A Frontier State at War: 1861-1865 (review)

224CI VIL W AR history he has given is so complete tiiat it comes witiiin an ace of destroying die carefully wrought suspense of the second half of die book. If you get die book, ignore die jacket copy. But here, a further quarrel with this copy: When a publisher releases a new novel by an unknown audior, it is his mystifying but usual practice to identify it widi an accepted and respected novel of die pastbya well-known audior. Thispractice is mystifying, of course, because if die new novel is a good one it can—and in its own best interest should—stand alone. The practice is usual, however, because publishers—who above all odiers should know—never do know whedier tiiey have a "good" or a "poor" new book for dieir list until sales are totaled. The publisher of The Scarlet Guidon, no dissenter to die practice cited above, suggests tiiat his new release is another Red Badge of Courage. This suggestion, nautrally, does botii books a disservice. The Scarlet Guidon is a much better novel, over-all, tiian nine out of ten of today's new fiction releases; but it is not a second Red Badge, and I am sure its audior did not intend it to be. In short, dien, Mr. Toepfer has demonstrated in tin's first novel diat he can write and diat he cares enough about a subject he chooses to write honestiy. In his next novel he will no doubt take even greater pains to expunge from his final draft all of die shorthand of earlier drafts, to move his story from die first sentence on, to give every last one of his characters at least a litde deptii, and to show us, not tell us, at all times, what he means to say about his theme. Because there are so few (absolutely) good novels about die Civil War, let us hope diat he returns to diat subject. Curtis L. Johnson Western Springs, Illinois. A Frontier State at War: 1861-1865. By Albert Castel. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press. 1958. Pp. xi, 251. $4.50.) it has been often and on the surface truly said that the Civil War began in Kansas. Passage of die Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 opened die area to white settlement, and die explicit repeal of die Missouri Compromise and die substitution of die principle of popular sovereignty made it a battieground on which die question of slavery extension was fought. Mr. Castel's book begins witii a description of Kansas in 1861, at die time it entered die union. It is a dismal picture of a country where " 'die pulse of civilization had just begun to beat—very feebly/ " where most of die inhabitants lived in "lonely, wretched litde log cabins or dugouts, "black holes of evil smell/ " where malaria or "ague" was so prevalent diat it was called die "Kansas fever," where die rivers were "best described as 'amphibious—half water and half mud/ " where die towns were " 'cheap, shabby, and rude/ " and all die people of tiiis " 'so-called state/ " (quoting Senator Louis T. Wigfall of Texas), '"are outiaws and land pirates/" irreligious, profane, and generally beyond redemption. Mr. Castel gives theimpression that he has searched diligentiy for die most damning testimony extant witii which to lay the foundations for his story of this shabby commonwealth. Book Reviews225 In the same tenor he describes die meeting of die first legislature in die spring of 1861. Topeka, die capital, was "a straggling 'town' of 800 surrounded by a "howling wilderness.' " The House of Representatives assembled in an " 'old shack' " which it had to abandon for die Congregational church because of a leaking roof, die legislative chambers were " 'inconvenient' " and " dirty' " and die members had to stand " 'or perch upon miserable substitutes of desks/ while spectators could eitiier 'sit on the floor or stand on dieir heads as best suited their tired limbs.' " The best diat can be said of tiiis picture is diat it is one-sided and overdrawn . The same source which called die first meeting place of die house of representatives an "old shack" described die church to which it moved as a "commodious...