Book Notes
Covered Wooden Truss Bridges of
Greene County, Ohio. A collection of photos
and data of a vanishing era. By James H. Shell. (Xenia, Ohio: Greene County
Historical Society, 1998. 76p.;
illustrations, bibliography.) At first glance this
slender volume appears to be just
another covered bridge picture book. Many of
this genre emphasize numbingly
repetitive photos of bridge exteriors, and, in-
deed, the lead section of this book
includes the expected "photo gallery." But this
publication actually strives to move
beyond such superficiality. A chapter enti-
tled "What's Inside a Covered
Bridge?" includes not only a brief descriptive text
but also photos of the various truss
designs used in Greene County bridges.
Biographies of several important
builders are included. The author's desire to
make this a Dragnet-like compilation
of "just the facts" led to the inclusion of a
highly detailed tabulation of all known
covered bridges ever built in the county.
The level of documentation, including
name, location, builder, truss type, size,
cost, and a compendium of miscellaneous
information gleaned from primary doc-
uments, is unprecedented in covered
bridge books and greatly increases the vol-
ume's value to engineering historians.
Ohio Historical Society David A.
Simmons
John Ogden, Abolitionist and Leader
in Southern Education. By Dennis K.
McDaniel. By Dennis K. McDaniel.
(Philadelphia: American Philosophical
Society, 1997. viii + 138p.; illustrations,
notes, chronology, bibliography, in-
dex.) John Ogden (1824-1910) lived an
exciting and varied life. According to the
author, he was principal, president, or
superintendent of nine different schools,
county school systems, normal schools,
or states departments of public instruc-
tion. Most notably he served as the
first Superintendent-later Principal and
President-of Fisk School (now Fisk
University). In the years after the War
Between the States, Ogden labored as
Superintendent of Education for the
Freedman's Bureau in Kentucky and
Tennessee. McDaniel noted that Ogden has
been overlooked by abolitionist
biographers, most notably James McPherson in
The Abolitionist Legacy: From
Reconstruction to the NAACP, who
included in
his work both the second and third
presidents of Fisk but not Ogden. This tiny bi-
ography is an effort to educate about
one of the lesser known but equally worthy
nineteenth-century educational reformers
and early civil-rights activists. Ogden's
colorful life is reason enough to read
this work, but it also will meet the needs of
Ohio history enthusiasts as well.
Galloway, Ohio James S. Baugess
Zane Grey: Romancing the West. By Stephen J. May. (Athens, Ohio: Ohio
University Press, 1997, xvi + 180p.;
illustrations, notes, selected references, in-
dex.) Literary historian, essayist, and
novelist, Stephen J. May explores the en-
during popularity of Zane Grey by
analyzing the writer's life and novels. Placing
Grey firmly in the tradition of romance
writing, May critically examines the nov-
els showing how Grey's childhood,
emotional life, and personal philosophies in-
fluenced his work. A refreshing look at
a writer who, often overshadowed by his
personal mystique and that of his
romances, proves a complex and intriguing fig-
ure in twentieth century American
literature.
Ohio Historical Society Laura
Russell
Livingston and the Tomato. By A. W. Livingston. With a foreword and ap-
pendix by Andrew F. Smith.
(Columbus: The Ohio State University
Press.
xxxviii + 226p.; illustrations, index,
appendix.) Ohio lays claim to the world's
largest tomato processing plant
(Fremont), so it seems fitting that much of the
pioneering work in the development of
the tomato as we now know it came about
in Ohio. Readers and backyard gardeners
may be surprised if not amused to learn
how extensive and detailed tomato
cultivation has been over the past two centuries
in American agriculture. This soft-bound
volume consists of a foreword and
appendix written by Andrew F. Smith who,
as a teacher of culinary history at the
New School in New York and author of The
Tomato in American and Pure Ketchup:
The History of America's National
Condiment, is eminently qualified to
bring us
this topic. Tracing the development of
the tomato in America, Smith focuses on
Ohio's many contributions and in
particular the mercurial career of A. W.
Livingston, a Reynoldsburg seeds man.
