The Dispute of the New World: The History of a Polemic, 1750–1900 by Antonello Gerbi (review)

180 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW sional or amateur. On the whole, he seemsto be a historian'shistorian. If the recognition of hisqualityhasincreased in recenttimes,muchof the creditgoes to Professor Walbank, who has been writing on Polybiantopicsfor the past forty years.A considerable numberof scholarly essays, an invaluablehistorical commentary- theseare now cappedby Walbank's'generalbookabouthisparticular author,' basedon the SatherLecturesgivenat Berkeleyin •97•. The bookis a serviceable introductionto Polybius, but it goesbeyondthat. There is studyin somedepth of the traditionalquestions aboutthe man and his work: his relationshipto previouswriters, his treatment of sources, his wholeconcept of history, hishandlingof chronology andgeography, thetheory of the mixed (or balanced)constitution and the relatedtheoryof anacyclosis (cyclicalrevolution),and finallythe complexproblemo.fPolybius' attitudeto Rome. Particularlywelcomeis the clearaccountof what he meantby hishallmark 'pragmatichistory'-political and military historyof the writer's own time basedon his own experience. This corresponded to Polybius' peculiar qualifications for his task,asa Greeksoldier-politician who enjoyedprivileged access to the Roman rulingclass. Walbank draws attention to a contradictionbetweenPolybius''picture of Romeas an aggressive powerwith Machiavellian intentions' and hisdetailed narrativewhichseems to present the Romansashavingwar (and henceempire ) thrustuponthem.This contradiction(or schizophrenia) may, however, havebeenendemicin Romanpolicyitselfand evenin the Romans'owninterpretationof their history.Walbank has interesting observations on the last quarterof Polybius' work in which the criticalperiodleadingto the destruction of Carthageand Corinth (•46 Be) wasdescribed. Here the a•ng Greek historian isseen asanapologist forRomanruthlessness, reneguing onthehumanitarian viewshe had advancedin an earlier time. Walbank neverseeks to gloss over Polybianambiguities and inconsistencies. He has,in general,provideda well-balanced studyof hisauthor. G.V. SUMNER Universityof Toronto The Disputeo[ the New World: The Historyo[ a Polemic,•75o-•9oo. ANTONELLO GERm. Revisedand enlarged editiontranslated by JEWElry •tOYLE. Pittsburg ,Universityof PittsburgPress,•973. PP.xviii, 700. $•9.95. Ant0nello Gerbi isa historian ofideas andsocial thought whoought tobemuch betterknownin North Americathanheis.Perhaps thistranslation of hische[d 'muvrewill providea turningpoint.An Italian bornin i9o4, he firstpublished studies of eighteenth-century FrenchandGermanpoliticalthought(I928, •932). Moving to Lima, Peru,prior to World War n, he thenwrotebookson economic conditions in Peru (• 941) andon thesocial impactof road-building in Peruvianhistory(i944). Meanwhile,he had begunworkon the enduring and worthy project which has preoccupied him for the past three decades: pejorativeEuropeanattitudes towardthe people,flora,fauna,soil,and climate REVIEWS 181 of the Americas.Gerbi startedby seeking to correctthosecommentators, such as Croce and Ortega y Gasset,who regardedHegel'semphasis upon New World inferiorityasan originalidea.In preliminaryreports, published in Lima between •943and •946,Gerbiargued(• ) thatHegelhadmerelyadapted views of theComtedeBuffon,Cornelius dePauw,andothereighteenth-century writers ; (2) that their criticalattitudeconstituted a reversal of the dominantview, particularlyamongmissionaries, heldduringthe sixteenth and seventeenth centuries ;and (3) that manyof thephilo.sophes hopedto invertthe 'noblesavage' notion, and therebydiscreditthe so-called'promisedland.' They were antiprimitivists , and passionately committed to theideaof progress. Returningto Italy afterthewar,Gerbiexpanded hisearlierViejaspoldmicas sobreel Nuevo Mundo, whichhad run to only •62 pagesin •943, into the giganticLa Disputa del Nuovo Mondo: Storia di una polemica,•75o-•9oo (Milan andNaplesx955), whichran to 774pages. That volumewasnotwidely noticedby English-language historicaljournals,thoughit did receivewarm praisein a few. Published in a Spanish translation in •96o (in MexicoCity), the bookhasnowbeengivena felicitous Englishtranslation in a revised edition that shouldmakeit muchmorereadilyavailablein North Americaand bring Gerbithe recognition he deserves. Like all of hisbooks, thisonereports,quotes, digests, and interpretsextensively from the sources. It is well written,heavily documented, carefullyindexed,and carriesa formidablebibliography. The extensiveexcerptsfrom French,German, Spanish,Italian, and other primary materials haveall beensensibly rendered in English. The bookcomprises, then,a majorstudyin thehistory of ideas,executed in the mannerof Lovejoy.Its genesis liesin 'the hyperbolies and the calumnies' whichfor a longtime wereprominentin comparisons of the New World with the Old; and itsfocus isprimarilyon the period•75o-•83o. The majorprotagonists are Buffonand de Pauw,o.fcourse, aswell as Clavigero, Raynal, Rousseau, William Robertson, Humboldt,and Jefferson. The supporting cast includes Acosta, Carli, Chateaubriand, Franklin,Goethe,Hegel,Pernety, Remond ,Tocqueville, Voltaire,andVolney.In the nineteenth centurythispolemicturnedlesson physical weakness and degeneracy in the Americas, and more on their socialbackwardness, insignificance, and uncertainfuture. The emphasis shifts fromnatureandhistory to cultureanddestiny. Canadianreadersmayfeelsomefrustrationthat 'New World' seems to refer largelyto what is now the United States,Mexico, Peru, and Brazil. There is onlya handfulof specific references to Canada,and theyto.uch lightlyupon the 'dumbsolitude'of the forest,the moon'slargerappearance, watercourses, Indians,women,and 'semibundling.'Scholars, nevertheless, will findthisbook an invaluableadditionto...