The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 61, July 1957 - April, 1958 Page: 315

Book Reviews

he was only a man who did what the record shows he did. Siegel
has tapped the resources of the major depositories and examined
the published primary and secondary materials to find out what
that was.
The book reads easily and presents a coherent narrative of a
complex decade. There are less data on the inside workings of
Texas politics than one might want, and for a very good reason:
the politicians of the Republic neglected to record most of their
plans and strategems. Salty phrases of the period have been skill-
fully worked into the narrative, and citations to secondary works
enable the reader to find fuller accounts of some of the episodes.
Occasionally a secondary work is cited when a primary source
obviously was used. Some factual errors, none important enough
to distort the total picture, should have been caught before pub-
lication.
The bibliography is an excellent guide to the literature touch-
ing the period and the illustrations are well chosen (although
it may be questionable whether James Hamilton wore a powdered
wig during his service to Texas). HERBERT GAMBRELL
Southern Methodist University
Destiny and Glory. By Edward S. Wallace. New York (Coward-
McCann, Inc.), 1957. PP- 320. Bibliography, index. $5.oo.
The "roaring forties" or the period of "manifest destiny" in
America brought to the forefront many reckless, impetuous, and
ruthless "filibusters" and set into motion a number of filibuster-
ing expeditions or forays into other parts of the world, the prod-
ucts of greed and a wildly virulent expansionism. The story of
these fantastic and fabulous attempts to gain power, glory, and
riches is here detailed by Edward S. Wallace in Destiny and Glory.
The main expeditions herein described are six in number,
Yucatan, two to Cuba, Sonora, Nicaragua, and Mexico City.
Approximately five of the thirteen chapters are devoted to the
exploits of the much written about William Walker and his inter-
vention in Nicaragua where he set up a republic with himself as
president. The author dubs Walker the "King of the Wild Fili-
busters." For these stories, based partly on historical fact and
partly on trifling and very shaky sources which may have had

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