The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 75, July 1971 - April, 1972 Page: 269

Book Notes

Unfortunately, the serious researcher will be able to use the translation
only in conjunction with the German edition, due to a number of depar-
tures by the translator from the original text. In some cases valuable in-
formation is omitted from the translation; in others gratuitous and some-
times inaccurate material is inserted; and in yet others the choice of words
is simply erroneous. It is disappointing that a translation which reads so
well and which could have been such a helpful tool to historians has been
rendered unreliable by the failure to follow the original text accurately.
University of Texas, Austin KENT KEETH
The Texas Country Democrat: H. M. Baggarly Surveys Two Decades of
Texas Politics. Edited by Eugene W. Jones. (San Angelo: Anchor Pub-
lishing Co., 1970. Pp. ix+328. Index. $6.95.)
Heralded as a "companion book" to the 1966 volume on Baggarly, also
edited by Eugene W. Jones, this book is much longer and not nearly as
good as the first. It covers much the same ground as the 1966 book and
selections are often repeated; many times the writer states his position in
the same way in two or more editorials.
Again Editor Jones exhibits far more facility with the scissors than with
the pen. His comments are not exhaustive and often leave something to
be desired as to content. But when Jones wields the scissors, Baggarly's edi-
torials (in whole or part) are pithy, informative, and entertaining.
There is plenty to titillate, inform, and instruct the open-minded reader
in this volume. It might well be said that Baggarly's pieces are a breath of
refreshing, liberal air in an arid desert (West Texas) of reaction. Despite its
shortcomings, this is a book that most observers of the political arena (Tex-
as and national) will find interesting and rewarding.
Tarrant County Junior College EDWIN W. RICE
Capitols of Texas. By Seymour V. Connor et al. (Waco: Texian Press, 1970.
Pp. ix 172. $10.00.)
Congratulations go to the Texian Press for publishing Capitols of Texas,
a collection of studies by several well-known historians, presented in the
format used by that publisher in earlier volumes on Texas forts and mis-
sions. Governor Preston Smith supplied a preface, and Roger Conger wrote
the foreword. The original paintings by Clinton Baermann reflect much
imaginative art since he did not have sufficient original material about
some of the buildings to work out all details. Purchasers of the book may
order reprints of the seven paintings for three dollars.
The authors writing about Washington-on-the-Brazos, Columbia, and
even Houston, had less data available than those writing about Austin.
The Austin story is chronicled in three chapters covering the periods 1842-
1845, 1853-1881, and 1881-1888 and after. The authors, W. C. Nunn, Day-
ton Kelley, Billy Mac Jones, and Ben Procter, have related many histori-
cal events relating to the movement for independence, the victory at San
Jacinto, Sam Houston's efforts to protect Santa Anna, the first Congress,

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