I Ruth: Autobiography of a Marriage (review)

BOOK REVIEWS65 War, population movements, and monetary and fiscal policy. The nineteenth century studies dominate this collection, although some earlier and later topics become involved in long time series; only four items relate exclusively to the twentieth century and only one to the colonial period entirely. Editorial introductions for each of the nine sections undertake to orient the reader, usually briefly but very extensively for the explanation of industrial expansion and for the effects of monetary and fiscal policy. The editors designed this volume for three purposes, two relating to economics or economic history courses. In addition, these readings are expected to help introduce undergraduates in American history courses to "the quantitative revolution in historiography and the far-reaching substantive revisions produced by the new methodology" (p. xv). It is true, as the editors claim, that "the findings of econometric historians have important implications for the interpretation of political, social, and intellectual history." It is not necessarily the case, however, that all findings by econometric practitioners will meet with universal acceptance among historians. To whatever extent historians generally will educate themselves to perceive the character and thrust of evidence illustrated in this collection, salutary challenges from a new quarter will begin to bear on this new economic history. The unfortunate gulf that has long separated historians from economists studying history can be bridged. Fogel and Engerman have come more than their half of the way and deserve cooperation from historians, especially from those concerned with nineteenth-century America. These two anthologies, together with others appearing or about to appear in history and in closely related disciplines, ought to produce among historians an awareness of the possibilities that lie in systematic quantitative approaches made feasible by computing machinery. Historians , who extoll the values of understanding the nature and inevitability of change, can surely apply these values to their own discipline's methods. Thomas B. Alexander University of Missouri J Ruth: Autobiography of a Marriage. By Ruth Painter Randall. (Boston : Little, Brown and Company, 1968. Pp. xii, 266, $5.95.) To evaluate the various influences which contribute to building up an interest in history would not be an easy task. Casual, non-professional interest has been greatly stimulated by such a popular deluxe magazine as American Heritage (born of an effort by professionals to encourage habitual reading in this subject ), and by presentation of popular history by persons perfecting themselves in this art. The author's novitiate was served in the field of articles appearing in popular magazines. Little, Brown and Company some twenty years ago concluded that 66CIVIL WAR HISTORY Ruth Randall was among those writers with talents justifying a venture, which gamble has paid off in ten books by her published by them: six for young people, the other four for adult enjoyment, and all of them of a biographical nature. Genuine and sustained interest in the field among youth thus may have been planted and fertilized by Mrs. Randall's "I" books: / Mary, pertaining to Lincoln's wife; / Varina (Mrs. Jefferson Davis); / Jessie (Fremont's wife); J Elizabeth (wife of General Custer); and the present J Ruth (wife of James G. Randall, the Lincoln scholar). Four Ruth Randall books for adults also clung to the Lincoln era: Mary Lincoln: Biography of a Marriage; Lincoln's Sons; The Courtship of Mr. Lincoln and Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, First Hero of the Civil War. Also, she produced Lincoln's Animal Friends. These books have exploited the perennial market for Lincolniana. Furthermore, sustained professional expertise in history also owes something to Ruth Randall, inasmuch as she heartily collaborated with her husband in a warm and sustained interest in the graduate careers of his college students, of whom quite a number subsequently have won high respect in the field. These contributions are important, even though one might not run them through a computer. The best-researched book was the first, Mary Lincoln, appearing in 1953, the year of Jim Randall's death. It was advantaged by his hearty collaboration in the perfecting of it, despite his knowledge that leukemia was cutting short his time to complete the last volume in his series on the Lincoln era, the book completed by Richard Current after Randall...