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  • The Manliest Man: Samuel G. Howe and the Contours of Nineteenth-Century American Reform by James W. Trent Jr.
  • Michael D. Pierson (bio)
The Manliest Man: Samuel G. Howe and the Contours of Nineteenth-Century American Reform. By James W. Trent Jr. (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2012. Pp. 326. Cloth, $80.00; paper, $28.95.)

This biography of Samuel G. Howe is the first in over fifty years. No one can deny that Howe's long and successful career warrants a full biography. In addition to his well-known roles as America's leading educator of the blind, including Laura Bridgman, and his support of John Brown as one of the "Secret Six," Howe packed many other jobs into his life. He served as a pioneering director of Massachusetts's efforts to school what were then known as "idiots," doing so in the same years that he played a vital role in the New England Emigrant Aid Company to help antislavery settlers in Kansas. Early in his life, he went to Greece as a doctor to aid the Greek fight for independence, and he later took part in directing the Boston Vigilance Committee in its efforts to help fugitives from slavery gain their freedom. Not incidentally, he was also the husband of Julia Ward Howe, a prominent writer and social activist.

On the whole, James Trent Jr., a professor of sociology, guides readers through the maze of Howe's activities with a sure hand. While Trent observes that Howe has come in for criticism in recent decades, he "grew to admire Howe as a man of principle, of optimism, and of faith in individual [End Page 116] and social change" (ix). The biography follows a chronological format, but it keeps returning to three themes that Trent sets out in his introduction: "Howe's embodiment of the nineteenth-century concept of manliness, his participation in the contemporary reform movement, and his belief in the 'perfectability of man'" (4). Of the three themes, Trent is much more successful with the last two than with the first. Trent's grasp of reform movements and of Howe's devotion to the idea that humans are perfectible—and the consequences of that belief for why and how Howe engaged in reform efforts—makes this a valuable book.

Trent, the author of two earlier books on the history of mental retardation in the United States, is at his best when he explores why Howe became a pioneer in the education of the blind and people with learning disabilities. Howe was convinced, as were a growing number of other northerners, that people who appeared less intelligent only seemed that way because they had not been given the same educational opportunities as others. Environment, not someone's innate nature or race, held people back. Howe's beliefs led him to undertake educational reforms that encompassed people who had previously been left uneducated and inspired his lifelong effort to mainstream his pupils. He spurned the notion that his schools should be "custodial," instead always seeking to train his pupils in practical skills that would enable them to lead independent lives. Trent explores how Howe's beliefs influenced much of what happened at his Perkins School for the Blind, including analysis of its admissions policies, student life regulations, and curriculum. While Howe was not always successful, his efforts were revolutionary.

Trent's second theme, his tracing of the multiplicity of reform efforts going on in Boston during Howe's lifetime, gains traction as the book progresses. Time and again, we see Howe working with, and sometimes against, many of the familiar names in Massachusetts's reform community. Whether he is campaigning against capital punishment or for a particular style of prison reform, Howe keeps company with many of the same people and often uses the same logic to inform his stands. We could argue that there is a missed opportunity to explore Howe's notable change in antislavery positions over the decades. Howe publicly stood up for colonization in 1833 (a critical year to take that position) but later raised money for John Brown and badgered Lincoln to end slavery in 1861. Trent does not fully explore...

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