Baptism of Fire: The Republican Party in Iowa, 1838-1878 (review)

176civil war history McCaslin's contributions to this volume consist of thoughtful, straightforward introductions to each of the eight chapters and short biographies of individuals pictured or descriptions of each scene depicted. The introduction to chapter 1 identifies the photographers and traces their careers. When known, McCaslin lists the photographer's name for each picture included. The introductions to the next six chapters describe in general terms the participation of South Carolina troops and their adversaries in the various Civil War military theaters. Chapter 8, a portfolio on Reconstruction in South Carolina, carries the pictorial story to 1877, slightly beyond the title. The 200- to 300-word biographies and scene descriptions, in addition to placing soldiers in battle and camp, are supplemented by Appendix A, which traces the post-Civil War careers of those pictured. When taken altogether, the introductions, the biographies , and the appendix represent considerable research on the part of the author. A thorough index helps readers check on individuals of particular interest. Portraits of Conflict is a sensibly priced, beautifully produced photographic history. The weaknesses are minor. A short glossary of early photography terminology, perhaps at the end of the introduction to the first chapter, would have assisted readers, and a few may complain that some of the photographs previously appeared in print, but such are minor considerations. Portraits of Conflict is a valuable addition to Civil War and South Carolina history . Marion B. Lucas Western Kentucky University Baptism ofFire: The Republican Party in Iowa, 1838-1878. By Robert Cook. (Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1994.) Pp. xiii, 310. $34.95.) Robert Cook has added to the growing literature on the attitude of Northern Republicans at the state level on the race question in the Civil War era. His book is a narrative account that spans the range of time from the origins of the party in the anti-Democratic opposition in frontier Iowa, through its organization as an anti-Nebraska party in 1856, all the way up to its grappling with the issue of railroad regulation in the 1870s. Along the way, author Cook investigates legislative behavior in the statehouse, judicial decision making on the Iowa Supreme Court, the thought and action of Iowans sent to Washington to represent the state, and the actions of numerous individual politicians and religious leaders back home. The result is a solid book that adds to our understanding of the rise of Republicanism. One of the strengths of this book is in the fine work that Robert Cook has done in the manuscript sources and newspaper accounts left by Iowans. Cook has introduced readers to a large number of Iowa Republicans and deftly charts the discussions of policy matters within the party. Less successful is his use of book reviews177 quantitative analysis in advancing our understanding of the party. Cook uses standard scaling techniques in analyzing votes in the Iowa legislature, and he has done a great deal of work in quantifying more than one thousand roll call votes. However, the method he uses to present the results ofhis data processing is an obscure technique called "multidimensional scaling" that produces cluster diagrams. The diagrams reproduced in the volume are hard to understand and not well integrated or explained in the text. Cook might have done better by sticking to his fine narrative of Iowa men and beliefs and leaving the cluster diagrams for a separate publication. The heart of Baptism ofFire is concerned with the Republicans as a party of principles, indeed, as the "party of humanity and progress." He acknowledges that the Republicans were a coalition of groups, some attracted to the party on the basis of ethnocultural factors and some on economic grounds, but at the base Cook finds that the Republicans were an anti-Southern party for the two decades between 1856 and 1876. He treats Iowa as a test case, indirectly following Lee Benson's analysis of New York, but discounts to some extent the power of ethnocultural or class factors in explaining the emergence of the party. Instead, Cook concludes that the history of Iowa republicanism is an example of a party succeeding by sticking to its principles. This is a conclusion that would have...