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Book Reviews BOOK REVIEWS The Social Sciences in Historical Study: A Report of the Committee on Historiography. [Social Science Research Council, Bulletin 64.] (New- York: Social Science Research Council, 1954. x, 181 p. Indices. Cloth, $2.25; paper, $1.75.) In 1946 the Social Science Research Council published as Bulletin 54 a report by the Committee on Historiography under the title Theory and Practice in Historical Study. The widespread attention it attracted among scholars is analyzed and summarized by Jeannette P. Nichols in the first chapter in this new report. The Committee on Historiography making the new report is not identical with the earlier Committee. Three of its members, Dr. Nichols, Shepard B. Clough, and Thomas C. Cochran, served on both Committees. To them have been added Samuel Hugh Brockunier, Hugh G. J. Aitken, and Bert James Loewenberg. Although the initial drafts of the seven chapters were prepared by individual members, the final report is a joint efTbrt to which all on the Committee contributed and for which all are responsible. It is reasonably safe to predict that this report will not have as much of an impact on the profession as did Bulletin 54, nor will it evoke as much discussion. It is narrower in scope and less concerned with the fundamental presuppositions of history in its all-inclusive sense. Admittedly, the so- called social sciences probably contain the most used and most useful knowledge for the historian, and certainly the Committee is justified in restricting its study to a partial approach to history, especially since it labels it as such. Yet a reminder that the social science historian is a lesser being than the historian is in order. The historian must have the effrontery to assert that it is his task to synthesize all knowledge and to tell the com- plete story of man in all his activities and aspects. Social science history, like patriotism, is not enough. Although the Committee is aware of this, there is an ever-present assumption, like the beating of the drums in Eugene O'Neill's Emperor Jones, that social science history is the complete answer, the total synthesis. Another fact which will detract from the usefulness of the report is the presence of a large number of technical and abstract terms, the meanings of which must be learned. Obviously the historian must understand the language employed in the separate social sciences, if he is to benefit from the specialized knowledge being accumulated in them. This is not easy, since the specialists themselves sometimes disagree on definitions. More- over, the historian, if he is to meet his responsibility, must translate the 506 1955 BOOK REVIEWS 507 technical terms into a common speech which can be understood by the members of all the social sciences and by the general public as well. Not enough of such translation has been done in the report. Most historians will find it necessary, as I did, to shed much mental sweat before they can feel that they understand the technical terms with which the report abounds. This is especially true of the philosophical jargon in Chapter 6. It is also unfortunately exemplified in Chapter 3, the longest chapter in the report and a remarkable tour de force in which various social sciences are surveyed and the most promising areas of development and the areas of most interest to historians are pointed out. The most valuable section of the report, in my opinion, is the final chapter which discusses some of the studies that should result from an appli- cation of social science concepts and methods to history. Probably this ap- peals because, unlike most of the report, it shifts from abstract ideas to specific problems to be investigated. Most of us in the field of history feel secure and at ease only when dealing with specific and concrete facts and ideas. Many more illustrations in the other portions of the report would have added greatly to its effectiveness. Exhortations to ascertain the best current knowledge in other branches of learning and theoretical descriptions of method are apt to have little impact on the practice of historical writing. Yet even in this stimulating chapter there is evidence of an attitude which makes me apprehend a great disservice to history from an abuse or a too- narrow application of the thinking of trie Committee on Historiography. I fear the "social science" approach may dehumanize mankind. After ob- jecting to the synthesis built around great men and events and to the prevailing popular dramatic frame of reference, the report says (p. 160): "This general approach is often valid when applied to the actions of a single individual, but neither narrative nor popular drama is usually suited to the analysis of mass phenomena. While drama will still be found in the conflict and resolution of forces or in group challenge and response, this is likely to be drama on a nonpopular abstract level." I do not subscribe to the great man theory of history. At the same time, I object to seeing great men or all the little men reduced to a decimal point of "mass phenomena" in a "drama on a nonpopular abstract level." There is poetry in life. And the history, or any science, that omits the poetry from life is both untrue and dangerous. University of Washington W. STULL HOLT American Heritage. Volume VI, Number 1 (December, 1954). Edited by BRUCE CATTON. (New York: American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc., 1954. 120 p. Illustrations. $2.95 per copy, $ 12.00 per year for six issues.) Let's face it: history, if it is to be read, must be well written and interest- ing, and, in this picture-loving age, to be interesting it must be illustrated. 508 BOOK REVIEWS October Realizing this, the American Association of State and Local History began publishing American Heritage in 1949 as a quarterly illustrated magazine devoted to the interpretation of the American past. Without adequate financial backing, but with expensive tastes as to format and illustration, it is remarkable that the magazine weathered five volumes. In the meantime, the Society of American Historians began plans for a popular journal of American history, each number to be issued in boards, and succeeded in raising $40,000 to start the enterprise. Then, happily, the two undertakings merged under the sponsorship of the two parent societies and became national in scope. With Bruce Catton, Civil War historian and author of the Pulitzer Prize book A Stillness at Appomattox, as editor, with James Parton as publisher, and with ample financial backing, the new popu- lar journal finally got off on the right foot in December, 1954. It is pleasant to record that, at the present writing, it has approximately 80,000 sub- scribers in addition to the book store sale, and its success seems assured. When we examine the first number of Volume VI we find that the reader gets good value for his money. To begin with, he has before him an 8>£ x 11 inch format with 120 double-column pages, the equivalent of about 250 average book pages, thirty-two illustrations in full color and fifty-nine in black and white. Where else can one get so much magnificence (well laid out, printed and bound in board covers) for so little money? The readability of the magazine is assured by the fact that all of its editors and contributors, even the college professors and professional his- torians, have had experience as newspapermen. What they say is generally accurate history and is also understandable and interesting to the layman. Since our historic past is made up of the thoughts and actions, the dreams and aspirations of average Americans, as well as those of our national heroes, the field of this magazine is bound to be wide, varied, and pictur- esque. This we learn as we scan the pages of the initial issue. After an elo- quent foreword by the editor, we find thirteen feature articles, eighteen short reviews of current books with brief mention of thirty-three others, and two pages of current historical news. The articles follow one another in a fascinating parade, all written by men who are experts in their fields. The Fall River Line, the old country store, the famous old clubs of New York City; painters of the plains, the Acadian country of Louisiana, the stories of Panamint, "suburb of Hell," and of the burning of Washington during the War of 1812; Theodore Roosevelt's let- ter describing the funeral of King Edward VII, a reinvestigation of the Civil War treason of General Charles P. Stone, an essay on Henry Ford, the per- sonal reminiscences of Albert Lasker (the first of Allan Nevins' oral history records to be published); a not-too-successful comparison of British and American viewpoints in the writing of history, and the condensed book selection, "The Great River," from Paul Horgan's The Rio Grande—these are the fine and varied fare of the first number of our new popular magazine of American history. 1955 BOOK REVIEWS 509 As it grows in stature, this book-magazine deserves to become one of the most popular journals in our country. We need this magazine in our homes and in our schools, for it brings to the intelligent layman a series of vivid pictures of our past, presented in entertaining fashion by competent his- torical writers as a protest against the unappetizing fare of many of our historians who, lacking imagination and literary skill, produced their pon- derous volumes mainly for the admiration of their professional colleagues. The New-York Historical Society R.
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