Bishop
Francis Asbury, the leader of
American Methodism, died, Matthew
Simpson missed the more romantic,
rigorous circuit-riding period in
Methodist church history. Yet his was a
position almost equal in importance to
that of Asbury. To this young
physician from Cadiz, Ohio, who joined
the Methodist itinerancy in 1834,
fell the supreme task of guiding a new,
yet powerful, church, just coming
of age. Eloquently he championed the
cause of fledgling Methodist educa-
tional enterprises, and as the first
president of Indiana Asbury, now DePauw
University, he successfully invaded the
political arena to win Methodist
recognition in Hoosier educational
circles.
No less important were Simpson's
endeavors to build Methodist strength
and prestige nationally. As "chief
architect in building America's largest
Protestant church," he labored
during antebellum years to save Methodism
from the divisive effects of slavery,
and the subsequent loss of church
property to the southern Methodists. The
war and reconstruction made
Simpson an associate of Presidents Lincoln,
Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Arthur,
and Garfield, and ultimately raised him
to a position as "high priest of the
Radical Republicans." Tribute both
to the bishop's eloquence and to his
prestige in high governmental circles
was his selection as orator at Lincoln's
funeral.
In this scholarly biography of Bishop
Simpson, Robert D. Clark, acting
dean and chairman of the speech
department at the University of Oregon,
places special emphasis on the
significance of oratory as a leading source of
the bishop's power and influence. Edward
Thomson, one of Matthew
Simpson's episcopal contemporaries once
defended the pulpit oratory of
nineteenth-century Methodist preachers
by declaring: "When men object
to western eloquence, they had better
come out and see its effect; for, after
all, it is by its effects that oratory
must be tried. We must consider the in-
tention of the speaker, the occasion and
connections of the speech, and the
limitations, distinctions, and
qualifications with which it is received by the
auditors, before we can be prepared for
just criticism."
Professor Clark, a thoroughly trained
expert in rhetorical theory and
criticism as well as in historiography,
skillfully treats each Thomsonian cri-
terion. A few readers may long for more
complete rhetorical analyses. Most
will sense that the author has achieved
a closely knit, highly satisfying balance
between speaking, audiences, and
occasions. With rare artistic talent Professor
Clark successfully pilots Simpson from
pulpit to platform, through a maze
BOOK REVIEWS 323
of ecclesiastical maneuvers and
political intrigue among a few well-known
persons, and a host of relatively
obscure figures without allowing the reader
to lose sight of the bishop. In
appraising the influence of the Methodists
in affairs of state, an area hitherto
largely neglected, the author, at the same
time, leaves few facets of the bishop's
life untouched. Thus we catch
glimpses of the more homely aspects of
life among nineteenth-century
divines, while observing the growing
power of Methodism, and its gradual
advance toward the social gospel. The
result is a highly readable, intensely
dramatic, moving account, an invaluable
contribution to social, political, and
religious history.
Oberlin College PAUL H. BOASE
John Quincy Adams and the Union. By Samuel Flagg Bemis. (New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 1956. xv??546??xix p.;
illustrations and index. $8.75.)
With this distinguished volume Samuel
Flagg Bemis concludes his near-
monumental life of John Quincy Adams.
His initial volume, the Pulitzer
prize-winning John Quincy Adams and
the Foundations of American
Foreign Policy, appeared several years ago. This second volume, like
the
first, is based on a full and
unrestricted use of the Adams family papers. It
covers the political career of this
remarkable statesman from his election
in the contentious campaign of 1824 to
his dramatic collapse on the floor
of the house of representatives while
protesting the decorating of generals
who had led the victorious American
armies in Mexico. This book is what
one might expect from the pen of
Professor Bemis on the subject of John
Quincy Adams. It is detailed,
thoughtful, and well written--a worthy
companion to the earlier volume, which
carved out Adams' first career as
diplomat and secretary of state.
This biography is friendly and
sympathetic in tone, but never eulogistic.
