The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 75, July 1971 - April, 1972 Page: 395

Book Reviews

Texas history. These are subdivided into twenty-seven categories so
that researchers have little trouble getting specialized information.
Each entry contains standard bibliographical elements, although
some might wish the editors had provided the periodicals' issue num-
bers and months of publication. When a volume spans parts of two
years, both are listed, so that the reader must guess in which year the
article was published. In any undertaking of this nature, typograph-
ical errors with names and numbers are unavoidable, but the per-
centage in this work is amazingly small. The enormous range and
scope of this bibliography make one hesitant to criticize the canons
of inclusion, but one wonders why certain journals that consistently
publish scholarly articles on the West were excluded while others
of a marginal nature qualified for inclusion. Among those unfortu-
nately excluded were Military Affairs and El Palacio. The shortcom-
ings of this work are neglible in comparison with its tremendous con-
tribution as a research aid. No serious student of the American West
can afford to work without it.
University of Maryland WALTER RUNDELL, JR.
The Brownsville Affair: National Crisis and Black Reaction. By Ann
J. Lane. (Port Washington, N. Y.: Kennikat Press, 1971. Pp. 184.
Bibliography, index. $10.95.)
This study of the Brownsville Raid has the misfortune to follow
John D. Weaver's excellent investigation of the same episode. While
Lane advances her conclusions more tentatively than Weaver, the
thrust of their arguments is the same. The case against the black
soldiers was extremely weak, and would not have withstood an un-
biased probe. Theodore Roosevelt and the government acted unfairly
and hastily in dismissing the Negro troops, and Roosevelt stubbornly
resisted attempts to get at the truth. Lane's narrative does present more
information on the reaction of the black community to Roosevelt's
actions, including an analysis of Booker T. Washington's efforts to
minimize the political impact of the case. In light of the parallel
findings of these books, it is no longer possible to attribute any guilt
to the black soldiers for what happened at Brownsville in August,
1906. Indeed, legislation has been introduced in Congress to clear
the records of the men involved.
The Brownsville Affair has some solid merits, but it lacks the power

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