Astoday 2007.Pub

Issue 16 September 2007

Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the American Studies Resources Centre 2

In this year’s issue

Rhetoric and the 35 Loreto Goes is the official journal of the 3 toWashington American Studies Resources Spanish- Centre, The Aldham Robarts American War an account of a 6th Centre, Liverpool John Moores form trip to the University, Mount Pleasant Liv- Michelle Munton ex- American capital. erpool L3 5UZ amines the role of rhetoric, both by the Tel & fax: 0151-231 3241 press and by govern- e-mail: [email protected] ment, in gaining public web site: support for the Span- www.americansc.org.uk ish-Amer icanWar. 37 The Barringer Fel- Editor-in-Chief: Ian Ralston lowship, Sum- Painting It Black? Editor: David Forster mer2006 Editorial assistant: Helen Tam- 14 An optimistic and light- burro hearted look at how the Kathryn Cooper of Loreto Layout and graphics: David Sixties democratised al- College Manchester has Forster most everything written this account of her The views expressed are those By Ed Weeden studytrip to Virginia. of the contributors, and not necessarily those of the centre or An Appeal to Fear News and events the university. 18 Ain’t Nothin’ © 2007, Liverpool John Moores University and the Contributors. New 38 'Hard Times and Articles in this journal may be Ralph Donald examines George W. HardTravellin' freely reproduced for use in Bush’s Middle East War Rhetoric Shonagh Wilkie reports on subscribing institutions only, and Territoriality in American Celebrating 20 years of the provided that the source is ac- Propaganda Films of World War II knowledged. American Studies Re- source Centre The journal is published with Captain America: the aid of financial assistance 28 The United States from the United States Embassy. 39 Students learn about Please email us at versus itself, the Depression, Roo- [email protected] with sevelt and the New any changes of name or ad- through the Eyes Deal dress. If you do not wish to con- of a Wartime Fic- tinue receiving this magazine, Schools Conference Re- please send an e-mail with the tional Hero port by Helen Tamburro word Unsubscribe and your Christian Dailly shows subscription number in the sub- Book Reviews ject line. how the changing incarnations of the Photo credits comic-book hero from 40 Literature his beginnings as the American History Slide Collec- all-American heroin tion: the struggle against 43 Politics Helen Tamburro Nazism in 1971 to the troubled and reflective 47 Race, Slavery and warrior in the post Civil Rights 9/11 era, have reflected America’s 52 Culture changing views of their own society and 59 History

similar throughout the nation’s history and, with a glance at Rhetoric and the their current foreign policy, it is clear that it is still very much in use. Since the birth of America as a nation, its citizens have had fixed ideas on the divinity of Spanish-American their country and its people, feeling that their country, as opposed to all others, had a reason for being and that God had a War purpose in guiding them there. As early as the 1600s, there were rhetorical speeches being made ar, as a concept, about the subject. In 1616, a has many facets: colonisation agent told an Eng- aggression, brutal- lish audience about this wonder- W ity, courage and ful land and ended, ‘What need determination, to name just a wee then to feare, but to goe up few. One important facet, how- at once as a peculiar people ever, is often overlooked; rheto- marked and chosen by the finger ric. Often, before a single shot is of God to possess it?’ fired, nations will engage in an almost obligatory war of words. These ideas flourished in the An effective waging of a war of new country and it was with words between two nations will regards to the question of Amer- always depend, to some degree, ica gaining control of Oregon on rhetoric and it could be sug- from the British in 1845, that gested that the more successful journalist John O’Sullivan de- the rhetorical talents of a na- clared that it was, Michelle Munton tion’s politicians and journalists, The right of our manifest examines the role the more successful that nation destiny to overspread and will be in a physical conflict. This to possess the whole con- of rhetoric, both stems from what rhetoric is and tinent which providence by the press and the effects it has on an audience. has given us for the devel- Rhetoric is a double – edged opment of the great ex- by government, in sword. On one side, it inspires periment of liberty and the listener or reader; it high- federated self govern- gaining public lights qualities and capabilities ment. support for the and instils pride in themselves, Manifest destiny their country and their accom- Manifest destiny became the Spanish-American plishments. On the other side, basis for Americans to explain War. She examines rhetoric as a skill of weaving their superiority over other races spurious arguments, relies heav- and countries and agreeably the belief in Amer- ily on sophistry and therefore dealt with the Indian question, can be used to justify things that suddenly making it completely ica’s “manifest would not normally be justifi- acceptable to take their land, as destiny” to bring able. Both features of rhetoric it was the divine right of the An- then, can mobilise the people of glo-Saxons to do so. It becomes civilisation to the a nation into being far less apa- clear then that rhetoric, and in uncivilised world, thetic than they may otherwise particular, that of religious ori- have been. The Spanish- gin, can lend even the most infa- and draws com- American War provides sterling mous adventure a cloak of re- examples of both of these as- spectability and we see the parisons with the pects. The causes, events and same pattern repeated with the rhetoric used by repercussions of a war which Spanish-American war, with the lasted less than a year, were added dimension of new loca- the Bush admini- steeped in rhetoric from both tions. Carl Schurz , who had stration to justify perspectives but, for the pur- been Secretary of the Interior poses of this article, I will con- under Hayes in the late 1870s, the invasion of centrate on the American use of summed up the revised purpose this literary device. of Manifest Destiny in 1893 Iraq. when he wrote that the concept American rhetoric has been was forever being declared to

make any expansion of power powers from the area surround- American jurisdiction as the is- appear unavoidable. After a ing America, including Spain. lands where thousands of miles quiet period successive to the Indeed, some expansionists from the coastline of America. Civil War, ‘it was being revived claimed that Cuba had been cre- At the time, the only explanation now in the form of demands for ated by silt from the Mississippi offered was that ‘the spirit of territory no longer contiguous which had been carried out into generosity expressed in the with the U.S., but far away.’ the Caribbean as the river left Monroe Doctrine vis-à-vis Latin The Monroe Doctrine New Orleans which meant it was America was now merely being A very significant piece of for- actually American soil. President extended.’ In 1904 then, Theo- eign policy, borne from Presi- Cleveland even remarked during dore Roosevelt came up with the dent Monroe’s seventh Annual his time in the White House that ‘Roosevelt Corollary’ as a corol- message to Congress in 1823, ‘Cuba is so close to us as to be lary to the Monroe Doctrine. In it was the Monroe Doctrine. Presi- hardly separated from our terri- he stated, dent Monroe stated that, tory.’ There was also talk of Chronic wrongdoing, or ..the American conti- Cuba ending up in the hands of an impotence which nents, by the free and one Spain’s allies, which of results in a general independent condition course would be a threat to loosening of the ties of which they have assumed American security and therefore, civilised society and maintain, are hence- intervention in Cuba was justi- may...ultimately require forth not to be considered fied. For any who felt that this intervention by some as subjects for future reasoning was not enough to civilised nation, and in colonization by any Euro- justify American intervention in the Western Hemi- Cuba, Captain Alfred T. Mahan, sphere the adherence of pean powers. . . .. We a prominent figure in the Navy the U.S. to the Monroe owe it, therefore, to can- and leading intellectual on Doctrine may force the dour and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers to de- He believed that the clare that we should consider any attempt on their ‘transcendent right and duty to part to extend their system to any portion of this establish political and legal or- hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. der everywhere’ gave rise to ‘a In the lead-up to the Spanish- American War, the Monroe Doc- great world duty’ on the part of trine was cited as one of the reasons for American interference in what Spain saw as her affairs. civilised nations. Spain argued that since Cuba was her colony, the island did not fall under American jurisdiction. Americans however, had a global navalism, was on hand U.S., however reluc- different view. To the imperial with a suitable analogy. He tantly, in flagrant cases mindset, 90 miles from the stated that if America was break- of such wrongdoing or American coast was not far and ing international law to save impotence, to the exer- therefore, America had every Cuba, this was no different to cise of an international right to assert her authority, and the brave citizens who, before police power. besides, a precedent had been the Civil War, broke the law in This completely excused Ameri- set. In 1895, President Cleveland order to help fugitive slaves to can behaviour with a view to and his Secretary of State, Rich- escape. Playing upon the emo- intervening in other countries’ ard Olney, initiated a conflict tive subjects of slavery and affairs and sought to defend with Britain over the boundary emancipation, Mahan hoped to their actions until that point. between Venezuela and British persuade fellow Americans at The main justification the gov- Guyana. Olney informed London least, that their current foreign ernment gave for declaring war that America had a right to settle policy was geared towards hu- on Spain was humanitarian feel- the issue because it was manitarian goals. Of course not ing towards the colonised peo- ‘practically sovereign on this everyone was convinced that the ples of Spain. This in itself was continent.’ This was not only an Monroe Doctrine covered Ameri- suspiciously rhetorical and when interpretation of the Monroe can actions, least of all in the government officials were asked Doctrine but also sparked a pat- Philippines, which could never to explain this further, rhetoric tern of behaviour intended to be justified as being under seemed to play more of a part in push away all the imperialist