The author's description of Adams'
experience as president is poignant and
real, wrought as it was with human
frailties, self-righteousness, self-
rationalization, humorlessness, and
inability to capture the public affection.
Adams' failures in the White House, the
author suggests, were in large
measure the price which he paid for
victory in 1824. For his election was
neither a party victory nor a triumph of
principles. He was not the people's
preference; he began and remained a
minority president. Nor could he
create a majority coalition as
president, for "like George Washington he
did not believe in parties or in
sections, the essential realities of American
politics--and they did not believe in
him" (p.55).
324
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Adams' devotion to the Union, which
comprises the central theme of
the book, pervaded his family heritage
and his political philosophy. He was
ever conscious of his father's presence
at the signing of the Declaration of
Independence. Washington's national
idealism remained the soul of his
political credo. The younger Adams never
lost the vision of a great,
solidified nation, without regionalism or
divisive parties, reaching from
coast to coast and tied together with a
vast system of internal improvements.
It was natural that he should have taken
up the cause of the Union against
John C. Calhoun and that his oration of
July 4, 1831, in defiance of
Calhoun's nullification doctrines,
should have ended on the note of "inde-
pendence and union forever." Nor
throughout the controversy over the right
of petition or the Texas and Mexican War
issues did his allegiance to the
Union cause waver. Only after repeated
frustration did he join the abol-
itionist crusade.
In a sense this volume is more than a
biography; it is a history of
the nation through a restless quarter
century. The author keeps the narrative
moving forward along a broad front,
deserting Adams from time to time,
but never for long, for Adams' career
touched all the great issues of his
lifetime. In his broad strokes the
author adds little that is startling or
unique; in his details he adds much that
is new and exciting. His new
insights might spell out the personal
triumphs and tragedies of the Adams
family or perhaps Adams' relationship to
the Anti-Masonic movement, the
French spoliations, the Amistad and
Creole cases, or the establishment of
the Smithsonian Institution. John Quincy
Adams has been the subject of
many books--no more perhaps than his
unique role in American history
merits. This latest study may not be the
last, but with its companion volume
it will long stand as the definitive
biography of that notable American as
well as one of the most laudable efforts
at biography by an American
scholar in recent decades.
Iowa State College NORMAN A. GRAEBNER
Energy and Society: The Relation
Between Energy, Social Change, and
Economic Development. By Fred Cottrell. (New York: McGraw-Hill
Book Company, 1955. xix??330p.;
references and index. $6.00.)
Professor Cottrell has written an
intriguing book on a theme of grave
importance for the present world. His
thesis is that "the energy available
to man limits what he can do and
influences what he will do." He knows
too that "it will not be easy to
establish, for the energy converters man
uses are embedded in a social matrix in
which it is difficult to distinguish
BOOK REVIEWS 325
the relationships primarily connected
with technical operations from those
primarily of social origin."
For the first third of the book,
Professor Cottrell writes brilliantly on
the concepts of energy and of organic
and inorganic converters and on the
implications of these for society.
Chapter 4, "Sail, Trade and Mercantilism,"
gives a fresh, but not new, look to the
relation of a new energy source to
the social, economic, and political
consequences of its exploitation. The ironic
bond of sailing ship and colonialism is
summarized as neatly as an epitaph:
"No sooner did the sailor produce a
surplus than the soldier ate it up."
The author is at his best in pointing
out, for example, that the British froze
their belief in "trade" into a
national policy, which blinded them to the
greater gains and different implications
arising from increases in physical
productivity.
The book is filled with insightful
comments which bear on the problems
of underdeveloped countries and on
policies for their development, for
example, the analysis of the particular
value of the horse, and the circum-
stances in which hoe culture might be more
advantageous than plow or
tractor.
