Beyond Equality: Labor and the Radical Republicans, 1862-1872 (review)

72CIVIL WAR HISTORY The Confederate Ironclads. By Maurice Melton (New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1968. Pp. 319. $7.50.) The work is in its simplest form a narrative history of the buüding, operations, and destruction of the Confederate ironclad navy. The author has discussed development of the various individual ships and squadrons since there was never any unified battle fleet in the Confederacy. In an interesting, action-packed style, Mr. Melton has provided a lively and detafled account of the battle of the Virginia and the Monitor, and an excellent description of the little Manassas fighting Farragut's entire fleet on the Mississippi. He has provided the reader with very good accounts of the actions at Charleston, which temporarily broke the Union blockade, and an excellent chapter on the actions at Mobüe. Mr. Melton's efforts in dealing with the Chattahoochee Squadron and the Muskogee are unnecessarily weak since the hull of the Muskogee along with part of her armor and equipment have been raised and are now located in a naval museum at Columbus, Georgia. The author has an exceUent style and has produced a very readable book. The historian will, however, be surprised by the complete lack of any introduction or conclusion. Although some conclusions are briefly suggested in the text, at no place does he ever attempt to determine or explain the use for which all of the ironclads were buüt. The author has done fairly adequate research, although he has done little or no work in manuscript material and has faded to use numerous useful books which relate to his subject. The value of this work is that it has collected in one place and related a readable account of aU of the Confederate ironclads. In doing this, Mr. Melton has produced a work which wül be very useful to the general reader and the Civü War buff. Frank L. Owsley, Jr. Auburn University Beyond Equality: Labor and the Radical Republicans, 1862-1872. By David Montgomery. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1967. Pp. xi, 508, xix. $10.00.) The thorough réévaluation of the Reconstruction era is continuing. Carrying the chaUenge to the viewpoints of Howard K. Beale and Charles A. Beard further, David Montgomery, after once again emphasizing the absence of any connection between big business and Radical Republicanism, focuses his attention upon the impact of the labor movement on the fortunes of the Radicals. Free from excessive ideological commitment and wüling to tread new paths, he attempts to utüize the labor question "as a prism with which to study the political spectrum of Reconstruction America." The resulting synthesis is a chaUenging one. After two introductory chapters setting forth the significance of the workingman's struggle and the political divisions during and after the Civil War, the author presents his story of the difficulties posed by the problem of labor relations to a group oriented toward middle class America. Some Radicals rose to the challenge, some did not, and in the long run, according to Professor Montgomery, the labor movement inherited the mantle of Radicalism. Perhaps the most significant parts of the book are those dealing with various aspects of'the wage earners' activities in the 1860's and 1870's. The strikes, the national and local organizations, and the personalities of the leaders are all here, carefully researched and conveniently assembled. No future historian of American labor wül be able to ignore the facts presented. BOOK REVIEWS73 Of equal interest are the chapters detaüing the rise of "Liberalism" and the "Sentimental Reformers." How these movements differed from earlier efforts to transform society, how they affected the decline of Radicalism, and how they sought to cope with the labor question are problems which receive close attention. The book ends with a consideration of the greenback issue and contains appendices complete with statistics of social stratification, sex and nativity groups among industrial wage earners, and trade union material. Professor Montgomery has done a thorough job. A note of caution, however, ought to be injected. Although the author professes to see some connection between the radical movements of the last decades of the century and their Civil War predecessor, it...