Workshops in the Wilderness: The European Response to American Industrialization, 1830-1860 (review)

BOOK REVIEWS63 ond period, which Goetzmann labels "The Great Reconnaissance and Manifest Destiny : 1845-60," emphasizes the explorer as the handmaiden of settlement and economic opportunity—the abettor of the fulfillment of predestined American expansion from sea to sea. Such professional explorers and scientists as Charles WUkes, John C. Fremont, Gouverneur K. Warren, and those connected with the Pacific Raflroad Surveys of the 1850's sought under government auspices not merely to note traüs or natural landmarks and phenomena, but to assess resources and cultures , plot transportation routes, and in general to aid conquest and development. The third period, 1860-1900, was the era of the "Great Surveys," an era in which the civüian-scientist-explorer came into his own, scientifically evaluating the West with an eye to the nature, use, and control of its resources. Josiah Whitney's California Geological Survey was a significant pioneering effort in this tradition, and Goetzmann assesses it admirably, as he does the work of Clarence King and his Fortieth Parallel Survey, Ferdinand V. Hayden (the "Güded Age Explorer"), George M. Wheeler, and especially John Wesley PoweU ( "The Explorer as Reformer "). Thus ended a significant phase of government-sponsored investigation of a large part of the American West. Goetzmann writes good history. No romanticizer (although he has his favorites), he retains the color and flavor of western exploration, but imparts a meaning and a seriousness so often lacking in the treatment of the Trans-Mississippi regions. The book is soundly researched and rests on a solid base of manuscript and printed primary sources. It reflects a firm scientific grounding and famUiarity with cartography, although occasionally a fur trading post or a pass is mislocated. But the sins are minor ( like the confesed and interchangeable use of the terms "stope" and "shaft" on p. 626) and are understandable in a study of this scope and complexity. Goetzmann has embeUished the volume with three portfolios of fascinating iUustrations taken from the explorers themselves and has sprinkled it liberally with several dozen maps, both vintage and modern. Unfortunately, most of the early maps are useless, since they are so reduced in size as to be iUegible. But no matter; the overall verdict for Exploration and Empire is that it is a first-rate book. Clark C. Spence University of Illinois Workshops in the Wilderness: The European Response to American Industrialization, 1830-1860. By Marvin Fisher. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1967. Pp. ix, 238. $6.00.) Students of the pre-Civil War years are finding evidence that American industrialization was substantially more extensive than was previously realized. Marvin Fisher, Professor of English at Arizona State University, provides additional support as he marshals the observations of nearly two hundred Europeans who visited the United States in the three ante-bellum decades. His observers include many of the well known (Bremer, Cobden, Dickens, Martineau, and TocqueviUe) and also such lesser known travelers as James S. Buckingham, Michel Chevalier, Francis J. Grund, Alexander Mackay, GuiUaume T. Poussin, Frederick von Raumer, and Joseph Whitworth, most of whom were skiUed witnesses and very literate reporters. Despite the title, the result is an account of the discovery and description by some Europeans of the extent of American industrial development in urban centers of the American Northeast. Since these Europeans were often more aware of American industrial potential and the importance of its development than were many natives, their comments help us understand the significance of the technological prelude to the Civil War. Their observations extensively complement the pastoral view of Jefferson on one hand and also refute much of what Marx said about the impact of industrialization . Frequent reference is made to the way in which industrial opportunity led to 64CIVIL WAR HISTORY social mobüity and provided a route to prosperity and independence equal to that provided by the frontier and the ownership of agricultural land. Grund, a German nobleman, was so impressed with American industrial prospects that he became an American citizen and successful businessman. Some of the foreign observers , especially TocqueviUe, were also very perceptive of the pitfalls ahead for American industry. They saw that the condition of workers was likely to decline as industry matured, that...