Yet in the last two thirds of the book,
Professor Cottrell is caught up
in the social matrix he feared, which
makes all single-valued explanations,
no matter how sophisticated, so
inadequate. He can be warmly commended
for defining opportunity costs "in
the sense that the cost of anything is the
values that must be sacrificed to obtain
it." But the broader his interpreta-
tions, the further he draws away from an
explanation of society in terms
of the uses of energy. Indeed, he does
least well in showing the variations
among high-energy societies.
Professor Cottrell's conclusion is that
we must expect, at least in the
short run, "not one world, but
many." He suggests that further research
might show us ways to move towards one
world. He has himself probed
skillfully into the areas of our
greatest ignorance. Yet, although the laws
of thermodynamics are universal, he does
not fully believe than man can
make use of them to create one God.
Ohio State University MENO LOVENSTEIN
The Voyageur. By Grace Lee Nute. (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical
Society,
reprint edition, 1955. viii??289p.;
illustrations, end paper maps, notes,
and index. $4.00.)
The reissue of this invaluable little
study by an eminent authority on ex-
ploration in the Northwest is cause
indeed for rejoicing. Dr. Grace Lee
326
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Nute here creates a living, breathing
image of a unique figure of the
wilderness, the French-Canadian
canoeman. The voyageur was almost in-
variably illiterate, so Dr. Nute's work
has been to recreate his peculiar
quality from the diaries and reports of
explorers and of the bourgeois, or
traders, sent out by the fur companies.
Each of the nine chapters deals with
some phase of the voyageur's life:
the actual voyaging, fort life, life as
an habitant, and finally as a canoeman
for the harrowing explorations of the
Northwest and the Arctic, such as
Sir John Franklin's journey of 1819-22.
One chapter is devoted to voyageur
songs, which played such an important
part in the day's paddling that a
good singer received extra wages. Music
is given for some of the songs,
and translations vary from certain
wooden renditions made by J. Murray
Gibbon to Dr. Nute's much more
satisfactory abstracts of other songs. One
song entitled "Le premier jour de
Mai" bears a startling resemblance to
"The Twelve Days of
Christmas."
The voyageur emerges as a man of
childlike simplicity and persistent
vivacity, small in stature but great in
strength, able to paddle six miles
an hour in calm water, to make
seventy-nine miles in one day on Lake
Superior, to carry a standard load on
portage of 180 pounds, and more if
necessary, to exist for days on pease
porridge, to tell tall tales of his own
prowess which would put Davy Crockett to
shame, and to end his story
with the quite truthful statement,
"Je suis un homme!" Dr. Nute does
not gloss over the voyageur's irresponsibility,
his major lapses in morality
in the absence of the priest, his
superstitions, and his tendency to succumb
to fear in emergencies. Nevertheless,
she concludes that his knowledge of
the wilderness and its ways was an
invaluable contribution to those whom
he served and to those who followed him.
Unfortunately, the print of the book
tends to smudginess, although Mr.
Bertsch's woodcuts remain handsome. The
end paper map is more decorative
than useful, as an item such as Methye
portage, given in its non-literal
English translation in the text, appears
in French on the map, and many
points mentioned in the text do not appear
at all. Such rare lapses as the
reference to Lord Strathcona and Mount
Royal as Lord Mount Royal de-
tract only infinitesimally from this
treasure trove of colorful, useful, and
delightful detail.
Bowling Green State University VIRGINIA B. PLATT
BOOK REVIEWS 327
Pioneering in Big Business,
1882-1911: History of Standard Oil Company
(New Jersey). By Ralph W. Hidy and Muriel E. Hidy. (New York,
Harper and Brothers, 1955. xxx??839p.;
illustrations, tables, maps,
diagram, notes, and index. $7.50.)
Here is the first really dose
approximation to the attainment of the goals
of business history. For the young
business executive and the student of
management seeking a broad and
meaningful vicarious business experience,
Pioneering in Big Business supplies a sense of the fundamental changes that
have taken place in the administration
of an important industry, and a com-
prehension of how and why those changes
occurred. For the student inter-
ested in entrepreneurial history there
are many examples of the problem
faced in Jersey Standard's early
history, the persons who succeeded or
failed to succeed in finding solutions,
and new information which may well
lead to a re-evalution of practices
until now generally considered to have
been motivated solely by a lusting after
power and wealth.