5 explanation than anything else. These kinds of statements so cating mixture of religion and The notion of America bringing long after these ideas were be- humanity seemed to prompt civilised ideas to a less devel- ing widely circulated highlights McKinley’s explanation of taking oped part of the world was not how powerful this ideology was. the Philippines in the summer of an idea exclusive to the events The Jim Crow laws had estab- 1898, when he stated that it was surrounding the Spanish- lished segregation as proper and ‘divine inspiration’. In other American war but one which the ‘universities and churches words, God had told him to do was gaining in popularity at the overflowed with professors and it. time. Our Country , a fund-raiser preachers who calmly explained Duty was an extremely impor- for the Christian Home Missions, the scientific basis for believing tant rhetorical theme surround- written by Rev. Josiah Strong in ‘inferior’ and ‘superior’ races.’ ing the Spanish-American War was published in 1885. It was This served to fuel American’s and McKinley emphasized this enormously popular, suggesting self-belief in their superiority when he stated that ‘duty deter- that God had commanded the and rights over other races. mines destiny.’ The idea of duty people of the U.S. to Christianise carried on from the themes that and civilise the world or face Rhetorical justifications the likes of Fiske and Burgess divine retribution. Strong im- for the war were promoting and it was a plied that God had been These being the prevailing ideas convenient way for the govern- ‘training’ the Americans and that at the time, it is easy to see how ment to illustrate the fact that the ‘powerful race’ would now the American people believed they were attempting to rule ‘move down upon Mexico, down that it was indeed their duty to other nations against their will, upon Central and South Amer- become involved in Cuban af- in the best possible way. The ica, out upon the islands of the fairs; and so, the majority of poem, The White Man’s Burden sea, over upon Africa and be- people genuinely believed that by Rudyard Kipling, appeared in yond.’ The result of this would McClure’s Magazine on February ‘the Spanish-American conflict th be ‘extinction for the inferior [was] a selfless war fought to 12 1899, at a crucial time in the races’ through ‘vitality and civili- uphold international morality.’ situation surrounding the fate of sation.’ He felt Americans The dominant view was that if Spain’s colonies. The Philippine needed to become aware of the U.S. had not gone to war, – American War had just begun their purpose as ‘God’s right more people would have been and the ratification of the Treaty arm in his battle with the world’s killed, children orphaned and of Paris had recently brought an ignorance and oppression and land and property destroyed. In end to the Spanish-American sin.’ 1895, U.S. citizens demanded War. Written about these con- In introducing American politi- that the government help the flicts in particular, Kipling’s cal ideas to the English in 1880, rebels in their fight for inde- poem was a mixture of rousing historian and evolutionist John pendence but this view had calls to empire and a warning of Fiske suggested that when unde- changed by 1898 when the the costs involved, veloped countries were finally country decided that they had to Take up the White Man's ‘English in [their] political habits come to the aid of the Cuban burden-- and traditions, and to a predomi- loyalists who would undoubt- Send forth the best ye nant extent in the blood of edly be massacred if the rebels breed-- [their] people’, the eternal Sab- came to power. In March, Sena- Go, bind your sons to ex- bath of civilised peace will have tor Redfield Proctor, who had ile begun.’ John Burgess, founder recently taken a tour of Cuba, To serve your captives' of political science at Columbia spoke in Congress of the urgent need;… University and Theodore Roose- need for America to assist the To wait, in heavy harness, velt’s law teacher promoted the ‘million and half of people, the On fluttered folk and wild- idea that ‘the civilised states entire native population of Cuba, - have a claim upon the uncivi- struggling for freedom and de- Your new-caught sullen lised populations, as well as a liverance from the worst mis- peoples, duty towards them, and that government of which I ever had Half devil and half child… claim is that they shall become knowledge.’ This had a massive Take up the White Man's civilised.’ He believed that the effect on Congress who began burden, ‘transcendent right and duty to pressurising President McKinley And reap his old reward-- establish political and legal or- even more to take action. Indeed The blame of those ye der everywhere’ gave rise to ‘a McKinley responded on April better great world duty’ on the part of 11 th stating, ‘The forcible inter- The hate of those ye civilised nations. In the middle vention of the United States as a guard-- of this century, an ex-president neutral to stop the war, accord- The poem was quickly accosted of the World Bank suggested ing to the large dictates of hu- by expansionists, who particu- that ‘Most Americans involved manity and following many his- larly appreciated the poem’s title in foreign operations are to torical precedents…is justifiable as a perfect rhetorical explana- some degree missionaries.’ on rational grounds.’ The intoxi- tion for what the country had

recently done in terms of foreign 1880s as slightly outdated, as ‘a From 1893 until 1896, America policy. Roosevelt sent Henry time of fumbling towards an suffered a severe economic de- Cabot Lodge a copy of the poem international policy more in pression. Walter Lafeber said of stating that it was ‘poor poetry, keeping with the country’s new McKinley, but good sense from the expan- industrialist strength.’ In 1897 The President did not sionist standpoint.’ Anders and ’98 China was partitioned by want war…By mid-March, Stephanson suggests in his the major imperial powers, with however, he was begin- book, Manifest Destiny , that America being excluded. This ning to discover that, al- many Americans agreed with highlighted further the growing though he did not want Kipling’s rousing call to take on concern that America needed to war, he did want what the burdens of civilisation, and begin a process of colonisation only a war could provide: one American noted, if it was to keep up in an ever- the disappearance of the What America wants is changing political and economic terrible uncertainty in not territorial expansion, environment. In 1898, imperialist American political and but expansion of civilisa- Senator Albert J. Beveridge of economic life, and a solid tion. We want, not to ac- Indiana declared, ‘We are Anglo- basis from which to require the Philippines for Saxons, and must obey our sume the building of the ourselves, but to give the blood and occupy new markets, new American commer- Philippines free schools, a and, if necessary, new lands.’ cial empire. free church, open courts, Roosevelt was an expansionist Indeed, Melvin Small argues no caste, equal rights to and since he was already a lead- that a ‘psychic crisis’ had devel- all. This is for our interest. ing political and military figure, oped around the depression, he held much sway with both during which hordes of unem- Overseas expansion – the politicians and the public. He ployed marched in protest and new frontier took intelligent advantage of this millions suffered as it appeared In 1893, Frederick Jackson by persuading the people, to that the nation was falling into Turner presented his Frontier some degree, that based on disarray. ‘A little war would pro- Thesis, entitled The Significance their nation’s history, expansion vide the means for the nation to of the Frontier in American His- was a rational next step; both in release its tension safely, to for- tory . In his thesis, he argued that terms of one frontier closing and get its own troubles, and to rally the frontier, and indeed, pioneer another opening and some infe- around the flag in a therapeutic life had shaped American iden- rior races having been dealt orgy of patriotism.’ This willing- tity, ‘American social develop- with, it was time to deal with the ment has been continually beginning over again on the frontier…this fluidity of American , ‘Fate has written our policy for life, this expansion westward with its new opportunities… us; the trade of the world must furnish the forces dominating the American character.’ With and shall be ours.’ the closing of the frontier in 1890 then, came the end of pio- rest. V. G Kiernan suggests, ness for adventure, Small rea- neer life and therefore, America In Roosevelt’s own mind sons, also made it easier for the would have to assume a new or emotional make-up, government and media to per- identity. This meant that Ameri- this was very much the suade the people that a war with cans ‘…had to find…a new fron- case. A writer on the Wild Spain was in their best interests. tier or stagnate in [their] cities.’ West and the Indian wars, V.G Kiernan calls McKinley a While Turner himself did not he took an ‘authentically ‘businessmen’s president’ and urge extra-continental expan- Western frontier attitude’, draws attention to the fact that sion, others who read his ep- and was quite prepared to McKinley’s government had a ochal paper did.’ So, talk of ex- explain the necessity of ‘suspicious number of contacts pansionism returned to the po- savage treatment of sav- with the Sugar Trust.’ It comes litical forefront once more. ages.’ The principles of expansion as no surprise then that when It was perhaps due to his own McKinley received a telegram on became a prevalent talking point th among politicians, businessmen, uncompromising belief in what March 25 saying, ‘Big corpora- military circles and farmers, who he preached that Roosevelt was tions here now believe we will believed that foreign markets so effective in bringing his mes- have war. Believe all would wel- would be extremely beneficial to sage to the people. Calling upon come it as relief to suspense’, he them. Captain Mahan, a promi- the trusted rhetoric of destiny, issued Spain with his final ulti- nent expansionist commented, Beveridge said at the time, ‘Fate matum two days later. The New ‘Americans must now begin to has written our policy for us; the York ‘Commercial Advertiser’, look outward.’ Historians began trade of the world must and which was originally against looking at the ideology of the shall be ours.’ war, supported the views of the

