The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 88, July 1984 - April, 1985 Page: 340

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

month to see some university administrator, but Erwin was just a tele-
phone call away. Unlike the good Lord, he never rested. There were
other dissimilarities" (p. 274); and Lorene Rogers, "who deserved bet-
ter, faced a faculty boycott from the outset of her administration be-
cause of the public bungling of her appointment, regardless of who
might be faulted. Of course, she held one strong card-ultimate power
over promotions, raises, fellowships, and the like. She also held another
ace-her own resolute character" (p. 325).
Regardless of the topic discussed, whether it be athletics, faculty and
administration, such benefactors as George Washington Brackenridge
and George Washington Littlefield, the Homer P. Rainey controversy,
or Governor James E. Ferguson's bitter fight with the University, the
Follies retains the Frantzian touch. While at times the side remarks
and parenthetical comments are overworked, this book is both enter-
taining and informational. Rather than an institutional history, it is
sometimes autobiographical. Yet because of his long tenure at UT and
because of his accomplishments and prestige, Joe Frantz has, to many
Texans, become synonymous with the University-in other words,
an institution himself. And even though disappointed over "the turbu-
lent political situation, the latent and sometimes not-so-latent anti-
intellectualism among the people and often the leaders of Texas, and
the tunnel vision of the regents, who frequently seem more interested
in keeping the campus calm and in spending the university's money
on facilities than in developing an aggressive, competitive faculty and
student body," Frantz demonstrates cautious, loving optimism in the
future greatness of "his" university. As he concludes, "I won't be
around for too much of the second century, but I will go to my grave
with a bifurcated heart that is optimistic about UT over the long
haul and pessimistic at short range" (p. 366). We shall see, Joe. We
shall see.
Texas Christian University BEN PROCTER
The Politics of San Antonio: Community, Progress and Power.
Edited by David R. Johnson, John A. Booth, and Richard J. Har-
ris. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983. Pp. xi+248.
Preface, acknowledgments, maps, tables. $24.50, cloth; $10.95,
paper.)
This book is a welcome contribution to the neglected study of local
politics in Texas. While some theoretical questions and statistical
methods may put off the casual reader, the volume's findings and over-

340