The volume is divided into two parts.
The first ten chapters cover the
period 1859-99 and describe in minute
detail the bringing of order (com-
bination) out of chaotic competitive
conditions; the evolving of a man-
agerial system "intended to
maintain a balance between centralized formu-
lation of policy and local autonomy in
the field of operations"; the organ-
izing and systematizing of the domestic
market; the struggle for foreign
markets and the establishment of foreign
affiliates; the series of circum-
stances and maneuvers leading to full
integration of the company; the dis-
solution of the trust following a
decision of the Ohio Supreme Court and
the subsequent formation of informal and
unofficial "Standard Oil Interests."
Among the many significant conclusions
contained in this first section one
might mention the judgment of the Hidys
that the most serious errors of
the period were to be found in
Rockefeller's unnecessary and mistaken
policy of extreme secrecy and the
failure to appreciate the public's fear
of monopoly and strong adherence to the
principle of equality of op-
portunity. On the plus side was the
development of a managerial philosophy
and technique prominent in Jersey
Standard's operations today.
The second part of the volume deals with
the period 1899-1911 and
examines in even greater detail the
birth of Jersey Standard as the central
holding corporation and the multiplicity
of issues (competitive and political)
which followed. The executive policy was
to maintain the company's share
of the world market and to maintain a
balance between operations in the
328
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
"general interests" within the
combination. The problems of adjusting
tactics to achieve balance and to build
tolerable relations with affected
groups outside the combination are
described and analyzed in illuminating
detail in the last thirteen chapters of
the study. Both the authors and company
officials are to be congratulated for
this most fruitful joint effort.
Ohio State University DAVID M. HARRISON
Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak, Black
Hawk: An Autobiography. Edited by
Donald Jackson. (Urbana: University of
Illinois Press, 1955. 206p.;
illustrations, maps, bibliography,
appendices, and index. $3.75.)
The autobiography of Black Hawk has long
since become an American
classic. In the usual fashion of a
classic, this one reappears from time to
time with a new editor and format. The
present edition is one of the most
attractive, and it is certainly more
than a bargain in these days of high
costs of publishing.
Black Hawk was not a great statesman or
orator, nor even an hereditary
chief or medicine man. He was merely
"a stubborn warrior brooding upon
the certainty that his people must fight
to survive" (p. 38). Although this
story is primarily an account of the futile
Black Hawk War to prevent
American expansion from driving his
people to exile and death, it has much
more of value that is too frequently
overlooked. It contains pages of
description of Sauk ethnology. The
Indian point of view and Black Hawk's
philosophical musings on such subjects
as American elections (p. 116),
treaty making (p. 98), and fighting
techniques of the British and Americans
(p. 80), for example, are highlights.
What then is the contribution of the
present edition? The editor has
supplied a set of notes for the
autobiography that make it virtually definitive.
His introduction gives an account of
Black Hawk's triumphal and not-so-
triumphal tour of the United States
after the war. It contains a short summary
and also the verbatim official
government account of the war. The editor
discusses the responsibility of American
military officers for the successes
and failures of the campaign. He
concludes with a discussion of the
authenticity of the autobiography and decides
that it is not a hoax.
A careful scrutiny of this volume
reveals a number of things that should
not have escaped the editor and
publisher: "John Spenser Barrett," instead
of John Spencer Bassett occurs in both
footnotes and bibliography; "Hol-
man" instead of Hamilton is quoted
in a footnote; "Green" in the foot-
notes becomes "Greene" in the
bibliography; and "Thomas S. McKenney"
BOOK REVIEWS 329
in the text is "Thomas L.