7 business community when, on bidder for the admiration of the bour killing 268 of the crew less March 10 th , it requested U.S. crowd, besides being a would- than a week later, the govern- involvement in Cuba for be politician who tries to leave a ment, press and people of the ‘humanity and love of freedom, door open behind himself while U.S. reacted with jingoistic fash- and above all, the desire that the keeping on good terms with the ion. The Americans had stated commerce and industry of every jingoes of his party.’ De Lôme officially that The Maine was part of the world shall have full was demonstrating his aware- being sent to Havana on a good- freedom of development in the ness of McKinley’s use of and will visit and to give refuge to whole world’s interest.’ When it dependence on rhetoric and, any Americans who may have became clear that the annexa- although more vicious things had to leave in a hurry. Whilst tion of the Philippines was a real were often said within political the Spaniards rightly deduced possibility, both big businesses circles, the ‘Journal’ described that it was actually a show of and unions stated that territorial this as, ‘The Worst Insult to the strength by the Americans, they offered no objection to it. Roose- velt’s comment to a friend, that the explosion was ‘an act of dirty treachery on the part of the Spaniards’, was a typical Ameri- can response. The mood in Con- gress following the event was increasingly aggressive towards Spain. Senator Cullom of Illinois, for example, said that ‘the history of Spain is a history of more than a thousand years of concentrated cruelty.’ The mood of the people was no better, as demonstrated with the popular saying, ‘Remember The Maine , to hell with Spain!’ There was both an American and a Spanish investigation, the former deduc- Battleship Maine entering Havana harbour in 1898 shortly before it ing an external cause and the exploded. latter, an internal cause. What- ever the truth, as Small points expansion would prevent an- United States in Its History.’ The out, other depression. This was obvi- letter further undermined the A Spanish attack on The ously an attractive prospect to peace process as it queried Maine was illogical. The everyone, but McKinley, speak- Spanish respect for the Ameri- last thing Madrid wanted ing at a banquet in February can government. As Small was to provoke a war with 1899, insisted that ‘no imperial points out, whilst it was okay for the U.S. The blowing up designs lurk in the American Americans to say such things of The Maine was about mind.’ Unfortunately for about the President, for a for- the only thing they could McKinley however, his Postmas- eigner to say it was scandalous. do to guarantee such a ter General, Charles Emory One reply was as follows, war. They had no conceiv- Smith, stated at the same ban- Dupuy de Lôme, Dupuy able strategic or tactical quet that ‘what we want is a de Lôme, what’s this I reason to attack the ves- market for our surplus.’ hear of you? sel.

Have you been throwing With no proof that the Spanish Diplomatic insults and the mud again, is what were at fault, McKinley re- sinking of the “Maine” they’re saying true? sponded that, ‘anything that There were two events which, happened in Havana harbour Get out, I say, get out, steeped in rhetoric, could be was ultimately Spain’s responsi- before I start a fight. argued as the main contributors bility and that the sinking of The to the declaration of war with Just pack your few pos- Maine demonstrated the sort of Spain by the U.S. On February th sessions and take a boat chaos that flourished under 9 , the ‘New York Journal’ pub- for home. Spanish misrule.’ The fact that lished a translation of letter writ- McKinley offered $300 million I would not like my boot ten by Dupuy de Lôme, the and gifts to Spain in return for to use, but-oh-get out, de Spanish minister to the U.S. to a Cuba shortly afterwards, would Lôme. Spanish politician in December further suggest that the govern- 1897. In the letter, De Lôme de- When the U.S. battleship, The ment was not entirely convinced scribed McKinley as ‘weak and a Maine , blew up in Havana har- of any wrongdoing on Spain’s

part. However, on March 27 th , stead of asking Congress to government was ‘jeopardised.’ It McKinley demanded of the make a declaration of war, also gave Johnson legal justifi- Spanish that they close their McKinley requested that they cation to send more troops into concentration camps and begin ‘authorize and empower the the Vietnam War. a relief strategy, that they ar- range a six-month armistice, during which time they and the rebels would negotiate peace and that if the insurgents were not appeased by the end of that period, that the U.S. act as arbi- trator. McKinley, …prepared his war message on the 6 th April, after receiving the first conces- sion but before receiving the second one. The message itself was presented to Congress on April 11 th , two days after the armistice ultimatum had been virtually accepted. The content and tone of his message demonstrated The Rough Riders, with Theodore Roosevelt pictured second from the that he was no longer left in the second row interested in the ultimatum. President to take measures to The U.S. navy has always been In his war message, McKinley secure a full and final termina- a draw for patriotism in Amer- made many rhetorical state- tion of hostilities between the ica, and the period surrounding ments such as, that the Spanish government of Spain and the the Spanish-American War was – Cuban War had, people of Cuba.’ This had the no exception. Battleships were caused enormous losses effect of making it appear that built by Americans in America to American trade and the President had been and was and were all named after states commerce, caused irrita- doing everything in his power to of the Union. This meant that tion, annoyance, and dis- maintain a relationship with they were not only a source of turbance among our citi- Spain whilst trying to alleviate national pride but local pride as zens, and, by the exercise the suffering in Cuba. To have well. When one of these battle- of cruel, barbarous, and declared war outright would ships sank, the indignation uncivilized practices of have seemed too aggressive and prompted thousands to declare warfare, shocked the sen- he was aware that to the rest of their willingness to ‘fight for sibilities and offended the the world, The Maine incident their country against what they humane sympathies of did not seem enough for such a perceived to be the treachery of our people. move. So, by appearing concilia- Spain.’ Indeed, Secretary of War and that, ‘In the name of hu- tory himself, he sought to ap- Alger had estimated that at least manity, in the name of civiliza- pease any negative view of the 1 million men had replied to tion, in behalf of endangered government. McKinley’s first request for vol- American interests which give It could be suggested that the unteers. Alger remarked that ‘it us the right and the duty to events surrounding The Maine was the apotheosis of patriot- speak and to act, the war in bear some similarity to the Gulf ism.’ Indeed, it was at this time Cuba must stop.’ Interestingly, of Tonkin Incident, where it was that the U.S. Army came to be McKinley did not mention the alleged that two attacks on U.S. viewed with just as much patri- concessions Spain had offered ships were carried out by North otic zeal as the navy, if not more. until nearly the end of his Vietnamese ships. Whilst the The likes of Roosevelt, who re- speech, and of course, by that first did occur, the second did signed as Assistant Secretary of time, everyone was too worked not and there have been several the Navy to become a member up by his talk of Spanish atroci- suggestions that President John- of the First U.S. Volunteer Cav- ties to listen. The fact that the son was fully aware of this but alry regiment, or ‘The Rough elections were just seven claimed two attacks in order to Riders’ as they became known, months away may have pushed pass the Gulf of Tonkin resolu- did much to promote the patri- McKinley to be more jingoistic tion, which granted the Presi- otic appeal of the army. On than he would have been in dent the authority to assist any meeting his fellow soldiers, Roo- other circumstances. Also, in- Southeast Asian country whose sevelt remarked,

