Book Notes

BOOK NOTES Slavery in the South. Edited by Harvey Wish. (New York: Noonday Press, 1964. Pp. xxi, 290. $4.95 cloth; $2.45 paper.) This anthology contains a wide variety of opinions on the ante bellum South's "peculiar institution." Slavery was the dominant theme in American history for a full halfofthe turbulentnineteenth century. The excerpts printed herein go far in explainingwhy. Employing first-hand contemporary accounts, Professor Wish examines slavery from three points of view: that of the Negro, that of the British and northerners, and that of the southern whites. The first-named section is represented by such writers as Frederick Douglass and Charlotte Forren; the British-northern view stands out in the long quotations from the works of Frederick Law Olmsted; and among the four southern commentators are Thomas Jefferson and Hinten Helper. Most of the excerpts are familiar to students of the period. Yet Wish's penetrating introduction, as well as Nat Turner's confessions relative to the insurrection bearing his name, enhance the collection as a whole. The Abolitionists: Reformers or Fanatics? Edited by Richard O. Curry. (New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston, 1965. Pp. 122. $1.50.) Controversy wfll always shroud that small, hard core of mid-nineteenth century liberals known as abolitionists. Of aU the many antislavery advocates in America during the 1830"s and 1840"s, they were the most militant and virulent. In this paperbacked anthology, fourteen historians examine the abolitionists. The monographs are grouped under three headings: "Origin and Leadership of Abohtionism," "British Abolitionists and American Abolitionism ," and "The Abolitionists and the Sectional Crisis of the 1840*5 and 1850's." Such authorities as David Donald, Avery Craven, and C. Vann Woodward have analyzed various aspects of the abolitionist cause; each writer arrives at conclusions that are likely to spur as much debate as did the subjects of their essays. Slavery Attacked: The Abolitionist Crusade. Edited by John L. Thomas. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1965. Pp. xi, 178. $1.95.) Professor Thomas of Brown University (noted for his prize-winning biography of William Lloyd Garrison) continues on the abolitionist theme with 331 332CIVIL WAB HISTORY a paperbacked collection of thirty-four excerpts from the letters, sermons, articles, and speeches of the abolitionists themselves. How and why these militant radicals waged a holy war against slavery becomes clearer through their words. The quotations range from Garrison's 1830 editorial against the American Colonization Society to Wendell Phillips' 1865 commentary on abolitionism. Included are an account of the whipping in Nashville of Amos Dresser, Elijah P. Lovejoy's memorable St. Louis address, and Henry Thoreau's eloquent appeal for the life of the condemned John Brown. In addition, lengthy excerpts by the most familiar of the abolitionists—notably Charles Sumner, Theodore Weld, James G. Birney, James Russell Lowell, and Harriet Beecher Stowe—are featured. Preceding each passage is an explanatory note by Professor Thomas. The End of an Era. By John S. Wise. Edited by Curtis Carroll Davis. (New York: Thomas Yoseloff, Inc., 1965. Pp. IxUi, 498. $8.50.) John Wise's "memoirs" belong in a class with the superb romantic writings of John Esten Cooke and Thomas Nelson Page. The son of one of Virginia's most fiery governors, Wise saw just enough of war to catch its drama and excitement His military service was brief (1863-1865) and somewhat detached (staff assignments). When years later Wise penned his account of the conflict, he borrowed extensively from the reminiscences of kinsmen—Henry A., Louis, O. Jennings, Richard A., et ai.—to round out the narrative. Many of the stories and conversations recounted are of questionable authenticity, but the book possesses a style and sweep that gives it both power and value in the crowded field of Civil War narratives. This explains why it went through so many editions after its initial appearance in 1899. Dr. Davis has done a full job of research—so much so that the two prefaces and numerous appendices give a somewhat crowded look to this edition. And the editorial concentration on Wise's style rather than his contents may prove disconcerting to students of history. Civil War Naval Chronology, 1861-1865. Part TV...