The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 59, July 1955 - April, 1956 Page: 543

543

Nook ,Notes
Regularly the Association office receives numerous excellent
publications which cannot be noted or reviewed because their
subject is too far detached from the prescribed area of Texas and
general Southwestern history. Three books recently submitted for
critical comment generally fall within this category, but their
potential interest to Association members is such that they should
find a place in this section of the Quarterly. The first, Koppel
S. Pinson's Modern Germany: Its History and Civilization, pub-
lished by the Macmillan Company, deserves mention because of
the excellence of its development and also because of the time-
liness of its appearance at the moment when at least Western
Germany returns to the community of Western European nations.
Greatly influenced by the work of Carlton J. H. Hayes and
Friedrich Meinecke, Pinson has produced a worthy synthesis of
the far-reaching struggle in modem Germany between the forces
of militarism and nationalism on the one hand and those of
liberalism and democracy on the other. Even Texans have not
escaped the consequences of that struggle.
The fourth edition of Samuel Flagg Bemis' well-known A Dip-
lomatic History of the United States and his revised edition of
The United States As a World Power are authoritative restate-
ments of works that have become standard in their field. Bemis'
view is inclusive, of course; but for that reason it is particularly
valuable for students of Texas history in that it identifies the
position of Texas within the general diplomatic perspective of
the nation. Excellent accounts are given of the advance of the
frontier in the Southwest; especially important in this respect
are the chapters which deal with Mexico and Texas and the Mex-
ican War as facets in the overall picture of the diplomatic devel-
opment of the United States. There are a few valid criticisms
that might appear inconsequential to some readers of books of
this nature, but, nevertheless, these should be mentioned: the
sources indicated are excellent, but for the most part they are
limited to older standard studies and do not take into considera-
tion important contributions of the last two decades; occasionally