The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 92, July 1988 - April, 1989 Page: 190

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

known landforms, oceans, flora, and fauna. The results of this drive
for knowledge and conquest of the earth's surface upset a scientific the-
ory that projected a linear ordered universe and a Great Chain of
Being, where everything had a place and nothing was superfluous. The
narrative really begins with Captain James Cook and Alexander von
Humboldt, who, writes Goetzmann, "stand[s] like a colossus over scien-
tific exploration .. " (p. 52). The following generation of explorers,
whether part of the United States Geological Survey, the men who
searched the Antarctic, or those who raced to plant a flag at the North
Pole, were in a sense all von Humboldt's children, although Goetzmann
is more circumspect.
Goetzmann's narrative, built around explorations of regions and the
personal lives of courageous artists, naturalists, and explorers, moves
from the eighteenth century and ends with Perry's drive to the North
Pole. Goetzmann's unashamed admiration of explorers is refreshing,
and the reader must be respectful of his wide lens, which places the
American experience in a global setting. Goetzmann's dedication best
explains his views: "To all those modern explorers, from the peerless
navigator Captain James Cook to the Challenger Seven who perished
in the service of civilization."
Huntington Library MARTIN RIDGE
Indian Life in Texas. Written and illustrated by Charles Shaw. Foreword
by James A. Michener. Photographs by Reagan Bradshaw. (Austin:
State House Press, 1987. Pp. 203. Foreword, introduction, bibli-
ography. $22.50, cloth; $16.50, paper.)
Until now, the general works for the layman about Texas Indians
have been too detailed for popular consumption, too small as to ever be
found a second time on a bookshelf, or simply bad. Charles Shaw's vol-
ume, as much a book of illustrations as of text, is none of these. Shaw's
hard pen-and-ink-illustrated narratives compose the bulk of the book.
Each of the first three sections-prehistory, 1600-1836, 1837-1900o-
is preceded by a general text discussing the period. The fourth section,
dealing with the twentieth century, consists of a photo essay by Reagan
Bradshaw on contemporary Indians of Texas, both the well known and
the unknown.
Shaw and Bradshaw have taken history and made it human. The
book is written for a literate audience with little knowledge of Texas
Indians. It is an introductory book in a sense, but it can also be appreci-
ated by more knowledgeable readers. Life and death are more than ac-
ademic issues in Shaw's narratives. These are the lives and deaths of
people-human beings.

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