Bossism and Reform in a Southern City: Lexington, Kentucky, 1880–1940 by James Duane Bolin (review)

women. As reacceptance of female students coincided with cclecticism' s decline in popularity, it seems likely that the EMI' s policy ch: inge resulted al least partially from the institute'S in: ibility to:ttlact other applicants. Haller's litcral reading of the source material . ilso leads him to reproduce c,) ntemporary stereotypes such as when he describes fe171, 1]c students as " crying and trembling fic)m the expeii ence"in the dissecting ro m 1 101 1, Here as elsewhere, A 1,ofile m MLYhcizie suffers from I I.! lier's neglect (, i hic), ider social developments that had im impact on the field of medicinc , patients and pr. ictitic, ners. Babette Fachmel hiiversity of Mils.Nachii.etts, Amherst bimes Duane Bolin. Bosfisin tind Reform in a Southern City: Lexul, Lon, Kentucky, 1880i gzto. Lexington: The Univeisity Press 01 Kclitucky, 1000. 240 PP ISBN: 0813} 21507 Cdoth). 524.9i 1: lines Bolin' s political history of Lexington, Boisifm and Ref( irm m a Southern City: Lexingl on. Kentucky.1880940 . is primarily a biography 01 Billy Klair, oile of Keiitucky's mcist IX,wei Iii] bosses. Klair' s style, Bolin argues, proved that bigcity tx) shism existed iii small cities, even those in the Bardei South, where 11] Saw exple> Si() mill a distinct idic, m. The son of German immigrants, Klair learned his trade diuing the j.zte nineteelith centwy on the street . ind in the legisl.itive ha]Is ( 11 Fi,lnktort. His entrepieneurial talents ran the gamut from rillining : 111 : lmusenient 07) 111pany tc) publisliing textlitioks i.( Ad laigely to Klair' s cronics in Kentucky givernment) to ( wning an insuratice firm tha 171; inaged to secure inost of the insuraince brisiness for the state. Like KI: lii' s other businesses, a healthy patronage network kept the company alive, allowing his partner in Lhe firm to sell insurance to the siate " that made him about S I oo,ooo a yedi and al] he had u) ik)was write insumnce mn fire-pic>(, i buildings" 1491. Though Klair' s many business Interests made him ine of Kentucky's wcalthiest Inen, Bolin contends that his aphrc,disitic was power, not moi, ey. His cally political career combined : 1 traditic} nal system of patron: ige with p,0gressive style idmill measures, bilt his inv(} lvement with Lexington's railroad commission and other shady business activities made K]air' s efforts in refoim suspect. Ultimately, Bolin explains, KInir' s name quickly became sytion> nious wilh (, iganizce] vice, th(, ugll the people ot Lexington continued to suppoit him through their " blind fc)] lowing of the machine" lxvii). Bolin argues that Klair: s pers(ina] failures a.much as his political successes place him squarely within the annals of bossism alound the country, even though Lexington remained a thol·oughly southern aild p<) litically c<) litl[ Sillg venue. Bolin does seem to contend at the beginning of his hook that his view of Klair will fall somewhere between the paradigms of bossism outlined by historians Zane Miller and Richard Hofstadter: bosses were ilidecil corrupt, but were also helpfill in organizing the city ind providing scrvices to needy citizens, an idea that indulges George Washington Plunkitt's famous aphorism that " true" bosses practiced " honest Kraft." What Bolin actually writes, however , makes it difficult to excavate anything from Klair's career to redeem him. Klair either blocked black votes or bought the111, aiid racebaited whites with tales of miscegenation and decreased property values. He regularly upheld corporate interests over those of ordinary constitlients , and once posted armed gunmen iii the Kentucky House of Representatives to intimidate legislators. As part of a bipartisan coalition, Klair supported " railroad, coal mining, liqw,1, aiid ziectrack interests" 80). Though his Capacity to eschew partisan politics should lie a laudable one, in Klair: s case it proved only an exercise in personal aggrandizement, demonstrating loyalty to self over loyalty to party. Bolin emphasizes Klair' s concern for his " constituency ," citing occasional Thanksgiving turkeys that Found their way to the doorsteps 01 impoverished Lexingtonians' homes, yet ignores Klair's role in their i m p{ ) v cr i s h 111 e n t, calling him an " entreplencur" who simply recognized opportunities for what he SeemS to SUggeht was benign personal advancement. Bolin rebuts the hist(, rical theory attributing bossism's demise to Depressionera initiatives Lhat eroded local control by pointing out that Klair enjoyed some of his grentest victc, ries m the midivios . B(, lin finds instead th. it the end of bossism resulted fr< mi a combination oi suburban decentralization that eroded the bosses' power base, returning veter, 1115' dislike for any Ame,ican manifestation of t(} talitali: inism, . ind the postwar prosperity that made bc,ss cs' particular br, md of welfare obsolete. In the end, Bolin contends that Klair's machine outlasted Klair himself (he died in I937|. " But more important in the experience of this small, southern city was a simple fact that politically istute Lexingtonians clearly understood. The boss was dead"( I £ 01. Though Bolin seems to side with George Washington Plunkitt, perhaps Lexingtonians had finally realized that there w. 15 ni) such thing as " honest gi: iii." Kelly Wright lJniversity of Cincinnati Rhoda H. Halperin. Practicing Community:Class Cljjtme und Power in an Urban Neighborhood. Austin:University of Tcxns PicKs, 998. 35 2 pp, ISBN: 019273! ib's Idothm, 540.00; 0292731175