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82CTVTL WAR HISTORY some justification) that Ohio blacks were improving financially and socially, and confidently foresaw that black actions in resisting the Fugitive Slave Law, pressuring the Republican party, and joining the Union Army would help define the future of blacks in America. If black leaders sometimes disagreed over strategy or were more bourgeois than their followers, such was typical of white leaders as well. Leaders like Langston, according to the Cheeks, understood the difficulties they faced, expecting and accepting the slow pace of change. They, not white abolitionists, were setting the terms of black freedom and citizenship. The issue of the nature of black prewar leadership cannot be resolved by a single biography. Yet in showing the need to correlate leaders' positions with their changing individual circumstances and diverse backgrounds , the Cheeks are preparing the way for more complex generalizations about black elites. The analysis of Langston's life still poses some problems, however, in part because the Cheeks allow Langston's positive self-assessment to stand in lieu of a more substantive evaluation of his effectiveness. How black activism affected the Ohio Republicans remains insufficiently documented, and Langston's efforts to recruit ordinary blacks for the army needs to be placed in a larger, comparative context to be meaningful. While the authors describe the occupations, property holdings, and institutions of Ohio's free blacks, they do not develop a sense of black community structure nor do they show where a person like Langston—with so many ties to whites—fitted into it. Langston felt good about himself, but how did others classify and respond to him? Langston espoused the equal rights ideal, yet it is worth noting that his preoccupation with "manliness" may actually have circumscribed many of the choices open to women. In short, the meaning of Langston's leadership to a variety of different groups remains ill-defined. Yet this is overall an excellent biography, written with rare grace. The description of people Langston knew and their surroundings evokes a strong sense of time and place. Langston's life is revealed with a sense of drama and suspense yet with an objectivity that belies any attempt to hero worship. In the best tradition of biography, this book is informative , analytical, and a "good read" as well. Phyllis F. Field Ohio University Lifeline of the Confederacy: Blockade Running During the Civil War. By Stephen R. Wise. (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1989. Pp. 340. $24.95.) Who is the most famous blockade runner of the Confederacy—at least in the public mind? Probably Rhett Butler! Why? Because romance, intrigue, ignorance, misinformation, and deliberate distortion of evidence BOOK REVIEWS83 have colored the history of Civil War blockade running. Stories, rumors, and tall tales painted flashy pictures of small, fast, ghostly vessels slicing through the Union blockade of the Southern coasts during the war, vessels crewed by derring-doers, ruffians, and heroes who kept the Rebel foreign lifeline open to feed, clothe, arm, and encourage a beleaguered people. Most of the tales were too tall, the facts too scant, and the books too thin to do justice to a fabulous story. Shortly after the war a few participants told part of their history and some Union naval officers filled in more of the picture. A few serious scholars tested the waters, but sources remained vague and the task daunting. How many blockade runners ran through, how many were captured; who manned them, who were the famous captains? It was not until the publication of Frank L. Owsley's magisterial King Cotton Diplomacy (1931) that the scope and strength of Confederate efforts to run the blockade were glimpsed. Owsley confessed he had only scratched the surface, looking for others to extend his work. Others did follow and gaps in history narrowed, but the big, complete work on blockade running eluded capture. Stephen R. Wise's Lifeline of the Confederacy: Blockade Running During the Civil War is the closest yet to a definitive study. Superior research, careful analysis, and sound writing sustain his work, a book marred only by irritating printing errors. Especially impressive are Wise's appendixes listing ships, ports, and captures. He understands the importance of Confederate efforts...

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