They were a splendid set that from December 1895, of a lot of the scandal as they of men, these South west- ‘numerous resolutions recom- tried to outdo each other in an erners – tall and sinewy, mending American action to aid effort to gain more sales, and it with resolute weather the insurgents were introduced was during this circulation con- beaten faces, and eyes in every session.’ The disadvan- test that the phrase ‘yellow that looked a man straight tage to the relationship between press’ was coined. This is exem- in the face without flinch- the yellow press and the Cuban plified by Hearst sending a re- ing. They included in their Junta was that the Junta porter and illustrator to Cuba to ranks men of every occu- ‘bought’ some journalists who gain first hand accounts of the pation; but the three types often planted stories which fo- Spanish-Cuban war. When Rem- were those of cowboy, cused on Spanish barbarism and ington cabled Hearst saying, the hunter and the mining always sympathised with the ‘Everything is quiet. There is no prospector – a man who rebels. The focus of the yellow trouble here. There will be no wandered hither and press was profit rather than un- war. I wish to return’, Hearst thither, killing game for a biased, truthful reporting and it cabled back, ‘Please remain. You living, and spending his was a very competitive sector, furnish the pictures. I’ll furnish life in the quest for metal which ‘led to the rise of sensa- the war.’ It was Hearst who gave wealth. tionalism, blatant fabrication of General Valeriano Weyler the stories, and all sorts of other infamous nickname ‘Butcher’ Naturally, these images had a disreputable measures which which is still quoted today. This profound effect on the public undermined the legitimacy of highlights the huge influence the and the war did much to heal journalism.’ Of course, the read- press had at the time. The pa- wounds between Northern and ers were all too willing to ‘read pers built up the hysteria of the Southern states as men from all about it’. period, reporting that more than both sides came together to 400,000 people had lost their fight a common enemy. How- ‘For a generation whose lives in Cuba during the revolu- ever, the rhetoric of patriotism senses were not con- tion, a severely exaggerated put pressure on the soldiers to stantly stimulated by ra- figure. It was Hearst who pub- stay quiet about awful condi- dio, television, movies, lished Du Lôme’s letter, and of tions. Roosevelt commented and Playboy, lurid de- course, the press were instru- that, ‘the heat, the steaming dis- scriptions of the scandal- mental in building up the drama comfort, and the confinement, ous behaviour of the surrounding The Maine. Even together with the forced inaction Catholic Spaniards, who local papers got involved. In the were very irksome,’ but that pa- apparently spent consid- ‘Local Happenings’ section of triotism and thoughts of immi- erable time ravishing de- Humboldt Times on April 12, nent action meant ‘there was mure Cuban virgins, 1898, they remarked that it was little or no grumbling.’ Journal- made for exciting read- 27 years to the day since the ist Poultney Bigelow explained ing.’ American Civil War began with how much patriotism figured in The competition between Wil- the attack on Fort Sumter, stat- the soldiers keeping quiet, liam Randolf Hearst’s New York ing, ‘how patriotic Americans ‘Down here we are sweltering Journal and Joseph Pulitzer’s would like to hear the cannon's day and night with the ther- New York World was the source reverberation on this 12th of mometer ninety-eight in the shade. Nobody dares complain for fear of appearing unpatri- otic…thirty days after the declaration of war, and not one regiment is yet equipped with uni- forms suitable for hot weather.’

The role of the “yellow press” With the introduction of the free news service from the Cuban Junta, it became increasingly easy for competitive journalists, (members of the ‘yellow press’ who printed melodramatic stories, relying heavily on rhetoric) to gain a higher number of readers. Increased readerships meant increased public attention American troops march into "Muriano Camp" after the Spanish and, in turn, notice in Congress. evacuation of Havana, Cuba This is exemplified by the fact

April to avenge the slaughter of posts, doubled and treb- better than the Spaniards and the boys in blue on board the led in fierceness…But the had not actually played a very Maine in Havana's harbour two blue line crept steadily up useful role in combat. ‘The im- months ago.’ Whether the press and on… plicit assumption which initiated the public’s desire for war or simply furnished it is open to debate but it is certainly true that had McKinley not stayed silent on Cuban events from 1897 until early 1898, and done more to ‘educate and inform’ the public, they may not have been so hastily jingoistic. “A splendid little war – rhetoric versus reality During the War, ‘5,462 died in the various theatres of operation and in camps in the U.S. Only 379 of the deaths were battle casualties, the remainder being attributed to disease and other causes.’ When Spain began seeking peace, Secretary of State, John Hay wrote to Roose- velt, ‘It has been a splendid little war; begun with the highest motives, carried on with magnifi- An artist's conception of the Battle of Manila Bay in the Philippines on cent intelligence and spirit fa- May 1, 1898, during the Spanish-American War. voured by that fortune which loves the brave.’ The phrase emerged [in Washington] was Davis neglected to mention that ‘splendid little war’ was proba- that victory would be secured the U.S. seriously outnumbered bly the most celebrated of the principally, if not solely, by the the Spaniards and amplified the hostilities but did not take into efforts of the American army level of resistance presented by account the lack of organisation and navy.’ them. and fighting by the army and the The press did not initially pay various diseases which plagued Another reason for such a high much attention to the amateur- them throughout the period. level of success in such a short ish running of the army or the One reason perhaps, for so few space of time with a disorgan- level of disease. When they did casualties was the fact that not ised army was the fact that they take notice however, they once much combat took place. The fought alongside the rebels, again created an uproar. This battle for San Juan Hill then, something which was played up prompted an official investiga- was hyperbolised. When Gen- during the war. These missions tion after the war and, instead of eral Shafter informed Washing- were termed ‘reconnaissance in the government accepting re- ton that the defences of Santi- force’. While they ‘served certain sponsibility as a whole, the ago de Cuba were powerful and tangible military purposes, the blame was pinned on one indi- that he was considering with- operation was mostly inspired vidual – Secretary of War, Alger. drawal, Alger replied with the by a desire of the army to be ‘In popular speech the word promise of reinforcements and seen to be doing something and ‘Algerism’ was used as a term of told Shafter to hold San Juan thereby promote a positive im- abuse to denote maladministra- Heights as ‘the effect upon the age among American public tion and callous insensitivity.’ country would be much better opinion’ During the war, the The rhetorical implication of this than falling back.’ An eye- public were still being led to was that McKinley and the rest witness report of the seizure by believe that the government of his administration appeared Richard Harding Davis was were seeking to help the insur- blameless and received the posi- highly romanticised, gents in their battle against the tive attention from the war. appalling Spaniards. As the war It was a miracle of self- ended however, and the govern- sacrifice, a triumph of “Benevolent assimilation’ ment sought to basically replace bull-dog courage, which – racism by another name the Spaniards on the island, the one watched breathless role the rebels played was talked Following the war, the implica- with wonder. The fire of down and the public were led to tions of the teachings of the likes the Spanish riflemen, who believe that the rebels were no of Rev. Strong and Burgess were still stuck bravely to their

