The South Through Time: A History of an American Region (review)

BOOK REVIEWS1 85 well, and his career reminds historians that landmark cases were rare and that effective lawyering usually involved diligence rather than brilliance. Petigru's famous case against South Carolina, or vice versa, obviously figures prominently in any appraisal of the man. Nowhere except in South Carolina would Petigru's conservative, Whiggish, Unionist principles have been so objectionable to so many, and the Peases devote two chapters to Petigru's tilts against radicals in the nullification and secession crises. The Peases are, however , at a loss to explain how, exactly, Petigru became a political pariah. Their conventional narrative of events never explores the peculiar political culture of South Carolina or Petigru's own opinions fully enough to allow readers to fathom why Petigru differed so dramatically from the average planter-lawyerpolitician in his native state. Basically, the argument goes, Petigru being what he was, and other white South Carolinians being what they were, a clash was all but inevitable. True, maybe, but not very helpful. References to the Calvinist conservatism of Moses Waddel's academy, to experiences with back-country lawlessness, and to an almost innate fear of disorder hardly suffice to explain Petigru's renegade course— did not John Calhoun have nearly the same schooling , experiences, and traits? The Peases hint that Petigru may have had qualms about slavery, and they mention his occasional laments about not removing to the North, but they pursue neither lead very far. Instead, in summing up Petigru's existence, they stress the "ambiguity of his life and of the legends it spawned" (176). Scholars will consult this ambiguous biography of a perhaps ambiguous figure for facts about James Louis Petigru and for examples of nineteenthcentury legal practice. Both the inmate and the asylum, however, require further analysis. Anthony Gene Carey Auburn University The South Through Time: A History ofan American Region. By John B. Boles. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1995, Pp. xvi, 569. $33.50.) In The South Through Time John B. Boles once again demonstrates his mastery at synthesizing the literature of Southern history. Intended for "the advanced undergraduate reader and the large public of lay historians" (xi), the book deftly combines a straightforward narrative of events and an even-handed treatment of recent historiography. Experts are certain to quibble with the fine points, but there is no denying the book's remarkable range and depth. A word about the work's organization is in order before turning to its treatment of the Civil War era. Boles divides the entire sweep of Southern history into five massive chapters. Chapter 1 , "The Southern Colonies," covers pre-Columbia times to the mid-eighteenth century; 2, "The National South," spans the struggle for independence through the War of 181 2; 3, "The Southern i86civil war history Nation," treats the Old South through the Civil War; 4, "The Colonial South," explores the years between i860 and 1940; and 5, "The American South," discusses developments from World War II to the present. The two shortest, the first and the last, are approximately eighty pages long; the longest, the third, is double that length. Topical sections two to sixteen pages in length comprise the chapters. Boles's treatment of the Middle Period holds few surprises. Slavery was the source of sectional controversy, he properly notes, but it was the North rather than the South "that moved in new directions" (178). He rejects the tendency to generalize about "the metaphorical South as a whole" (1 86) based on perceived levels of involvement in the capitalist world market. Opting instead to summarize the significant economic differences among subregions adds a useful perspective. In that spirit, it is disappointing that Boles likens racism to gravity, "a force always present in southern white society" (193) and trucks in bogus "ruling race" currency (194). Such characterizations leave no room for historical change or for the subregional differences that so usefully illuminate economic affairs. Boles covers secession and the Civil War somewhat unevenly. He employs regionalism to good effect in understanding secession and delineates the subtleties of Confederate politics with insight and economy. Yet his discussion remains largely focused on battles and leaders. As a result, the recent work exploring life...