Phil Sheridan and His Army by Paul Andrew Hutton (review)

Reviews 149 For purposes of explication, Owens divides Steinbeck’s work into three topographical realms which he says have “differing thematic and symbolic significance in Steinbeck’swriting.” These are: the valleys, which are inevita­ bly fallen Edens; the mountains, which represent both the known and the safe as well as the unknown and the frightening; and the sea, which Owens notes as a “constant presence” in Steinbeck’swork, is associated with the archetypal unconscious, and is an extension of the unknown represented by the western mountains. Owens’ explication of Steinbeck’swork is well conceived and quite accu­ rate. I found little to disagree with in the book’s 225 pages. But neither did I find much that was new or that particularly intrigued me. Owens knows and understands Steinbeck’s work; he is familiar with the best and most important Steinbeck criticism; the central premise of his study is essential to an understanding of Steinbeck’s work. For the reader new to Steinbeck’s fiction, Owens’ volumr is useful. It is a sound critical introduction to the novelist’s central themes and to the importance of place in his best fiction. To the seasoned Steinbeck critic, however, there islittle to recommend it, aside from its usefulness as further evidence of Steinbeck’s enduring contribution to American letters. RICHARD ASTRO Northeastern University Phil Sheridan and His Army. By Paul Andrew Hutton. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1985. 479 pages, $14.95 paper, $29.95 cloth.) General Philip Sheridan has been the subject of many writings, but few have focused on his post-Civil War career in detail. Paul Hutton has filled this gap with his fine analysis of Sheridan’s professional life and that of the army he commanded. There is little of the General’s personal life, as he left few private papers. Rather, the dominant theme is the story of the army’s role in national expansion and Sheridan’s philosophy of dealing with Indians. Sheridan served as a key figure in the army from 1868 to 1888. In this capacity he set the strategy for the battle against the natives. The author shows the decisive role that Sheridan played in the combat on the Plains and char­ acterized him as a loyal, tough, determined, anti-Indian soldier. He believed in harsh treatment for the Indians as the only action the hostile warriors would understand. Indeed, the focus of the book is on military actions and Hutton’s descriptions and analyses of the campaigns are excellent. The author also covers Sheridan’snumerous other activities. He traveled to Europe in 1870 to view the Prussian Army in the war against France. In 1874 the General moved to Louisiana to deal with angry white southerners. In addition, there was the job of escorting railroad survey parties through the northern Plains, and dealing with angry strikers in the labor turmoil of the times. 150 Western American Literature Hutton has done a remarkable job of research and the result is a wellwritten account of Sheridan’slast twenty years. Much of the information isnot new, but the author provides a different perspective in that the story is told from the General’s vantage point. Hutton does neglect such topics as the economic and social impact that the army had on the frontier. One also would have enjoyed more on the military justice system, figures on desertions, and medical problems that Phil Sheridan’s Army faced. Nevertheless, this is a fine book, richly illustrated with maps and photos, that should stand the test of time as a significant work on the western military experience. JOHN W. BAILEY Carthage College Rediscovering America: John Muir in His Time and Ours. By Frederick Turner. (New York: Viking, 1985. 417 pages, $25.00.) Two things, in the main, separate this study from the rest of the pack in the Muir revival. First, it offers a detailed, inner sense of Muir’s environ­ ments as Muir himself might have seen and felt them; and second, it presents a deeply informed economic, sociological, and environmental view of the United States in Muir’s lifetime—particularly the last three decades or so of the nineteenth century. In giving us Muir’s environments...