The appendix describes an astonishing
215 tomato varieties offered for sale
before 1900. Yet it is the meat of the book,
Livingston and the Tomato, first published in 1893, that provides readers with de-
scriptions and illustrations of the many
tomato varieties he developed. For the
reader, only the palate is left wanting
after digesting this healthy diet of tomato
historiography.
Ohio Historical Society Stephen C.
Gordon
Maps of the Shaker West: A Journey of
Discovery. A collection of maps and
histories of better known and lesser
known Shaker sites in Kentucky, Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan
beginning in 1800. By Martha Boice,
Dale
Covington, and Richard Spence. (Dayton,
Ohio: Knot Garden Press, 1997. x +
140p.; illustrations, appendices,
further reading, index.) This book "represents a
serious effort to document all the
Shaker sites in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, and Michigan. It ties the
sites related to the Kentucky revival to the es-
tablishment of the Shaker movement in
this part of the country." The well-docu-
mented text by Boice is greatly
amplified by the maps and line drawings by
Covington and Spence.
Ohio Historical Society Laura
Russell
Walking the Steps of Cincinnati: A
guide to the Queen City's scenic and his-
toric secrets. By Mary Anna DuSablon. (Athens: Ohio University Press,
1998.
xx + 165p.; illustrations, bibliography,
index.) Cincinnati, as the author astutely
notes in her preface, has erroneously
been called the City of Seven Hills. Truth is,
at least in geologic terms, it is a city
of valleys carved from a plain, earning the
more dubious nickname of "Landslide
City USA." Whatever moniker one prefers,
Cincinnati and its environs still boast
more than 400 sets of public steps and
more than 2 miles of risers, making it
second to San Francisco in the number of
public steps. Walking the Steps is
a field guide to thirty-five of the most scenic
public steps in twenty-six urban
neighborhoods. Maps can be somewhat difficult
to decipher but there are excellent
written descriptions of each tour. Generously
illustrated with both contemporary and
historic black and white photos, as well as
a fine bibliography and index, Walking
the Steps challenges the cardiovascularly
curious to new levels of fitness. To
truly see a city such as Cincinnati and all its
"nooks and crannies," those
that are able must park the car, walk the side streets,
and take the steps.
Ohio Historical Society Stephen C.
Gordon
The following books have been received
by Ohio History which might be of inter-
est to our readers:
Agent of Destiny: The Life and Times
of General Winfield Scott. By John S.
D.
Eisenhower. (New York: The Free Press,
1997. xiv + 464p.; illustrations,
notes, bibliography, appendices, index.)
C-Span's Traveling Tocqueville's
America: Retracing the 17-state tour that in-
spired Alexis de Tocqueville's
political classic Democracy in America.
(Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins
University Press, 1998. xi + 188p.;
illustrations, credits, a note on
sources.)
Grandpa's Gone: The Adventures of
Daniel Buchwalter in the Western Army 1862-
1865. By Jerry Frey. Introduction by Wiley Sword. (Shippensburg,
Pennsylvania: Burd Street Press, 1998.
xix + 227p.; illustrations, notes, bibli-
ography, index.)
From Engineering Science to Big
Science: The NACA and NASA Collier Trophy
Research Project Winners. Edited by Pamela E. Mack. (Washington, D.C.:
National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, 1998. xxiii + 427p.; illustra-
tions, notes, index.)
Home Material: Nineteenth-Century
Regional Women's Fiction. By Sandra
Parker. (Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling
Green University Popular Press, 1998.
viii + 240p.)
Changing History: Afro-Cuban Cabildos
and Societies of Color in the Nineteenth
Century. By Philip A. Howard. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State
University
Press, 1998. xxii + 227p.;
illustrations, notes, bibliography, index.)
Roosevelt's Children: The Story of My
Generation. By Edward D. Phillips.
(New
York: Vantage Press, 1998. 233p.;
appendix.)
Gunner with Stonewall: Reminiscences
of William Thomas Poague, Lieutenant,
Captain, Major and Lieutenant Colonel
of Artillery, Army of Northern Virginia,
CSA, 1861-65. A Memoir Written for
His Children in 1903. Edited by Monroe
F. Cockrell. (Lincoln: University of
Nebraska Press, 1998. xxxii + 181p.; il-
lustrations, notes, index.) REPRINT.