11 highlighted. William Taft, the without trial stated, come when the American peo- first civilian governor of the Phil- ple demand and when the inter- The major said that Gen- ippines, condescendingly re- ests of the race demand that we eral Smith instructed him ferred to the Filipinos as ‘our shall say the people of that is- to kill and burn, and said little brown brothers.’ Whilst this land are entitled to be free.’ It that the more he killed was inherently racist, it was a was with this knowledge that and burned the better common belief that the Ameri- there was little opposition in pleased he would be; that cans were better than their America to going to war, as it it was no time to take newly acquired colonial subjects. had quelled any suspicion of prisoners, and that he Some however, were vicious in imperial designs. When the war was to make Samar a their summations. Having no was over and the time came howling wilderness. Ma- evidence to support his theory, when the government was being jor Waller asked General Alger implied that it was for the pressurised to realise its earlier Smith to define the age best that the U.S. had taken the promise, the ‘Platt Amendment’ limit for killing, and he Philippines as ‘the horrors of a came into being. The Amend- replied ‘Everything over Filipino horde let loose in the ment stated that ‘the govern- ten.’ town [of Manila] to indulge in ment of Cuba consents that the the expected carnival of loot, Testimonies such as these United States may exercise the arson and rapine, had been served to outrage the public and right to intervene for the preser- avoided.’ The Cubans were pre- The Nation reflected this when it vation of Cuban independence, sented to the public by soldiers stated that ‘the war of 1898 “for the maintenance of a govern- and journalists as scroungers, the cause of humanity” has de- ment adequate for the protec- thieves and lazy cowards. generated…into a war of con- tion of life, property, and individ- ‘American contempt was also quest, characterised by rapine ual liberty’ It also demanded, fuelled by the perception that and cruelty worthy of savages’. amongst other things, that the the majority of Cubans were The new Secretary of War, Elihu U.S. could purchase illiterate and apparently black or Root countered these accusa- Guantánamo Bay and that Cuba of mixed race.’ So, after all the tions by maintaining that, ‘The be restricted in her power to talk of helping their ‘fellow hu- war in the Philippines has been treaties with foreign powers. It man beings’ to achieve inde- conducted by the American was not until the ‘Platt Amend- pendence, American’s now army with scrupulous regard for ment’ was accepted that the U.S. treated them as inhuman and the rules of civilised warfare… handed over ‘power of govern- suddenly judged them incapable with self-restraint and with hu- ment’ to Cuba. This reflected the of Home Rule, mainly because manity never surpassed.’ American view that the Cubans they were ‘black’. were unfit for self-government. In the Philippines, ‘McKinley’s declared aim of ‘benevolent assimilation’ in which the Filipino people would be ‘uplifted’ and ‘civilised’ was undermined by reports of the American army ruthlessly crushing the insurgents.’ In 1901, Mark Twain commented, "The White Man's Burden has been sung. Who will sing the Brown Man's?" After citing Spain’s use of ‘reconcentration’ with its abhor- rent cruelty to fellow human beings as one of the main reasons for going to war, America initiated the same policy in the Philippines. They argued that it was on a smaller scale than the Spanish and that they treated The American flag flying over the Customs House in Ponce, Puerto the people well but reports of Rico during the Spanish-American War. cruelty to civilians undermined this. Perhaps the most scathing report was directed towards Shafter stated, ‘self- General Smith’s platoon. An The ‘Teller Amendment’ was government! Why, these people th officer describing the testimony passed on 19 April 1898. Sena- are no more fit for self- of Major Littletown Waller, actor Henry Teller had declared government than gun-powder is cused of shooting 11 Filipinos previously that, ‘the time has

for hell’ and Platt remarked that government with himself as ing of the islands in the govern- ‘in many respects they are like President, the American military ment’s eyes. children.’ The government had or government said nothing. Reparations – how America got essentially achieved the best of Aguinaldo took this to mean that Puerto Rico and Guam both worlds with the Amend- the Americans recognised his ment. Whilst retaining fiscal and new government but in truth, When the war ended, the U.S. strategic advantages, they were they were unconcerned with this government argued it had suf- released from the costs and du- development. This would sug- fered the expense of war at the ties which were attached to gest that America already har- hands of the Spanish, and there- overseeing a colony. The people boured intent towards the Philip- fore held Spain financially re- of Cuba however, did not look pines. Writer Brooks Adams said sponsible. Since Spain was upon the outcome so favourably. of the islands, ‘rich, coal-bearing, nearly bankrupt, the U.S. de- In Havana, 15,000 Cubans held a and with fine harbours, [they] manded Puerto Rico and Guam torchlight demonstration, pro- seem a predestined base for the as financial compensation. testing against the adoption of United States in a conflict which McKinley described this ‘offer’ the Amendment. On this subject, probably is as inevitable as that as one of ‘signal generosity General Leonard Wood, head of with Spain.’ When General Mer- When General Miles arrived in the occupation forces, reported ritt set up a military government the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, he to McKinley that, ‘the people of in Manila, Spain challenged the declared that the Americans had Cuba lend themselves readily to legality of this, stating that the come to liberate the people and all sorts of demonstrations and taking of Manila had taken place to give them ‘the advantages parades, and little significance after the signing of the peace and blessings of civilisation.’ should be attached to them.’ protocol. Whilst held up by When the islands’ discoverer, precedent, McKinley rejected it, Ponce de Leon first spotted it, he McKinley, on deciding to take saying that the capture had hap- exclaimed, ‘Ah, que puerto rico!’, the Philippines, explained why pened before his General knew meaning ‘What a rich port!’ and he had come to this decision, about the protocol and that the it seems likely that the Ameri- The truth is I didn’t want new government there ‘derived cans were probably more inter- the Philippines…I thought its authority to rule by right of ested in this valuable asset than first we would only take conquest.’ It would seem that ‘blessing’ the island’s people Manila; then Luzon, then President McKinley always had a with civilisation. other islands, perhaps, rhetorical reply to hand. Worried Initially, the key rhetorical also….[I] prayed Almighty that the people now doubted theme used by America to jus- God for light and guid- America’s intentions in going to tify its conflict with Spain, ap- ance more than one war, and so close to the mid- pears to have been one of be- night…one night late it term elections, McKinley toured nevolent intervention. But the came to me…there was the Midwest in October. Smith ‘righter of wrongs’ quickly saw nothing left for us to do points out that the president the advantages of expanding but to take them all and to stressed in speech after speech both its territory and global in- educate the Filipinos, and that ‘America had entered the fluence and so the rhetoric uplift and civilise and war for humanitarian reasons changed correspondingly to that Christianise them…and and must do its ‘duty’ to help of enlightened expansionism do the very best we could those people who had been lib- and natural destiny. Indeed, all by them, as our fellow erated from Spanish tyranny.’ It these themes continued, and men for whom Christ also seems slightly odd however, still continue to inform American died. that people who had already been liberated would need help. foreign policy rhetoric. When Senator Albert Beveridge obvi- In reference to the annexation of robbed of rhetoric, the Spanish- ously did not hold the view of the Philippines, with expansion- American war seems nothing the Filipinos that, as fellow men, ists on his side, McKinley had no less than an audacious land- the American people must do need to make his own rhetorical grab with little or no regard for their best by them. Addressing claims. They argued that the the ‘liberated’ populations. Simi- Congress, he stated, ‘it has been ‘Louisiana Purchase’ offered a lar pretexts and rhetoric accom- charged that our conduct of the precedent for taking control of a panied the latest American ad- war has been cruel. Senators, it new area without needing con- venture in Iraq and its popula- has been the reverse…Senators sent of the governed. That Pur- tion is still suffering the conse- must remember that we are not chase also gave a precedent to quences. Since it is now much dealing with Americans or Euro- the U.S. always offering money easier to learn the truth about an peans. We are dealing with Ori- for new territory, even that ac- international conflict such as this, entals.’ quired through conflict. As with the sheer variety and complexity of media available today, When Emilio Aguinaldo de- McKinley offered Spain $20 mil- and given the fact that there clared independence for the lion for the Philippines, this had now exists a more educated and Philippines and decreed a new the effect of legitimising the tak- less gullible public, perhaps it