McKenney" in the bibliography. "(Catlin, 217)"
in the text (p. 181) means little, since
it is neither supported by a footnote
nor a bibliographical citation. Unclosed
parentheses, double parentheses,
unitalicized ibid.'s, manuscript
citations without sources, omission of volume
citations, and many other items could be
indicated; but these are sufficient
to illustrate the need for editorial
improvement on this book.
There also occurs another type of fault
in the volume. For example, a list
of symbols is given preceding the Table
of Contents in the front of the
book and then repeated at the beginning
of the Bibliography. A full page
of medallion illustrations occurs in the
front; they are each reproduced
again throughout the volume. A picture
of a scale model of Fort Armstrong
and the description of its construction
are seventy-five pages apart (pp. 24,
99).
These factors, to be sure, detract from
Jackson's edition of the famed
Black Hawk autobiography; but it is
still worthwhile and welcome. A
complete bibliography of all the
previous editions would enhance its value
considerably. Perhaps this will be
included in the forthcoming and sure-
to-be welcomed publication of the Black Hawk
War collection of manu-
scripts that is mentioned in the
Preface.
Miami University DWIGHT L. SMITH
The Army Air Forces in World War 11. Edited by Wesley Frank Craven
and James Lea Cate. Vol. VI, Men and
Planes. (Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1955. Iii??808p.;
illustrations, charts, appendix, glos-
sary, and index. $8.50.)
One might call this new volume of army
air forces history an organiza-
tional history. The text is divided into
three parts: I, The Organization and
Its Responsibilities; II, Equipment and
Services; and III, Recruitment and
Training. These, in turn, are subdivided
into some twenty chapters, each
dealing with a specific area of
activity. As in the earlier volumes of the
series, the various chapters have been
written by a number of individuals,
including William A. Goss, P. Allen
Bliss, Frank Futrell, Alfred Goldberg,
Arthur R. Kooker, and Thomas H. Greer.
As the title indicates, the story deals
with the two basic components of
the army air forces, men and planes. It
traces the growth of this arm of
the military services from its beginning
as a struggling, greatly subordinated
arm of military power, initially
considered as little more than a curiosity,
to its development as an integral
component of modern warfare. For years
330
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the army air forces had limped along,
the step-child of the military. Then,
as a bolt out of the blue, it was
propelled into the forefront of the nation's
military might.
The present volume is mainly concerned
with the study of the trials
of the army air forces in the brief
period of tremendous expansion from the
late 1930's through the period of World
War II. Like other branches of the
nation's armed strength it had been held
down during the years of peace
between the two World Wars. Then, with
the gathering clouds of war over
Europe, it was snowballed into a mighty
power. However, unlike its sister
services, its mission of actual combat
was different from its former use
as an observation device. It was
expensive, its materiel complex, and its men
necessarily highly skilled technicians.
To meet the Axis' challenge, the army
air forces needed not only
quantity but quality as well in both
"men and planes." To achieve its ends,
basic policies had to be devised, and to
implement these policies, industry,
government, universities, research
centers, and thousands of other individuals
and agencies were called upon for
cooperation. Unfortunately, in some re-
spects, this was a forced blooming, and
numerous errors were made in the
mad rush to meet the needs of the times.
It was not enough to "counter
each tactical and technical advance by
the enemy." There must be constant
change and improvement, and, finally,
superiority. As one looks back from
this vantage point, he cannot help but
be amazed at the tremendous forward
strides which were made in less than a
decade following Munich. We armed
not only ourselves but our allies as
well. That this mission was accomplished
at all is to be credited to the vision
and organizational genius of the air
force officers and advisors.
In training personnel, as in building
aircraft, every agency, public and
private, military and civilian, was
tapped which promised to produce the
flood of technicians necessary. Old air
bases were expanded and new ones
opened. Special schools in all phases of
aircraft production, maintenance,
and operation were developed both in and
out of the air force. Servicing
the whole was the air service command,
dealing with problems of procure-
ment and supply.
