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82CIVIL WAR HISTORY with an interpretation of data here or a generalization there, the book remains a major contribution to the literature of American political history . Frederick C. Luebke University of Nebraska-Lincoln From Hayes to McKinley. National Party Politics, 1877-1896. By H. Wayne Morgan. (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1969. Pp. x, 618. $12.95.) Why, it may be asked, should anyone write a book as long as this on a subject so hopelessly dreary as politics in the Gilded Age? That is precisely why H. Wayne Morgan has written the book, it seems, to show us that politics of the period was not dreary but interesting and colorful ; and, above all, that it was significant. He begins by rejecting the view of most historians who—tending to be " 'liberal' Democrats"—have created an image of "Robber Barons" and sterile politics and have generally found little to praise in this "predominantly Republican era." Morgan, by contrast, finds that leaders of the time were able men struggling with "deeply significant issues" and that "politics was an everpresent , vivid, and meaningful reality to that whole generation." Where failures occurred, as Morgan describes them, they were not the result of inattention and cynicism or of weak Presidents controlled by the Carnegies, Rockefellers, and J. P. Morgans. Rather, the problems of agriculture, for example, were virtually insoluble, so long as too many people lived on farms and created rising surpluses. Similarly, the question of blacks and whites could not be solved in these years. By the 1880's white Americans had simply lost interest in Negroes. Republicans made some effort at protecting civil rights but they were thwarted by public opinion and by a segregationist Democratic party. The author's viewpoint is decidedly favorable to the Republican leaders, even to the much-maligned Benjamin Harrison and his "Billion-Dollar Congress." Thus the Republicans spoke as a party for nationalism and progress while Democrats "clung doggedly to ancient ideals of local rule—negative government that protected alleged individualism—and never understood the changes that covered America after the Civil War." This is history in an "analytical narrative," as the author describes it, a study of politics "at the top and from the top." What this means, in effect, is a rather conventional approach from the organizational standpoint , largely chronological, with excessive detail on some matters of doubtful importance. The first three chapters are titled: "Hayes: Harmony and Discord"; "Presidential Sweepstakes"; and "Campaigns and Feuds." By the end of chapter four, on Chester Arthur, the text has run to almost two hundred pages. A tapering off occurs near the close with relatively little space devoted to Cleveland's second administration and to the "Battle of the Standards" between Bryan and McKinley. Rutherford Hayes, James G. Blaine, and William McKinley are major figures BOOK REVIEWS83 in the account, along with many others. Blaine, the "Plumed Knight," was a "brilliant" man with a "formidable memory" and a "shrewd insight into social forces." Highly imaginative, he was also somewhat unstable and lacking in patience. The book is studded with personality sketches and judgments such as the above. It is vividly written, for the most part, and instructors can find here much to enliven their lectures. Without a doubt the book is generally successful as narrative history; but its importance is likely to rest, even more, on the thesis emphasizing the nationalism of Republicans and their fitness to rule. By no means is the author persuasive in every instance. A number of questions arise. This is an example of the "smiling" view of American history, and one wonders whether such an interpretation is really justified, or whether it is even consistent with the facts presented. Yet the book will be valuable , in part, because it is controversial and provocative. Not to be neglected , for this reason, is the lengthy "Bibliographical Note," a bluntly worded commentary on works in the field that should prove interesting to readers generally and suggestive for many researchers. J. Leonard Bates University of Illinois Grand Old Party: Political Structure in the Gilded Age, 1880-1896. By Robert D. Marcus. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1971. Pp. x, 323. $7.95.) Robert D. Marcus' thoroughly documented...

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