The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 18, July 1914 - April, 1915 Page: 418

The Southwestern Historical Quarterly

BOOK REVIEWS AND NOTICES
The Winning of the Far West: A History of the Regaining of
Texas, of the Mexican War, and the Oregon Question; and of the
Successive Additions to the Territory of the United States, within
the Continent of America, 1829-1867. By Robert McNutt Mc-
Elroy. (G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London, The
Knickerbocker Press, 1914. Pp. x-384. $2.50.)
In the preface of this book Professor McElroy says that The
Winning of the Far West "was written at the instance of the pub-
lishers, to constitute a continuation of Colonel Roosevelt's Winning
of the West." We have a right to expect then a, continuation of
Roosevelt's work, taking it up where he dropped the subject and
doing for the Far West what Roosevelt did for the Mississippi Val-
ley. Roosevelt grasped the fundamental conception of the win-
ning of the west in his opening chapter on "The Spread of the
English-speaking Peoples." To him the winning of the west was
the story of the frontiersman crossing over the Appalachians, oc-
cupying the Ohio Valley, and rudely jostling the Indian and the
Frenchman. Once established, he played no mean part in the Rev-
olutionary War in the winning of a title to the lands as far as the
Mississippi River. After the war, came a second great wave of
migration which reached to the Mississippi and beyond, and to the
north and the south, involving the Westerner in a struggle with the
Indian and the Spaniard. The title finally secure and the lands
being gradually occupied, Roosevelt then turns back to view the
development of state and territorial institutions, ever bearing in
mind the flow of population and the crowding of the Indian. Then
follows the story of the settling of the frontier difficulties, and the
acquisition and exploration of Louisiana. Such in brief outline
is Roosevelt's work, admirably conceived, and though at times in-
adequate, still the best single work that has been done on the
period.
Professor McElroy's conception of the subject is thus stated in
his preface: "The Winning of the Far West is a study of such
national action and international relations as have resulted in ad-
ditions, within the continent of North America, to the territory
of the United States." Later, he says, "The record of the winning

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