Indiana: A History by Howard H. Peckham (review)

Book Reviews Howard H. Peckham. Indiana:A History. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003, 1978. 207 pp. ISBN: 0252071468 ( paper reprint), $ 15.95. 17-hat makes Indiana unique? This is the question that the late Howard H. Peckham set out to answer in his book, Indiana: A History, which has recently been reissued by the University of Illinois Press. What may surprise readers is that after nearly thirty years, Peckham' s readable and witty text remains as accurate an answer as they are likely to find when it comes to the question: what makes Hoosiers tick? The opening section of the book deals with Indiana' s origins. Peckham argues that Indiana is so very ordinary, so very typical of America, that it is often overlooked in favor of places that seem to offer a different take on the country' s history. But Indiana has much to offer those seeking a better understanding of the United States. During the pioneer period, the future state was a battleground and witnessed as many triumphs for white setcording to Peckham,came to be shaped by the ideas and senkment patterns that came about as a result of freeing itself from the frontier. Early statehood's defining moment came during the Civil War,when Indiana proclaimed itself part of the North and the Union once and for all. Peckham's second section is a cultural analysis of what happened to Indiana in the wake of the Civil War. Here he discusses religion's role in making Indiana, arguing that perhaps the state' s religiosity has contributed to lower crime rates. He also documents the state' s struggle to make education a 41 tlers ( many of which were orchestrated by future president William Henry Harrison) as it did failures. Indiana, after all, was the site of the U.S. Army' s worst defeat,when Native Americans routed a force under the command of Arthur St. Clair in 1791, losing through death and wounds 928 of the 1,400 soldiers engaged in the battle. But the state, like the nation,soon passed through this period,and actop priority for Hoosiers. Despite becoming an industrialized state,the author believes that Hoosiers never lost their affinity for small town values. Peckham also looks at the love affair that Indiana has had with politics, which culminated in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when Hoosiers dominated the national political landscape. The same period also saw Indiana give the nation and world a host of popular artists, musicians,authors, and poets. And then there is the topic of sports, especially the Indianapolis 500 and basketball. In the end, Peckham argues that the evidence he has presented supports the idea that Indiana does not foment revolution, but adjusts to change. Its continuity with the past allows it to embrace the future with fewer problems than many of its fellow states. After nearly thirty years, some might wonder how well Peckham's thesis has held up. The answer is remarkably well. Indiana has its problems to be FALL 2004 79 BOOK REVIEWS sure, slow at times to deal with issues, even when they have been evident for decades. One thinks,for example of the two decades or more of talk by Hoosier politicians about the need to better diversify the state's economic base, while at the same time courting heavy industry for the jobs it brings to the state, a policy that has made the recent recession particularly hard on the state' s finances. Perhaps the biggest change the state has faced since Peckham wrote this book has been the shift to multiclass basketball, which many believe has destroyed the sacred nature of the high school tournament. But in the other areas that Peelham outlined, from religion and education, to the cherishing of small town values, to a love for politics, to a continued growth in the arts,Indiana remains much the same. Readers are not likely to find anything in this book that other,more recent historians,have not written about extensively. But in many ways, their works are variations on Peckham' s theme, and his book should find its place along side theirs on the bookshelves of anyone interested...