Harvard Guide to American History: Revised Edition ed. by Frank Freidel (review)

344 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW coloured immigrants already livedinthecolonies. Eachcolony founditsownsolution to theseproblems. Generally,however, the'Natalformula'or literacytestresolved theformerwhilea broadrangeof restrictions oncivilliberties usually satisfied the latter. Asa studyof policythisbookisquitesatisfactory. Huttenbackexamines therange of xenophobic lawsenactedby coloniallegislatures, notestheir similarities and differences, and recordsthe ColonialOffice'sresponses to thesemanymeasures. The chiefstrength ofhisworkliesinthebreadthofitsscope andthethoroughness of itssurvey. He regardseachdiscriminatory actaspart of alargerwhole,thatracism whichwasoneof theempire's centralcontradictions. Yet Huttenbackseems satisfied merelytorevealtheyawninggulfbetween profession andpractice inimperialracerelations. Herests content upontheconclusion that 'thestudyof the"WhiteAustralia" policy anditscounterparts in thecontext of the liberalrhetoricof Empirebringsto lightperhapsthe majorskeleton in theBritish imperialcupboard'(326). He hasnotaskedhowthe skeleton gottherein thefirst place,nor,indeed,whytherewasanyskeleton atall.Racism isasubtle andcomplex phenomenon. It derives from manysources; it takesmanyforms.In dwelling upon policyHuttenback hasrevealed onlyoneof itsforms.Itsrootshehasalmost entirely neglected. Yet thecomparative perspective whichtheimperialsettingoffersisanidealone for thestudyof racerelations. Certainlyan analysis of colonialeconomic structures and their impacton racialcontact wouldshednewlight on the economic rootsof racism.Similarly,a comparativestudyof socialstructuresand patternsof racial interactionwould enrich the sociology of racism.The ideologyof race- whose rhetoric(according to Huttenback) variedlittlewithinthewhiteempire- offersyet anotherpointof departure,anespecially enticing onewhichtheauthorhasignored. Whatisneeded,then,isa systematic analysis of the structural components of race relations withintheimperialsetting. Indeed,itisonthisbase thatanysuch comparativestudyshouldbebuilt . In short,thecentralquestion whichtheauthorhasfailedtoconfrontisthis:Why didwhiteBritishcolonists inthefar flungcorners ofempirereactwithopenracism to coloured immigrants? Thisworkoffersonlysuperficial answers. Studies ofpolicy are nodoubtusefulandimportant.Buttheycaneasilyneglect fundamental problems. Racism andEmpiresuffersthisserious weakness. It merelyskimsthe surfaceof a profoundandintricateissue. W. PETER WARD University ofBritish Columbia UNITED STATES HarvardGuide toAmerican History: Revised Edition.Editedby•R^•K •REmEI• withthe assistance of •t•ci•i^•DK.sI•IOWM^•. Cambridge,Mass.,The BelknapPress of HarvardUniversity Press,•974.PP.xxx,xxvi,•29ointwovolumes. $45.oo. This book is the fourth in a line of guidesassociated with the Harvard history REVIEWS 345 department,the predecessors of thisedition being dated •896, •9•2, and •953 (copyright•954).Butfor thewidegapbetween thesecond andthethird guides, the series represents a setof moreor lessregulartest-borings into the evermounting strataof writingontheAmericanpast;andperhapsthefifth edition(published, say, in •996)shouldcontainachapteronacenturyof developing scholarship asrevealed in the historyof the Harvard guidesthemselves. Certainlythis •974 Guidemustbe examinednot onlyby itselfasa basicreferencework for the intelligentgeneral reader, the student, and the scholar, but also asa 'revised edition.' The •974 editioncontains(a) a longintroductorypart, with eightcompendious chapters,described by the editorsasbeingfor the mostpart finding aidsbut also includinganumberof sections onsuch mattersastheselection of topics for research, note-taking,and the editing of manuscripts;(b) a seriesof bibliographieswhich constitute themainbodyof thework(occupying morethan9oopages) andwhichare organizedeither topicallyor chronologically; and (c) two indices,respectively of authors'namesand of subjects. The scopeof the Guideis ample: in addition to bibliographieson travelsand description,biographiesand writingsof individual persons,and comprehensive and area histories,more than 25o pagesof topical bibliographies aredevotedto subjects ranging,in order of appearance, fromphysiography to health quackery and fallingoutsideof the chronological parts,whichemphasizepoliticaland diplomatichistory.It isof the essence of the Guidethat each bibliography isselective; plainlytheeditorsintendtogivedirections towards acoreof writings'mostimmediatelyuseful'inthestilloperative languageof •896(•974, x,v). The Guide is not meant to be a select list of Great Books or Harvard Classics in Americanhistory:it isa workingtool.The editors,of course,do not havespaceto commentuponindividualbooks;but theymighthaveinserteda chapteror headnotesindicatingwhatterracesof interpretationthe successive wavesof revisionism haveformed.Practically allof thetitlesonehasinmindasbelonging tothecoreofthe literaturedo appearin the Guide,andin logicalplaces; but titlessometimes fail to appearwhereareadermightlooktopickup alead.ThusTocqueville's Democracy in America islistedunder Travelsand Description•79o-•865 and underJacksonian Democracy:PoliticalThought; but the reader interestedin historical-sociological analysis willnotfindthebookunderanyof theheadings withsocial orsociological asa key-word,nor byconsulting social structure, social mobility, or sociology in thesubjectindex . The appearancein the •974 Guideof a separatesubject-index is, however,a welcome improvement uponthe •953 edition.So,too,isthepresentation of titlesin columnsdownthe pagerather thanin solidblocks of print. The eliminationof the onlymarginallyuseful'summaries' or syllabi thatappearedin the •953editionsaves preciousspace; but the wisdomof droppingthe distinction betweenprimary and secondary materials asanorganizingdeviceremainsproblematic. In regardto such changes, theeditorsremark that the book,asa basicreferencework, continuesthe fundamentalpurposeof itspredecessors. That viewbecomes acriterionof revision. The editorsindicatespecifically thattheopeningchapters (withthefindingaids)are nowessentially for referenceuse.The •953 Guide hadbegunwithachapteronThe Nature of History,includingsections on the Historyof AmericanHistoryandThe HistorianandthePublic, aswellasasection onTheoriesof HistoricalInterpretation. 346 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW In otherwords,the •953Guide possessed theutility,in additiontothatof areference work,of puttingsuchinvestigations asit wasdesigned to facilitateintothe context definedby the stateof Americanhistoricalscholarship andby the historian's role vis-a-vis 'apeople's conception of itspast'(• 953,9).Althoughthe •974editorsdelete that chapter,they retain Professor SamuelEliot Morison'sstatementof •953 on Historyasa Literary Art. That 'classic...