The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 56, July 1952 - April, 1953 Page: 484

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

Nook Notes
The work of Professors Rudolph L. Biesele and Robert C.
Cotner of the University of Texas and Gilbert C. Fite and
John S. Ezell of the University of Oklahoma, under the general
editorship of John D. Hicks of the University of California, has
produced a well-balanced selection of readings entitled Readings
in American History for the college survey course in American
history. The readings are published in two volumes by Houghton
Mifflin Company. Each volume contains sixteen major topics
which makes it readily adaptable to the semester system. This
organization likewise makes it possible to use the readings with
any of the standard texts in American history. The editors
have purposely leaned heavily upon selections from secondary
sources and have included only a limited number of documents.
To this reviewer the treatment of industrialism and of the
growth of industrial capitalism in the second volume appears
to be the weakest spot in the selection of readings.
GEORGE WOLFSKILL
William Jewell College
The Realm of Rusk County by Garland Farmer was published
by the Henderson Times in 1951. Garland R. Farmer is a news-
paperman, and this is a newspaperman's history. It names impor-
tant people and plays up dramatic events but is obviously lack-
ing in the painstaking research which distinguishes the scholar
from the reporter. There are numerous errors which might be
forgiven in a daily paper but which are inexcusable in a formal
history. "Boles" is hardly an acceptable spelling for the name of
the Cherokee chief, and President Burnet objected to the addition
of an extra "t" to his name. Even if spelled correctly, a "league
and a lober" of land would amount to more than 4,428 acres.
The author is also in error in stating that Rusk County was
created by the first legislature of the new state of Texas "on
January 15, 1843."
In spite of the errors the book has merit. It does present in
entertaining fashion a great deal of information about the rather

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