The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 95, July 1991 - April, 1992 Page: 553

Book Reviews

has provided a vivid glimpse into the Texan past. Hauschild could have im-
proved the book by consistently citing the collections from which he obtained
his information and documents. This imprecision in citation is also evident in
the bibliography, where Hauschild cites libraries and archives without refer-
ence to the specific collections he examined in each.
A less technical but equally significant problem is that the book is more a
scrapbook than an account of the Runges and their role in the commercial de-
velopment of Texas. Hauschild uses much of' the limited narrative for ex-
tended discussions of individuals having minimal relevance to the account of
the Runges. His narrative on the Runges fails to tie together the information he
so painstakingly obtained.
Some readers may be irritated by Hauschild's use of phrases such as "the
Northern menace" (p. 76) or "the savage Red Men" (p. 71). Hauschild's con-
tinual praise for the Runges as elites may provoke similar sentiments, especially
because of his repeated references to the Runges' special Teutonic traits and
the superior quality of their bloodline.
Hauschild is justified in noting the limitations of traditional political and mili-
tary history. Unfortunately, The Runge Chronicle offers little more than un-
critical commentary intermingled with primary source photostats and photo-
graphs. It fails to provide a coherent picture even of its main subjects, a wealthy
German-Texan family with some prominence in Texas's early economic
development.
Ohio University MARK SONNTAG
Lttle Gzant: The Life and Tzmes oJ Speaker Carl Albert. By Carl Albert with Danney
Goble. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1990o. Pp. x+388. Illustra-
tions, index. $24.95.)
In 1914 Congressman Charles D. Carter of the Third District of Oklahoma
spoke to the students at a small school in Bug Tussle, which was part of his
constituency. During this talk he described how Congress operated and how
honored he was to work with President Woodrow Wilson and be an integral
part of the American scheme of government. And then he stated: "You know,
I'm an Indian boy, and it's wonderful in this country that a man who's a mem-
ber of a minority can be elected to Congress. A boy in this class might someday
be the congressman from this district." One six-year-old lad believed that Car-
ter was talking directly to him, so much so, he vividly recollected, that every
word "burned into my soul, leaving a life's fire" (p. 41). Fifty-seven years later
this boy realized his most cherished dreams: in January 1971, Carl Albert of
Oklahoma became the forty-sixth Speaker of the United States House of
Representatives.
Carl Albert, through his many achievements, surely personified the Ameri-
can dream. The son of a miner in rural Oklahoma, he strove mightily to evict
himself from poverty and ignorance through education. He therefore excelled
in his studies and, through the help of several caring teachers, graduated from

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