The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 83, July 1979 - April, 1980 Page: 309

Book Reviews 309
tier: Comparative Studies, Volume Two contains a selection of the
papers delivered during the second and third of these meetings, in 1976
and 1977,
Diversity of approach and variety of material are the dominant char-
acteristics of this collection of essays. After an overview of the develop-
ment of frontier studies presented by the editors, the reader encounters
a Turnerian view of medieval monasticism; a study of the defense of
the Alps from the fifth to the seventh centuries; an ecological modular
approach to the agricultural development of woodland areas in Canada
and Finland; archaeological evidence of an integrated economic system
throughout the American Southwest and Central Mexico in Hohokam
times; an ecological modular approach to the colonization of eastern
Bolivia; a quantitative approach to militia regulation in North America
and South Africa; nineteenth-century British evaluations of forest open-
ings in the north-central states; the effect of the exploitation of lead
deposits on the Winnebago and Sauk and Fox Indians in the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries; a modular approach to the development of
viticulture and pineapple and citrus cultivation in nineteenth- and
twentieth-century Florida; and a comparison of approaches to irrigation
planning in California and Victoria (Australia) at the close of the nine-
teenth century.
Comparative studies often suffer from ill-advised attempts to adhere
to a preconceived conceptual format or to adapt to the backgrounds of
their perceived audiences. The editors of this collection have avoided
these errors and have allowed each author to employ the approaches,
citation forms, and terminology appropriate to his own field. The reader
may find it difficult to adjust to such a large number of widely varying
methodologies and terminologies, but the result is well worth the effort.
Each essay is original, professional, and provocative; the collection as a
whole is an invitation to participate in a stimulating interdisciplinary
venture.
The University of Kansas LYNN H. NELSON
American Odyssey: The Journey of Lewis and Clark. Photographed and
edited by Ingvard Henry Eide. (Chicago: Rand McNally 8& Com-
pany, 1979. Pp. xxii+245. Preface, introduction, notes on pho-
tography, bibliography. Paperback $9.95.)
Events of epic proportions have an inexhaustible quality that attracts
continuing historical attention, and this is as it should be, for rarely is