american studies an interdisciplinary journal sponsored by the Midcontinent American Studies Association, the University of Kansas and the University of Missouri at Kansas City stuart levine, editor editorial board edward f. grief, English, University of Kansas, Chairman norm an r. yetman, American Studies, University of Kansas, Associate Editor William C Jones, College of Arts & Sciences, University of Missouri at Kansas City, Consulting Editor

John braeman, History, University of Nebraska (1976) hamilton cravens. History, Iowa State University (1976) charles C. eldredge. History of Art, University of Kansas (1977) jimmie I. franklin. History, Eastern Illinois University (1977) robert a. Jones, Sociology, University of Illinois (1978) linda k. kerber, History, University of Iowa (1978) roy r. male, English, University of Oklahoma (1975) max j. skidmore, Political Science, Southwest Missouri State University (1975) officers of the masa president: Jules Zanger, English, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville vice-president: Hamilton Cravens, History, Iowa State University executive secretary: Norman H. Hostetler, American Studies, University of Nebraska editor: Stuart Levine, American Studies, University of Kansas copy editor and business manager: William A. Dobak editorial assistants: N. Donald Cecil, Carol Loretz Copyright, Midcontinent American Studies Association, 1974. Address business correspondence to the Business Manager and all editorial correspondence to the Editor. ON THE COVER: Top left, Selig Silvers tein's membership card in Anarchist Federation of America; top right, twenty seconds after bomb explosion in Union Square, New York City, March 28, 1908, Silverstein the bomb-thrower lies mortally wounded and a bystander lies dead; bottom, police at whom Silverstein attempted to throw bomb. See pages 55-78. (Sources: Current Literature, May 1908; Literary Digest, April 11, 1908; Collier's, April 11, 1908). american studies

contents recovering the new world dream: organic evolution in the work of lewis mum ford raymond geselbracht 5 dreiser and the prophetic tradition robert forrey 21 thomas merton and the awakening of social consciousness dennis q. mcinerny 37 the anarchist scare of 1908: a sign of tensions in the progressive era robert j. goldstein 55 the moral dimensions of pedagogy: teaching behavior in popular primary schools in nineteenth-century america barbara finkelstein 79 albert bierstadt, fitz hugh ludlow and the american western landscape richard a. fine 91

masa bulletin 4 reviews 101 books received 109

volume fifteen number two