As in the previous volume there is some
confusion brought about by the
use of service abbreviations and
repetitions. The reviewer sometimes felt,
too, that some of the problems with
which the volume is concerned are
emphasized out of proportion, for
example, the hiring of women for work
with air force agencies. The
well-selected illustrations are an interesting
adjunct to the text, as they graphically
point out the complexities with which
the air men had to cope. The supporting
annotation at the end of the
BOOK REVIEWS 331
volume includes documents and
contemporary correspondence as well as
records of interviews with those who
were active and important participants
in the building of the air forces. A
later and more full view might change
some of the interpretations and
emphases, but the value of this present
volume as one more attempt to tell the
story of the Second World War is
unquestioned. The editors and individual
writers are to be commended for
their lack of bias and for allowing the
chips to fall where they may. Out of
a complex mass of materials they have
culled those which tell the story
of the army air forces' "men and
planes" and have set down a record
which, presently, there is no reason to
seriously challenge.
Anthony Wayne Parkway Board RICHARD C. KNOPF
The Territorial Papers of the United
States. Compiled and edited by
Clarence Edwin Carter. Volume XXI, The
Territory of Arkansas, 1829-
1836, Continued. (Washington: Government Printing Office,
1954.
v??1415p.; index. $11.00.)
It is now twenty-five years since
Professor Clarence E. Carter of Miami
University went to Washington to edit
the Territorial Papers. In that time
he has collected, selected, and edited
about one volume a year of a series
that has put American historians
perpetually in his debt, and set a new
standard of historical editing. Up to
this time the volumes themselves have
not changed much, though since 1950
their sponsor has been the National
Archives rather than the Department of
State, and the project has
emerged from the financial uncertainties
of its earlier years. Now it is
about to take a new turn, drawing on
techniques not originally available.
By the utmost economy in his office,
Professor Carter has been able to pre-
sent the most important and
representative documents, hitherto unpublished,
for ten territories in twenty volumes.
It would not be easy for him to do the
same for the later continental
territories, eighteen in all, each of which on
the average produced more documents and
fewer published documentary
series. Henceforth, therefore, he will
issue complete series of documents
on film as microcopies, while continuing
the present format in the printed
volumes of selected documents. Eventually,
when he reaches beyond ter-
ritories like Wisconsin, Iowa, and
Minnesota, and gets into New Mexico,
Arizona, and Washington, which were
territories for sixty-two and thirty-
six years, rather than twelve, eight,
and nine years, the new policy should
considerably accelerate the whole task,
without inconveniencing the serious
student. Far westerners learned to use
microfilm before their middlewestern
332 THE OHIO
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
cousins and will be gratified that the
editor may be able to turn earlier to
their region. Having come from Marietta
to Little Rock in twenty-three
years, we should not be long in reaching
the Pacific.
This third volume of Arkansas papers
continues the turbulent themes of
its predecessors. There must have been
few frontiers where the harried and
underpaid officials had as much to
contend with as they did with the
fraudulent land claimants, illegal
Indian traders, suffering Indian tribes
(especially the Quapaws), and factious
politicians of Arkansas. The white
inhabitants, wrote Captain John Stuart
in 1833, "are either adventurers
from different Parts of the world, whose
Purpose it is to make money in any
way they can, without regard to Laws or
they are such as have been all their
Lives moving along in Advance of
Civilization and good order, And who
have for their Governing Principles Self
Interest alone, Without regard to
Law or honesty--And they will Sell
Whiskey to Indians whenever and
wherever they can find Purchasers"
(p. 710). Captain Henry M. Shreve,
having returned from the raft of the Red
River in 1833, turned to clearing
the Arkansas, and the speculators moved
in as the snags came out. The
intrigues and sycophancy of politicians
were as complex as in other
territories; under pressure to safeguard
the administration's interests on the
eve of statehood, President Jackson
finally dropped Governor John Pope,
whose successor had denounced him as
"a 'general welfare' federalist. One,
that believes that the National
Government is omnipotent, and the States
mere corporations, or nearly so"
(p. 1007). As in all previous volumes,
there are leads for scores of fruitful
inquiries in these pages.
