The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 71, July 1967 - April, 1968 Page: 467

Book Reviews

the author makes to our knowledge of southern religion. He has well
described the role of churches in the movements for temperance and
segregation, and finds that by the late nineteenth century racism
became "as much a part of Southern Baptist thinking as the Virgin
Birth or the Second Coming." He has also asked questions about the
views of Baptists on economic issues, such as share-cropping and indus-
trialization, which neither church nor secular historians have previ-
ously raised. His answers are not startling, for Baptists along with other
southern denominations defended the status quo; but his investiga-
tions help us to understand better how churches became strongholds
for southern regionalism.
University of Mississippi MARGARET DESCHAMPS MOORE
Farewell to Texas. By William O. Douglas. New York (McGraw-Hill
Book Company), 1967. Pp. xiii+242. Illustrations, appendix,
index. $6.95.
The need to protect wilderness areas for the enjoyment of future
generations is the major theme of Farewell to Texas. However, Justice
Douglas' view of conservation is nearly as romantic as his title suggests.
He seems little concerned, for example, with the usefulness of dams
in controlling floods and storing water for a thirsty Texas. Further, he
would apparently prefer to keep the wilderness inviolate, rather than
making it accessible to the masses.
Even so, those who love Texas and the Southwest will be delighted
by this vividly written and admirably illustrated first volume of the
McGraw-Hill Wilderness Series. Douglas is not only author of this
volume, but editor of the series. The untamed lands he describes in
detail include the Big Thicket, the Big Bend, the Davis Mountains,
the Guadalupe Mountains, and the two McKittrick Canyons.
Texans are repeatedly admonished by the author for their failure
to maintain their state parks and to preserve many areas now under
private control. Today, he charges, the natural beauties of Hamilton's
Pool, Edge Falls, Capote Falls, the 700 Springs on the Llano River,
and Jacob's Well are in jeopardy.
Farewell to Texas would serve well as a guide book for first-time
visitors to Texas. It describes the land in depth, reflecting Douglas'
several years of research into the history, folklore, botany, archeology,
geology, and geography of some parts of the state. The author is no

467