The Civilization of the Old South: Writings of Clement Eaton (review)

BOOK REVIEWS75 easily summarized in the brief space of a review. His interests have never been narrow and his contributions to the historical profession have been as wide-ranging as they have been crucial to its advancement . The study of local history, the relations between the discipline of history and those of the social sciences, the problems of archival storage, the work of the genealogist have all felt the benefit of his dedication and commitment. His work on the politics of the Civil War era led him to an investigation of Anglo-American democracy and its evolution from early beginnings, the results of which were in turn applied to America's greatest and most tragic conflict. By placing the Civil War "in its setting in the history of Western civilization as a whole," new and valuable perspectives were provided. Three avenues to fulfillment are available to the academic person; he may function as a teacher, as a research scholar, and as an administrator. Nichols excelled in all three, and it is to his everlasting credit that, while serving as Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania , he continued to teach and to write. Few academics have been so successful in combining all three functions. The historian, Nichols argues, has a unique contribution to make "because he thinks in time and explains the slow processes of the evolution of cultures." Only the historian can "protect society from presentmindedness ." But to realize his full potential, the historian must engage in a serious self-appraisal. Nichols' final admonition might well be pondered. "The historian should subscribe to a declaration of intellectual independence. It is time for him to be more positive about his functions, his objectives, and his methods. It is time to stop living by other people's wits, by frantically seeking to adopt other people's jargon , by humbly seeking to be recognized as faithful and reasonably satisfactory handmaids worthy of Thursday afternoons and alternate Sundays on which to do what they really wish. Historians must become independent and self-confident again, and thereby assume a new importance in the intellectual world as scholars with unique functions of their own." Nichols sees little ground for pessimism in our own day. Survival, not always easy, is not impossible. "The historian, from his survey of the past, should know this better than anyone else, and it is his duty to proclaim it." Robert W. Johannsen University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign The Civilization of the Old South: Writings of Clement Eaton. Edited by Albert D. Kirwan. (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1968. Pp. xvii, 307. $7.50.) This volume, honoring Clement Eaton upon his retirement from the University of Kentucky after twenty years of distinguished service, contains thirteen chapters drawn from his six major works. The introduc- 76CIVIL WAR HISTORY tion supplies a brief but perceptive biographical note, a chronological account of Eaton's scholarly production, and a sampling of the critical acclaim his works have received. Footnotes are reproduced from the original, but there is no bibliography or index. The selections drawn together here faithfully represent the qualities that characterize his larger works. They display his use of rich and varied sources, a directness of style, essential freedom from the temptation to ride a thesis, and the knack of reconstructing southern life in its concreteness and wholeness. The savor of the Creole civilization comes through to the reader along with the more neglected aspects of culture among the nonslaveholding whites. The same vividness and detail can be found in his descriptions of plantation life or the economies of hemp and sugar production. In addition to the theme of freedom of thought in the Old South, for which Eaton is most noted, other of his contributions appear in this book. He has done an excellent job with the prolonged controversy over the right of state legislatures to instruct the Senators chosen by them. His work adds to what the Owsley school has done on the significance of the yeoman class. It also redresses the balance of other works by calling attention once more to "Southern honor" as a real force at work in the secession movement. Of...