University of Oregon EARL POMEROY
Down on the Farm: A Picture Treasury
of Country Life in the Good Old
Days. Commentary by Stewart H. Holbrook; pictures assembled
and col-
lected by Milton Rugoff. (New York:
Crown Publishers, 1954. 188p.;
illustrations. $5.00.)
The current book-lists abound with
picture-book titles ranging in subject
matter from studies of recently climbed
mountains to the inside story of the
jet airplane. Mr. Holbrook's offering,
"a panorama of the more or less
Good Old Days of country life in the
United States," falls somewhere be-
tween the two. This collection of
pictures, the author suggests, is calculated
to bring about a feeling of happy
nostalgia, a sort of homesickness for that
period in our history when "down on
the farm" meant home to a majority
of us.
BOOK REVIEWS 333
Unfortunately, being a city-born product
of the twentieth century, the
reviewer cannot testify as to the
nostalgia-evoking quality of this picture
anthology. Viewing the
nineteenth-century farmer in the cold light of
history, however, it would seem that a
good many ex-agriculturists might
cast a rather jaundiced eye on the
plight of their forebears. During the
years following the Civil War, farm
prices dropped two-thirds and the cost
of farm production skyrocketed as a
result of rate discrimination by the
vast railroad empires. Millions of acres
of land were made useless by poor
farming techniques, and the loneliness,
the drabness, and the hardship of
farm life sent thousands drifting toward
the city. The Alliance movement
and Populism emerged as a phenomenal
political force, a protest against
the steadily deteriorating position of
the farmer. With these facts in mind,
it is difficult to believe that the
agricultural life could retain many nostalgic
adherents. This is not to say that Mr.
Holbrook's text and illustrations lack
appeal. To the incurable romanticist
they will conjure up a rolling meadow, a
corn husking bee, or a barrel of sweet
cider, with a minimum of imagination.
Several observers of the American scene
have suggested that the public
is becoming picture conscious. It is
deluged with picture magazines ranging
from excellent to disgustingly bad;
millions have become enthusiastic shutter
clickers themselves; and we are
constantly reminded that forty million tele-
vision sets are viewed with varying
degrees of attentiveness by many more.
As a natural consequence, the average
American has become more critical of
at least the technical quality of all
types of visual presentation. The taste of
the individual has been catered to by a
host of improvements in motion
picture production, television
reception, and in the allied fields of printing
and engraving. Contrary to this trend,
the reproduction of the illustrations
in Down on the Farm does not
compare favorably with the quality of many
other picture books. Most of the
engravings appear to have been made from
prints several times removed from the
original material and, as a result,
have too much contrast to be enjoyed.
Others are flat and listless, which
tends, as any editor knows, to make the
subject of the book itself pretty dull.
It is indeed unfortunate that a
potentially interesting group of illustrations
should be given such poor production by
the publisher.
If it were possible to compute a sure
formula for a successful book of
pictures, the factors would certainly
include good reproduction, careful
editing and selection of illustrations,
an informative text, and, of course,
a subject of wide interest. Down on
the Farm fails in at least three of these
categories.
Colonial Williamsburg WILLIAM G. KEENER
334
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Exploring the Northern Plains,
1804-1876. Edited by Lloyd McFarling.
(Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Printers, 1955.
xiii??441p.; maps, chronology,
bibliography, and index. $7.50.)
This book consists of a series of
extracts from writings of explorers,
military men, scientists, a missionary,
a historian, and others who traveled in
the Northwest from the time of Lewis and
Clark until a month after the
battle of the Little Bighorn. Most of
the writings are well known, and the
extracts give a taste of frontier
conditions as viewed by many travelers.
The accounts are arranged geographically
in five parts: "Along the Mis-
souri River," "On the Great
Medicine Road" (the Platte), "Across the
Plains and Bad Lands" (between the
Missouri and the Platte), "To and
Through the Black Hills," and
"Exploring the War Path," which relates to
the Sioux war in 1876.
