From Pioneering to Persevering: Family Farming in Indiana to 1880 by Paul Salstrom (review)

BOOK REVIEWS Paul Salstrom. From /' ioneering to Persepering :Family Farminvin Indiana to 1880. West 1.atiwerte: Purdue Liniversity Iress,2007. 208 pp. 1513N. 978155753453 ( paper), 523.95. Indiana h, xs k,ng needed a histc)ri.in ot its ninercenthcentury agriculture. Paul Salstrcim, asscid: itc professor of history at Saint Maryot -the Woods College and n st any,) lic wlic) wanted to farm could do so. In each of Indian.i' s subregions ( central, western, and northern Indiana), farmers raised surpluses the,· scild for cash. Farmers acros+ tlic st: ite en. ic> yed 1(, w tratist)(, rtation cists owing to he: ilthy comperiticin between c·,inal, r. tilri). id, : ind river slippers. F, irmmaking costs were low because Indian: i lund was relatively inexpensive compared t(, th: it ·, . ind the triumph of railroad monopolies pressured farm families and ended the pioneer era of Indiana agriculture . 111ose who began farming after the 1880k tr, Ices major trends iii agriculture, bzit gives sc, Int : ittention to subjects such as crop \· aricries and improved breeding For a hocik conceived as an example of the New Rural listi,ry there is little inclepth examin:ition of land and farm reexirds, pn, bate inventorics , t: ix assessments, or tixler: 11 Inanuscript census ofpopulation and agriculture. XIore traditional sources such : is diarics, letters, patent office reports, and newspapers are noticeably absent. A closer examination of this kind of source materi., 1 and historic fitrining techniques might lia,· c prevented 92 0111()V:\ I. I. EY III! 5' 1'() RY BOOK REVIEWS some errors and questionable statements. S· alstrom is confused about the d' istinction benveen breaking plowj, ; ind turning plines ( 82)as rvell as the terminology and technology of ox yokes ( 31).Hc describes i " mobile thresher"c) f the 1840s that must h ave : ictuallv been c,ne of the carly combi ne developed in Nlichigati during the 1830s and 1840s ( 84). Salstrom recognizes that after 1880 tiiniiers tended to tliresh directly fri,m the field rather than st, ick the grain and wait until fall or winter when work slackened. But oddly, iii his description c, f pre1880 threshing the : tut] or provides an extensive block qucite that explains the field threshing technique that became common only after the study period. Furthermore, he carries tlie threshing story beyond 1880, although it is unclear how it advances his argtiment. Ilic author's :ssertion that the development and adoption of mechanized corn pickers se,iled the fate"of-family tarm ing is more troubling ( xixii , 1067 ). ' Ilils ignores the importaiice of many other fact<) rs th. it chatiged the nature of fizinily farming, including federal farm policy th·, it rew·aided largescale producers, globul depressions and wars. and the growth in employment ; 111, 1 ed, ication.11 opportunities 0#the farm tliat inade : agriculture less attractive to minv fi, inii vc, utlis. Since the advent of mechanical ccirn picking falls outside the auth<, r' s study period it is pecziliar to insist on its significance,especially when so many other influences shaped the nature of family farming. From Pioneering to Perse· Dering is a Hawed but u: cjul book. Students of Indiana and Ohio Valley history,however. will find it an interesting, informative,and quick read. Ilic author surveyed the major relevant and current works on agriculture for the period. : ind his argument about the transition from the farminaking stage to SPRING 2008 settled agriculture and the demise of easyentry farining is com[) ciling. J. L.Anderson University of West Georgi· a Richard Lyman Busliman. ,/ osepb Smith: Rough Stone Rolling.New York: Alfred A. Knopf,200. 5. 740 pp. ISBN: 9781400042708 ( cloth), $ 35.00. Recently,a Xlorinon was a prominent presic {ential candid, itc in the United States, provoking at least sonic religious controvers . v. As a result, niore readers th·, in usual may now be interested hi Richard Lyman Bushman' s biopphical study of Joseph Smith and the origins of the Mormon faith. Bushman,a retired Columbia University professor and Misclf a Mormon, previously ivrote a shorter accozint, Joseph Smitb and tbe Beginnings # Mormoitism 1987), which served as a nucleus for this much larger, cradleto grave Joseph Smith Rotigh Stone Rolling Ricbard Lyman Bmsbms= Smith biographz. In liis new study Bushman recognizes that Joseph ( the Mormons normally call him by his first name)is a controversial character ti) Mol111 ( ins : as well as ncm1 [ ornions,although sometimes fordifferent reasons. I Ie endeavors successfully tc, present Smith as a human being wir]1 trengtl·s and Kerk) us Haws, rAtlcr than [ imply ;ts a religious hero. Bushman examines the consequences of Smith' s revelations and why he was min effective prophct in a period when intellectual and technological developments wi,uld seem tc, m·, ike such prophccies unlikely. Yet Smith also lived in an cri of religious ferment, and he witnessed such phenomena as the growth of the 93 ...