13 will be more difficult in the fu- Publishing, 1994.) http://www.boondocksnet.co ture to rely solely on rhetorical Stephanson, A. Manifest m/ai/kipling/kipling.html , talents and less than intelligent Destiny: American Ex- [Accessed 25/11/’06 ] intelligence to mould the com- pansionism and the pliance of a nation. Empire of Right McKinley, W. War Message , (Canada: HarperCollins [Online], Available from: Bibliography. Candled , 1995.) Kiernan, V.G. America: The Turner, F.J. The Significance http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/ New Imperialism: From of the Frontier in Ameri- intrel/mkinly2.htm , [Accessed White Settlement To can History (Frontiers: nd 24/11/’06] World Hegemony (2 The Mythology of the edn., London: Zed West, MCALA 1008) Press, 1980.) Waugh, A. A Family of Is- Zwick, J. The White Man’s Bur- Nichols, J., McChesney, lands: A history of the R.W. Tragedy and Farce: den’ and Its Critics, [Online], West Indies (London: Available from: How The American Me- Weidenfeld and dia Sell Wars, Spin Elec- Nicolson, 1964.) http://www.boondocksnet.com/a tions, And Destroy De- Zinn, H. A People’s History i/kipling/index.html , [Accessed mocracy (New York: Of The United States: 25/11/’06] The New Press, 2005.) 1492-Present (3 rd edn., The Monroe Doctrine, [Online], Skidmore, T.E., Smith, P.H. Essex: Pearson Educa- Available from: Modern Latin America tion Limited, 2003.) th (4 edn., New York: Ox- http://www.freedomshrine.com/ ford University Press Internet Sources documents/monroe.html , Inc., 1997.) [Accessed 25/11/’06] Small, M. Was War Neces- Baker, J. Effects of the Press on The Platt Amendment, 1901, sary? National Security Spanish-American Relations in [Online], Available from: And U.S. Entry Into War 1898 , [Online], Available from: (London: Sage Publica- http://www.humboldt.edu/~jcb10 tions, 1980.) /spanwar.shtml , [Accessed http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ Smith, J. The Spanish- 24/11/’06] mod/1901platt.html , [Accessed American War: Conflict Kipling, R. The White Man’s 24/11/’06] in the Caribbean and Burden , [Online], Available from: the Pacific 1895-1902 (New York: Longman

BAAS Teachers and Student Awards

The British Association for American Studies has a number of annual awards for both teachers and students in secondary education. The schools essay prize, open to all sixth-formers for work on American Studies topics, is £250.

The Teachers Fellowship involves workshops with US Teachers, and research opportunities in the US. These will take place in the summer.

14 Painting It Black? An optimistic and light-hearted look at how the Sixties democratised almost everything By Ed Weeden here’s always a ten- For the times, they are a- - - John Phillips (Mamas and dency to see the glass changin' Papas), 1966 half empty instead of T half full. This is true of - - Bob Dylan, 1964 Let’s see how we enjoy the the Sixties. Most historians Nothing could be further from benefits of the Sixties in our cur- view this period (in fact from the truth than to assert that the rent mainstream culture by look- about 1964 to about 1976) as Sixties was some sort of excep- ing at just three critical areas: divisive, violent, and counterpro- tion, interruption or failure. This the Self, the State and Society. ductive, an interruption, some ‘era’ was directly responsible for sort of counter cultural super- a fundamental change in how The Self nova or some sort of failure that we approach ourselves, others, Can anyone deny that there has had little mainstream effect. If and the world in general. This been a gigantic progression to- those of us who lived and par- basal shift has highly influenced ward individualisation, tolerance ticipated in the Sixties believed the way we look at the world and understanding of the Self this when we look about us to- and ourselves today. Like the since the 1960s? day, we might be tempted to see original ‘big bang’ in physics, things as did Mick and Keith: the societal ‘big bang’ of the Certainly both the range of individual opinion and expression, Maybe then I'll fade away an d Sixties still reverberates and influences. as well as range in self-image not have to face the facts has changed due to the Sixties. It's not easy facing up when We are always the last to see Criteria of exclusion such as cul- your whole world is black. this sort of cultural evolution tural background, political affilia- - - Mick Jagger, Keith Rich- when we literally live through it. tion, societal stereotypes, lan- The change consists of a multi- ards, 1966 guage dialect or accent, per- tude of incremental moves in sonal appearance, disability, On the other hand, if we take a many areas of life, some small, sexual activity, sexual orienta- closer look at everything around some huge. The underlying tion, or social class are no us, and a sharper look at what theme of all these moves was a longer legally or socially accept- was really going on in the 1960s, broadening of reach, a democra- able as criteria for exclusion or we might have real cause for tisation of personal, societal and marginalization. Just two exam- celebrating with Bob: national life. The terms ‘access’ ples will make my point: self and ‘empowerment’ come to expression, and self image. Come writers and critics who mind, but they are used so often prophesize with your pens by Yuppies that this retired Hip- Speaking your mind has always And keep your eyes wide, the pie prefer the words of the lead been dangerous in certain cir- chance won't come again Papa: cles. It continues to be so today. And don't speak too soon, for There are, however, no longer the wheel's still in spin You gotta go where you wanna the informal but very powerful And there's no telling who that go- do what you wanna do ‘thought police’ which used to it's naming act so decisively on persons With whoever you wanna do it For the loser now will be later to prior to the Sixties. When was with. win the last time my readers looked

15 over their shoulders before ex- The current ‘democratisation’ of elitist and Byzantine state as pressing an opinion in normal, self-image is even more obvi- constituted during that time. We polite conversation? It just ously influenced by the Sixties. I knew that it was them or us: never happens anymore, and am certainly not saying that if Gotta get down to it, soldiers are yet, prior to 1964 it used to hap- you walked barefoot into a re- gunning us down; pen all the time. Dare I mention cruitment agency with purple Should’ve been done long ago. the “Legion of Decency’s” effect hair, green nails and sawed-off on screenwriters, or the Levi 501s that you wouldn’t get - - Neil Young, Four Dead in “University Regents” and their some stares. If you knew your Ohio, 1972 effect on students in the Sixties? stuff, however, had the correct There's a man with a gun over qualifications, and if it was not Thank Mario Savio for an end to there, telling me I got to beware contrary to that ubiquitous mon- all this. Who? Mario Savio was Stop, children, what's that ster called Health & Safety, that one of the founders of the Free sound - everybody look what's composite image would not nec- Speech Movement at the Uni- going down essarily bar you from potential versity of California in the mid employment. - - Buffalo Springfield, For Sixties. This mass movement What It’s Worth, 1970 completely transformed the con- The same holds true of virtually cept of acceptable public speech all of the old self-image stereo- Now things have changed. Poli- – both in terms of content and types accepted as the ‘norm’ tics has become a tool, not a consequences. It started at the prior to the Sixties movement. target. We may not have won University, but spread every- Then, these images amounted to every election, but more impor- where. Things are not only ‘radical departures’ and often tantly we have shifted the de- more open, they are much resulted in exclusion or margin- bate to topics of crucial impor- broader now in terms of poten- alization. They were outward tance. Some examples: When tial content. We’ve come a long images of inner states at that was the last time you heard anyway from George Carlin’s time strongly opposed to a one in politics seriously suggest “Seven words you can never say ‘status quo’: that we disregard civil rights, on television” (1962). This form prohibit union organising, forget If you're going to San Francisco of public speech affects the en- entirely about Social Security, be sure to wear some flowers in tire social and political spectrum abolish all welfare, forget about your hair (for better and worse), from unemployment insurance, im- skinheads to anti-globalisation All across the nation, such a mediately end Medicare or ter- protesters: strange vibration, people in mo- minate the Voting Rights Act? In tion, people in motion the 1950s and early 1960s these It's my life and I'll do what I There's a whole generation with were common conservative want - It's my mind and I'll think a new explanation. themes. No longer. Politics has what I want undergone a basal shift. Even - - Eric Burdon (Animals), It’s - - Scott McKenzie, San Fran- today’s Tories and Republicans My Life, 1965 cisco, 1967 alike admit the need for all of the We also understand now that Today these images are matters above, as well as ‘national what we say does not necessar- of personal choice – perhaps healthcare’ and ‘the environ- ily stand in stone for the entire unconnected entirely to any sort ment’ – all issues formerly con- world. This is largely due to a of political or social set of val- sidered the exclusive province of widening of multicultural con- ues. That is precisely my point the Left. The crux is in how to sciousness that began in the about the basal shift. What used achieve this, not whether it is Sixties. From the religious to be considered radical and needed. movements at this time (Hare unique, is now considered per- What about the most destructive Krishna and Swami Yogananda sonal and unique – a democrati- activity of the State – war? to name just two) to the realisa- zation of look has occurred, de- Some may think that we are re- tion that what our parents told void of socio-political context. peating history – with both the us might not be entirely and So beware, beneath the green left and right having learned immaculately true (‘don’t trust nails and purple hair, you may from the Sixties crucible of anyone over thirty’), we began find a supporter of Mr. Blair! Southeast Asia. They may be to hear and tolerate different Thanks to the ‘look’ of the Six- right. The Left has learned im- drummers and see things in ties, our range of choice is much patiently and with enormous relative, not absolute terms: more open now – and by infer- frustration that its moral posi- ence tolerated and accepted. Stars and losers, kings and fools tion is unassailable, and that with time its position will be go dancing hand in hand The State Relatively speaking you make vindicated. The Right has me who I am. In the Sixties there was a clear learned that it must use ‘careful divide between us and them. calculation’ (some might call it - - John Denver/Art Hancock, We were opposed to the closed, subterfuge) to temporarily gain Relatively Speaking, 1995

