The Valley of the Delaware (review)

100 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION skill and elegance (incidentally: could Lehon, p. 133, perhaps be interpreted as Leeuwen, French Louvain, German Loewen?) The get-up of the book, print, binding, index, etc., are most substantial. This is the first of a series of ten volumes, mainly dealing with the history of Dutch (or, as the Dutch government decreed in October, 1934, "Netherlandish") Quakerism. This country has contributed tremendously to the history of Anabaptism and the doctrines of the Inner Light. The much-neglected story of that part of our history could not have been introduced by a better masterpiece than this biography of the first historian of Quakerism, in which the word of Emerson has become verified that there is "properly no history, but only biography." WaHELM Hubben George School, Pa. The Valley of the Delaware. By John Palmer Garber. 418 pages. 58 illustrations. $3.50. Philadelphia: John C. Winston Company. The value of Dr. Garber's attractive and illuminating volume lies in its fresh emphasis upon the significance of the regional history of the Delaware Valley in the formative period of American history. Sustaining today a population that equals the population of nearly a dozen farwestern states, the historic region through which Sows the Delaware River and its tributaries deserves wider national recognition and appreciation , not only for its past contributions to the growth and development of American democracy, but also for its present-day importance in the Kfe of the nation. Here is where foundational American ideals and institutions were revealed in their genesis and eminently exemplified in the lives and achievements both of people and illustrious leaders. Dr. Garber's summary account of the arrival on the banks of the Delaware of the various European people who set steaming the American melting pot is comprehensive and richly informing. The author's intimate knowledge of the local history adds considerable zest and value to his text. Separate chapters treat of the Quaker and other English adventurers, the German settlers, the Scotch and Irish immigrants, and the French colonists and refugees. In additional chapters, crowded with interesting details, Dr. Garber records the notable achievements of this racial medley in the varied social fields of industry and transportation; government ; education ; science, literature, and art ; and religion. In summing up the diversified life of the Delaware Valley, Dr. Garber does not fail to emphasize that "nowhere else were the unifying influences as freely operative as they were under the spirit of toleration instituted by William Penn." This book is a valuable contribution to a better understanding of genuine American democracy as a historic achievement—an achievement that is not to be lightly forgotten by its inheritors nor ignored by its misappropriators. T. B. Brandt ...