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270CIVIL WAR HISTORY folk" of Arkansas and liberally quotes often lengthy passages from their letters, newspapers, and remembrances. Although the author does an admirable job in illustrating life during the war, and while he is albeit reluctantly apologetic for the extensive quotes used, the reviewer dislikes this approach as a matter of style. This is, however, a minor criticism. Overall, Dougan's study of Confederate Arkansas is an fine volume, worth reading, and deserving of its receipt of the Mrs. Simon Baruch Award of the Daughters of the Confederacy for excellence in Confederate history. William L. Richter Tucson, Arizona Confederate Postal History: An Anthology from The Stamp Specialist . Edited by Francis J. Crown, Jr. (Lawrence, Mass.: Quarterman Publications, Inc., 1976. Pp. xvi, 313. $30.00.) For readers of Civil War History who are not stamp collectors, this review might serve as an introduction to the possible usefulness of the literature of philately and, by extension, of numismatics, paper money collecting, and similar specialties. Crown's anthology reprints those articles relating to the Confederacy which appeared in twenty volumes entitled The Stamp Specialist published by Harry L. Lindquist from 1939 through 1948. Among the authors of the articles are such outstanding students of Southern philately as August Dietz, Van Dyk MacBride, and Stanley B. Ashbrook. Their words are heavily illustrated with examples of Confederate stamps, envelopes, and letters. The editor has arranged the articles so as to form a loosely-organized history of the Confederate mail service . Crown has also supplied a brief introduction, a few footnotes, an index, and a bibliography of additional, often more recent, publications . He has, however, omitted many non-philatelic historical works which might have helped his readers. Of what benefit to the historian is this always minute, often technical and sometimes antiquarian scholarship? A student of the workings of the Confederate government could profit from the articles on the Confederate Post Office Department by Dietz. and Ashbrook. Dietz's historical background is old-fashioned and, like some others among the contributors, he is sentimentally pro-Confederate . He sets the tone of his article on "The South's 'Way of Life' " by heading it with a drawing of a rebel belle proudly presenting the familiar Battle Flag. Nevertheless, Dietz, as a pioneering researcher and author of the unrivalled Postal Service of the Confederate States of America (1929) is still very instructive when he deals with his specialty. Those interested in Confederate attempts to adapt its economy to the needs of war should find help- BOOK REVIEWS271 ful several authors' accounts of Southern difficulties in printing stamps, improvising envelopes, and transporting the mails. Social historians and anyone studying propaganda could find source material in patriotic envelopes printed during the war. Letters sent through the blockade, across the embatded Mississippi River, and by prisoners of war throw light on aspects of daily life. Articles by MacBride publish in their entirety a letter written in Libby Prison by Union General Neal Dow and several brief letters of General Robert E. Lee. Such documents suggest to Civil War historians that philatelic literature contains an abundance of sometimes overlooked original sources. Despite its formidable price, Crown's book should attract some historians to join its probably mainly philatelic audience . Frank L. Byrne Kent State University The Scahwag in Alabama Politics, 1865-1881. By Sarah Woolfolk Wiggins. (University, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, 1977. Pp. 220. $12.00.) This is a welcome, useful, but ultimately disappointing book. It is welcome and useful primarily because of its novelty: although there have been numerous articles dealing with particular facets of scalawag history—most particularly attempting to determine the backgrounds of these southern white Republicans—this is the first booklength study of the scalawags in any state. As such a "first," it contains a wealth of useful detail, uncovered through careful exploration of manuscripts and newspapers, on Alabama's postwar Republican politicians. Unfortunately, however, this volume also suffers from methodological and conceptual shortcomings. Professor Wiggins presents two major conclusions. First, despite the propaganda of white Democrats—and of subsequent historians— the scalawags were hardly the scum of Alabama, misfits who could find success only by joining the conquering northern Republicans. Rather, they were "realistic...

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