its way. Does all this so-called genuine choices of the people, And the time will come when knowledge result in modified and as such should be re- you see we're all one, action? To no great extent. spected. and life flows on within and Does it produce some very Rise above your depression, without you. amusing, entertaining and at above the one that kills times even shocking ‘spin’ from Above the one that hates, above - - John Lennon, Paul both sides? Virtually every day. all of the pain McCartney, 1967 Just watch Mr. Rumsfeld or Mr. Fear! Death! Rage! Dean when they are next on the While there is room for debate telly! - - Fear Factory, Arise Above over whether to formulate them Oppression, 1992 in an Equal Rights Amendment, But what is important for my no one can deny that the central point about democratisation is Of course, this basal shift does concepts of the Women’s Move- that now both events and deci- not exist everywhere (look at ment have become mainstream sions are mulled over publicly. Zimbabwe, Burma, Haiti, or since the 1960s. We have We still don’t know, and never Saudi Arabia as examples), but women Chief Executives, and will know how many Abu it is expanding. Who asserts women Fighter Pilots. There are Ghraibs there were in Vietnam – that there is a more totalitarian thousands more jobs I could list, on both sides. We only found world now than in the 1960s? and although no one denies the out about ‘secret wars’ in Laos Chaotic, yes…multilateral, continued existence of the ‘glass and Cambodia after the fact. But yes…more dangerous, very pos- ceiling’, the fact that it is publi- things like that cannot be con- sibly yes. More totalitarian? No. cised and opposed is evidence cealed now. War has become a If anyone did assert this, I am of its future diminution. Just as very public and personal propo- sure that she or he would be importantly, we have now also sition. The entire war making roundly shouted down by many come to recognise the impor- process – ignorant and ugly as it hundreds of thousands of Nige- tance and value of women in the is – is now open, instantaneous rians, Eritreans, Yemenis, Bang- role of mother and partner. and participative, with informa- ladeshis, Nigerians, Algerians, There is value to both types of tion flowing out from a host of Angolans, Mozambicans, South contribution, and often women’s sources, military, journalistic, Africans, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, choice is to do both. But always, social and even individual. We Hungarians, Germans, Romani- this choice is a personal one, see the politics, maneuvering ans, Bulgarians, Croatians, made by the democratised mod- and propaganda on both sides, Slovenians, Albanians, Brazil- ern woman based on her own and make our judgments ac- ians, Argentinians, Peruvians, circumstances in life: cordingly as we would expect in Panamanians and Venezuelans. She looks sleek and she seems a democratized environment: There has been progress and, so professional given time, progress will find a I'm not going to kid you, there's She's got a lot of confidence, it's way forward: a lot to do easy to see Little can I promise, it's really up Take this message to my You want to make a move, but to you brother, you will find him every- you feel so inferior But if we all work together, And I where Cause under that exterior, is think we can Wherever people live together, someone who's free And if you want some new tied in poverty's despair ideas, Then I'm your man. You, telling me the things you're - - Billy Joel, Modern Woman, 1985 - - Chicago, Vote For Me, gonna do for me 1977 I ain't blind and I don't like what Men have also changed. We too I think I see are liberated – no longer bound But this democratisation of State by the roles and conventions conduct is wider than any one - - Doobie Brothers, Taking it to the Streets, 1976 expected of us in the ‘Marlboro country or conflict. People Man’ era. Of course these more around the world as well are Society traditional roles still exist and now more participative in politi- can be selected. In the last gen- cal processes, thanks to the Just as individuals within soci- eration, however, men are in- original ‘people power’ of the ety now have much greater free- creasingly choosing to blend Sixties. From the Philippines to dom and choice, so societal this tougher traditional image South Africa, ordinary people groups also have a much greater with more ‘human and humane’ have seized power from social range of freedom in social par- images largely originating from and economic elites. We may ticipation – due in large part to the non-violent, sensitive Six- not always like what we see the movements of the Sixties. ties. Now, men can be soft, sen- when they do so (examples: Let’s look at the most obvious sitive, tender, confused, and Museveni in Uganda, Nazar- three groups: women, men and understanding. They can be bayev in Turkestan, Hugo minorities. cowards, critics or criers – if they Chavez in Venezuela, and the wish. This is largely due to the Ayatollahs in Iran), but they are

17 new freedom of self we have Now we demand a chance to do You might not be looking for the inherited from the Sixties. Re- things for ourselves promised land, but you might member, the Peace Movement We're tired of beatin' our head find it anyway and Flower Power was a male as against the wall Under one of those old familiar well as female movement! Say it loud, I'm black and I'm names . . . proud Like New Orleans, Detroit City, And I woke up crying in my Dallas, Pittsburg PA., sleep, I was talking to your pil- - - James Brown, Say It Loud low – I’m Black and I’m Proud, New York City, Kansas City, At- And I reached out to touch your 1969 lanta, Chicago or L.A., hand We have come a long way since Living in America - hand to - - Art Garfunkel, Crying in the Sixties. We have a long way hand, across the nation my Sleep, 1977 to go. But we should acknowl- Living in America - got to have a edge that the Sixties had a great celebration Minorities in our society are influence over where we are looked at and look at themselves - James Brown, Living in today, and a great perspective in a totally different way than America, 1995 on where to head in future. The before the Sixties. Need I men- glass is not half empty. The tion the societal icons who glass is half full – perhaps more brought minorities out of the than half. shadows – Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Cesar Chavez? We should not let current cir- Formerly powerless, American cumstances get us down by minorities now look on them- dwelling on individual ‘trees in selves as empowered. True, the forest’ of the times. True, economically, socially and aca- wars still are fought, hunger still demically they have a long way exists, poverty grinds many to go. No one asserts that U.S. down, elections are lost. But the society is now colour-blind. But overall trend of things in the last even more importantly, no one fifty years has been with, not today seriously considers minor- against, the progressive, toler- ity status as criteria for exclusion ant, democratic and participative or marginalisation: goals and objectives of the Six- ties. Let’s celebrate this:

