The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 42, July 1938 - April, 1939 Page: 60
446 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
pensates for this loss. The reviewer is tempted to urge Professors
Morison and Commager to give us an additional volume covering
the colonial period.
Both volumes show that the authors have had an unusual contact
with the sources and that they have availed themselves of the
numerous scholarly monographs appearing in recent years. Volume
one is notable for the excellent treatment of the pre-revolutionary
period, chapters one through four. The third chapter, "Sectional
and Class Divisions," makes accessible to the student a wealth of
social history usually available only in numerous reference works.
The classroom teacher judges a textbook from the standpoint
of its utility in the hands of the students. The chief fault inherent
in many textbooks is the use of generalizations and abstractions
without sufficient factual material to give them meaning. The
chief accomplishment of The Growth of the American Republic
lies in the careful integration of an authentic factual record with
the trends and tendencies of the period. The effective use of
carefully selected quotations prevents the narrative from becoming
too impersonal. A difficult story is presented in a manner so
fresh and convincing as to strike the cobwebs from the mind of
the most apathetic sophomore. Those who tend to follow a
middle-of-the-road philosophy in interpreting history will find
little from which to dissent; on the other hand, the extremes of
right and left will not be satisfied. Yet these authors have pre-
sented a record of American civilization from which any school
of thought can draw its own conclusions.
The popular cry to subordinate political history to the social
and economic has not caused these authors to present an unbal-
anced account. In volume two the origins of many of our present
day problems are seen, especially in chapter seven, "Labor," and
chapter nine, "Agriculture and the Farm Problem, 1865-1920."
In chapter sixteen the progressivism of Theodore Roosevelt is
assessed: "To the tenets of progressivism Roosevelt subscribed
with more enthusiasm than understanding. His program was gen-
eral rather than specific, moral rather than realistic. . . . BHe
espoused more effective railway legislation, but was unwilling to
support measures which might have made such regulation pos-
sible." (P. 387.) In considering causes for American entrance
into the World War, they say: "It was neither trade nor muni-
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 42, July 1938 - April, 1939, periodical, 1939; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101107/m1/68/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.