A History of Missouri, Volume III, 1860 to 1875 (review)

166CIVIL WAR history tional movement toward consolidation and integration required further departures in managerial strategy. Baughman argues that the Mallorys fell short of what an abstract model of calculated, "rational" profit-maximizing would have dictated. Or, cast in other terms, they rose above it. The were dedicated to perpetuation of the family enterprise and its style. They pursued a business strategy that concentrated on American-flag operation, and they adhered to norms that were given a higher priority than "any classic model of American economic man" would dictate (p. 346). In short, the Mallorys sustained an autonomy of thought and behavior that reflected their peculiar definitions, self-styled, of "utility, propriety, progress, and success." Whether or not Baughman's interpretation on this score—difficult at best to verify—holds up, the analytic scheme dictated by these concerns does serve well to integrate a vast body of data. And the result is a book that greatly enriches our understanding of American business and economic change in the nineteenth century. Harry N. Scheiber University of California, San Diego A History of Missouri, Volume III, 1860 to 1875. By William E. Parrish. (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1973. Pp. vii, 332. $9.50.) A History of Missouri, 1860 to 1875, the third volume of the Missouri Sesquicentennial History, furnishes a clear account of Missouri politics during the period indicated in the subtitle. Also, in chapters separated from the political narrative, the author treats "Life in Wartime Missouri ," "Urban Growth and Economic Development," and "Cultural Life in Postwar Missouri." This book reflects the interpretations of Missouri politics during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods presented earlier by the same author in his two well-received monographs, Turbulent Partnership: Missouri and the Union (1963) and Missouri Under Radical Rule (1965). For the early war years the heroes are the non-Republican Unionists, the "responsible" men who accepted the leadership of Hamilton Rowan Gamble. Though opposed to secession, the group also opposed any changes in the status of black people resident within Missouri's borders. From 1865 to 1870 was the period of Radical Republican hegemony, and for those years Parrish clearly admires the wisdom of the conservative opponents of Radicalism. He views the essential issue of the postwar years as constitutionalism rather than the status of blacks. Though Parrish certainly acknowledges and approves a strain of healthful progressivism within Radicalism, he nevertheless sees the Liberal Republican-Democratic victory of 1870 as Missouri's deliverance from vindictive extremism. In keeping with the Sesquicentennial History format, this book is without documentation. Scholars, therefore, may find Parrish's afore- BOOK REVIEWS167 mentioned monographs more suited to their purposes. On the other hand, the "Essay on Sources" in the present volume is probably the best guide available to secondary as well as primary materials relating to Missouri history in the Civil War period. Further, this book has the value of treating Civil War and Reconstruction politics together. In the process it reveals important relationships that are at least less apparent in the more restricted studies. In particular, the unified treatment underscores that secession in 1860, emancipation in 1864-1865, and suffrage in 1868 were three separate issues , each of which effected a realignment of political forces. Parrish, then, has given us a useful book, subject only to the complaint that Parrish himself had already told much of the same story. That reservation is offset, however, by the great value of the bibliographical essay and the merit of organizing Civil War and Reconstruction political history in a continuous narrative. John V. Mertng University of Arizona Mr. Polk's War: American Opposition and Dissent, 1846-1848. By John H. Schroeder. (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1973. Pp. xvi, 184. $12.50. ) John H. Schroeder has attempted to pull together the political and nonpolitical opponents of the Mexican War. Focusing on the tactics of the antiwar factions, he organizes the strategies of the políticos (predominately conservative Whigs and Calhoun Democrats in the Congress ) chronologically and those of the ideologues ( pacifists, abolitionists , and "conscience" Whigs) topically. The two groups were never able to agree on a common plan, and Schroeder concludes that the antiwar movement was unable to affect "the war...