Merchant Adventurer: The Story of W. R. Grace by Marquis James (review)

BRIEF NOTICES1 39 a preacher. The remainder of the text narrates Serra's missionary years, first his success in the Sierra Gorda of Mexico, followed by his brief stint in Baja California, and his subsequent presidency of the Alta California Franciscan missions from 1769 until his death, August 27, 1784, at Mission San Carlos Borromeo in present-day Carmel. One striking chapter is devoted to "The Missionary's Doctrine," which illuminates the approach Serra and his confreres used in their evangelization of California native peoples. The book is worth its price because of the compactness and freshness of the narrative, superbly complimented by the sumptuous and profuse illustrations. Doyce B. Nunis, Jr. (University ofSouthern California) James, Marquis. Merchant Adventurer. The Story of W. R Grace. With an Introduction by Lawrence A. Clayton. [Latin American Silhouettes, Studies in History and Culture.] (Wilmington, Delaware: SR Books. A Scholarly Resources Inc. Imprint. 1993- Pp. xxxiv, 385. 824.95.) Two unusual features claim attention. The first, as Professor Clayton recounts in a substantial introduction, is the fact that this book is now published almost fifty years after it was written. Marquis James, a Pulitzer prize writer, had been commissioned by the Grace heirs; the biography he produced after sound research was ready in 1940, and even the galleys printed when the executives of the Grace interests decided that the publication had to be suspended. Secondly, that this classical American success story did not start in New York, Chicago, or the West coast, but, of all unexpected places for an Irish emigrant, the Peruvian port of Callao. There, in 1851, with his Irish parents, William Russell Grace, nineteen years old, landed. The young Grace was able to establish himself, first as employee, then as partner, in a prosperous business ofship-chandler, i.e., provider ofnaval equipment and supplies. Many ships then came to Callao, from Europe and North America, braving the distances and the dreaded Cape Horn in search ofguano, the malodorous but miraculous fertilizer, unique source ofwealth for underdeveloped Peru. Soon Grace and Co. became the main trading house of the country. In 1865, William Grace moved to New York where he set up the same kind of business, while his brother and associate, Michael, took charge of the activities in Peru and neighboring republics. Their network of friendly relations among shipowners and sea captains, the tactful dealing with local authorities , established the brothers as leading promoters and agents of business relations between North and South America. They were inspirers also of the so-called "good neighbor policy" of the pre-Roosevelt era. The Grace brothers had a most beneficial influence on the emergence of a modern economy in Peru: railway and road building, nitrate mining, sugar plantations, etc. They served as financial advisers, and occasionally political mediators. Before they 1 40BRIEF NOTICES consolidated their various interests under a single joint-stock Company, they held full or partial ownership of some sixty private business firms. William 's personal wealth was estimated at ten millions. As a prominent citizen and member of the Irish-Catholic community, Grace involved himself in local politics. Twice, in 1881 and 1885, he was elected mayor of New York. Thereafter he remained a major influence in the Democratic national party, helping to seat Cleveland. This book review might be an occasion to discuss the changes that have occurred in the literary genre of biography in the past half-century. Let us say only that the years have not altered the high degree of readability of the style of Marquis James. G. de Bertier de Sauvigny (Paris) Kauffman, Christopher J. Faith and Fratemalism: The History of the Knights of Columbus. Revised Edition. (New York: Simon and Schuster. 1992. Pp. xxix, 529. »45.00.) Originally published in 1982 to mark the centennial of the founding of the Knights of Columbus, Kauffman's history was widely praised and quickly became the standard work on the subject. This revision, done by Kauffman to coincide with the quincentenary of the first voyage of Christopher Columbus, retains all the strengths ofthe original: thorough research, inclusion ofawealth of detail on both the institutional history of the Knights and on twentiethcentury American Catholicism generally, and insightful interpretive observations...