To quote the editor: "We want to
find out things . . . the course of a
river . . . the temperature of a spring
. . . the range of the grizzly bear . . .
the odor of sage brush . . . the habitat
of Psoralea esculenta . . . the flavor
of boiled dog . . . the navigability of
the Platte . . . the location of the
Sioux-Crow frontier . . . the number of
buffalo hides required to make a
tepee . . . how six mules are guided by
one line." These are only a few of
the many facts to appear, and the editor
has over-simplified his task. The
grizzly bear has a wider range than that
described, and the habitat of the
Psoralea esculenta (bread root) is more extensive. The facts related are
authentic, but few of them establish a
general rule.
Indians (tribes, villages, life, chiefs,
warriors, treaties, and agencies)
compete with geography for space.
Battles, forts, trade, steamboating, and
life of the soldiers are vividly
described. "The Mule and His Driver" is one
of the most interesting of the
narratives.
The book should interest many who read
western material, for in it
there is much outside the field of
popular history, and yet it is attractively
written. It points the way to wider
reading, particularly of younger students.
The bibliography is extensive, the
editorial introductions to the writings are
excellent, and the maps are
illuminating. An appendix gives a good chron-
ology of Northwest explorations, and the
index is superior to most of this
type of writing.
The book is well printed on good paper
and is well bound.
Montana State University PAUL C. PHILLIPS
BOOK REVIEWS 335
The Great Experiment: An Introduction
to the History of the American
People. By Frank Thistlethwaite. (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press,
1955. xiv??335p.; maps and index.
$5.00.)
Since Lord Bryce's 1921 address to the
Anglo-American Society in London,
urging increased British study of
American history, there has apparently
been some greater emphasis on the
subject in British universities, mainly
through the importation of distinguished
American lecturers. There have
certainly been a number of specialized
studies by British historians im-
pinging upon both American and British
history; there has been at least
one notable English-born author of
American history textbooks, Henry
Bamford Parkes, and a number of graceful
and penetrating observers, such
as D. W. Brogan. But not until this book
has there come to my attention
a first-rate text by a British scholar
displaying both comprehensiveness and
comprehension.
The solid qualities of the book,
however, would be outstanding whatever
its origin. Combining breadth and
brevity, it takes its place as one of the
few short inclusive studies of American
history worthy of serious attention.
By any standards it is balanced,
judicious, and makes intelligent use of the
wealth of monographic literature
available. In the changing field of "new
viewpoints," the author shows
himself as much at home as any of us. His
weaving in of social, economic, and
intellectual materials is particularly
remarkable in such a brief book. The
book is well written in one of the
most uncommon ways. While much American
history has been well written
with incisiveness at the polemic and
special-pleading level, and while much
more has been written at the more
judicious (fearing to tread) level, Mr.
Thistlethwaite walks in with grace and
good sense.
Certain of his emphases, while perhaps
reflecting a British point of
view, are remarkably illuminating. The
setting of the first third of the
book, which can be summed up by one of
his chapter titles, "The Atlantic
Outlook," though in line with
current broad historical thought, takes on
a special significance from his vantage
point. Some might argue that at
particular points his emphasis is wrong
or too highly colored. Colonial
society may not have been as British in
class structure, prejudices, and its
actual operations as he paints it.
Again, the growing entente between
Britain and America in foreign affairs
after 1895 may not have been
quite so much the result of British good
will as he implies. These interpre-
tations and others, however, seem to me
well within "legitimate bounds."
336
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
The cause of American historiography, as
well as the cause of continued
friendly relations between the two
powers, will be well served if this
book is as widely read in both countries
as it deserves to be. For the particular
benefit of any British readers (except
Mr. Thistlethwaite) perhaps I should
say, "Wal, I reckon this is a durn
good article of work."
Lake Erie College BARTON BEAN