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giving us the kind of courage that you and your gang never dreamed of. An Appeal to Fear And in the end, it's that pattern of freedom that'll make guys like you wish you'd never been born! Ain’t Nothin’ New In a speech to the United Na- tions General Assembly Septem- ber 12, 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush’s Middle George W. Bush said: Saddam Hussein’s regime is a grave and gathering danger. To suggest other- East War Rhetoric and Terri- wise is to hope against the evidence. To assume this regime’s good faith is toriality in American Propa- to bet the lives of millions and the peace of the world in a reckless gam- ganda Films of World War II ble. And this is a risk we must not take … We must choose between a world In the World War II-era feature of fear and a world of pro- Ralph Donald exam- propaganda film, China (1943) gress. We cannot stand on the morning of the Pearl Har- by and do nothing while ines the similarities bor attack, an American named dangers gather. We must between the rhetoric Jones (Alan Ladd) stages a cli- stand up for our security, mactic debate with a Japanese and for the permanent found in war films of general. The Japanese officer rights and the hopes of the World War II era boasts: mankind. By heritage and General : Contrary to pub- by choice, the United and the rhetoric lic belief, the Japanese States of America will used by President people have always held make that stand. your country in great es- (www.whitehouse.gov Bush in America’s teem. Yes, we have finally Sept. 12, 2002) wars against terror- decided to take it away From the outset of his evolution, ism in Afghanistan from you. In fact, we have Homo Sapiens has been a terri- already moved toward torial creature who instinctively and against Saddam that aim [he looks at his defends his property against watch], and the fate of outsiders. (Ardrey 1) In the his- Hussein and in Iraq. Pearl Harbor will be the tory of war rhetoric in the United He compares the fate of all so-called free States, appeals to defend our- democracies that dare to selves against an invading propaganda appeals oppose the Imperial Japa- “other” have been popular ploys. used by the makers nese Government. We In World War II, American popu- and our allies, for the ulti- lar film was awash with films of popular Holly- mate good of all nations that implied or even clearly out- wood feature films concerned, have deter- lined a real threat to the nation, mined to establish a new American homes, families, reli- during World War II world order. gious freedoms and the Ameri- to the speeches in Jones : General, in all the can way of life. The territorial countries that you and imperative, as Ardrey referred to which President your gang have put the his theories and his book, was a Bush attempts to finger on, there are mil- primary appeal of 1940s Ameri- lions and millions of guys can war propaganda. And in persuade the Ameri- just like me pretty much subsequent wars in Korea and can people to sup- living their lives in the Vietnam, the appeal to fear to same pattern. And the defend the homeland against port his wars against pattern of our lives is free- the potential of communist at- dom. And it's in our blood, tack and takeover continued. A Al-Qa’eda and Iraq. popular approach to invoke terri-

19 toriality was based on a speech that America was in trouble, and attitudes. After all, American in 1954 by President Dwight D. was forced by ‘unprovoked” advertising does this, the na- Eisenhower, in which he intro- attacks to defend itself against a tion’s political candidates' duced the “domino theory” to terrible enemy. F.D.R. said, “W e speeches are full of it, and the war propaganda. Actually a hy- are now in the midst of a war, even the entertainment pro- pothesis, not a theory, what has not for conquest, not for venge- grams the people watch on tele- been nonetheless called the ance, but for a world in which vision are replete with whole- “domino theory” postulated that this nation and all that this na- some, American values – along if the march of communist take- tion represents will be safe for with embedded product ads -- overs was not stopped in those our children. “ (FDR, 1941) for audiences to imitate in mod- Asian countries, one-by-one -- elling behavior. In an address from Ellis Island like dominoes – these countries on the first anniversary of the There are only a few insignifi- would fall to the communists, as Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, President cant differences between the would their neighbors, and George W. Bush, who often at- much-maligned word eventually America would be cut tempts, albeit sometimes with- “propaganda” and the term off and endangered by the out the grace of President Roo- “rhetoric,” the venerable and forces of a “red” world. sevelt, to draw parallels between respected name for persuasive (www.coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/ FDR and himself, and between discourse. No less a scholar than ~hst306/documents/ World War II and the present the father of rhetorical criticism, domino.html) conflict, said much the same Kenneth Burke, stated, "Rhetoric In the 1980s, President Ronald thing: “We fight, not to impose refers to the use of language in Reagan used Eisenhower’s dom- our will, but to defend ourselves such a way as to produce a de- ino theory to justify American and extend the blessings of free- sired impression upon the involvement in both legal and dom.” (www.c-span.org Sept. 11, reader or hearer." (265) Propa- illegal anti-communist activities 2002) ganda does not differ from, but in Central America and Carib- only transcends rhetoric, in that bean countries. It’s All Propaganda the propaganda is always mass communicated, and often con- But for the sake of brevity and Americans often delude them- tains at least an implicit call for focus, and also because Presi- selves into thinking that the U.S. the audience to some sort of dent George W. Bush often tries President’s speeches or other action. to connect the current crisis with red, white and blue media com- the dangers facing the U.S. during World War II, this essay limits its discussion to an examina- W e are now in the midst of a tion of the similarities between the territoriality appeals found in war, not for conquest, not for war films of the World War II era and the immediate present vengeance, but for a world in (America’s wars against terrorism in Afghanistan and against which this nation and all that Saddam Hussein and in Iraq since Sept. 11, 2001). First will this nation represents will be be an analysis and description of territorial propaganda appeals used by the makers of popular safe for our children. Hollywood feature films during World War II. And to show that munication could not possibly Movies Are Propaganda an effective propaganda ploy be classed as propaganda. This has no expiration date, these is because the common U.S. Now that we have an opera- appeals will then be compared news media’s definition of tional understanding of propa- to those found in speeches in propaganda might be something ganda, consider that quote from which President Bush persuades like “lies told by demagogues President Roosevelt earlier, plus the American people to support and dictators.” However, ac- another from actor Cary Grant in his wars against Al-Qa’eda and cepted propaganda theorists the World War II era film , Desti- Iraq. such as Jacques Ellul agree that nation Tokyo (1944). Perhaps we the term actually has a value- can now accept the likelihood World War II and the Terri- neutral definition. (10) Propa- that in the world's opinion, if not toriality Appeal ganda is, simply, mass commu- America's, FDR's radio speech – nicated persuasion that keys on and President Bush’s current In one of his famous “Fireside two important goals: forming oratory -- are examples of Chats” on radio to the nation on new (or adjusted) attitudes, and propaganda. Typical of the kind Dec. 9, 1941, President Franklin urging its audience to action, to of statements embedded in Hol- D. Roosevelt reminded citizens do something about these new lywood’s World War II films,

consider Grant's speech, given plicit, shocking hospital blood our freedom of religion, to his crew after a popular crew- and gore. For example, while our freedom of speech, man, Mike, died trying to save a principal action goes on, the our freedom to vote and Japanese flyer. This Japanese audience hears in the back- assemble and disagree airman, instead of being grateful ground a bored enlisted man with each other. They for his rescue from frigid Aleu- announcing the evening's Dow want to overthrow exist- tian waters, stabbed the sailor in Jones averages, featuring huge ing governments in many the back. Grant first explains profits accumulated during the Muslim countries, such as that instead of roller skates as a war by defense contractors such Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and birthday present, when the as Remington Arms and Dow Jordan. They want to Japanese flyer was a child, he Chemical. drive Israel out of the was given a dagger: Middle East. They want to Written and edited, as they were, drive Christians and Jews Grant: ...and a lot more to propagandize as well as to out of vast regions of Asia 'Mikes' are going to die entertain, World War II’s feature and Africa. These terror- until we wipe out a sys- films accomplished their objec- ists kill not merely to end tem that puts daggers in tives so well that they helped to lives, but to disrupt and the hands of five-year-old forge an entire generation into end a way of life. With children - That's what one of the most ideologically- every atrocity, they hope Mike died for - more roller unified, singularly-minded popu- that America grows fear- skates in this world - and lations in the history of the ful, retreating from the even some for the next world. This was certainly a world and forsaking our generation of Japanese praiseworthy aim, considering friends. They stand kids.” the perilous world situation in against us, because we the first half of the 1940s. But Was this merely a line of dialog stand in their way. We are physicists tell us that every ac- from a movie, pure entertain- not deceived by their pre- tion has a reaction, every move ment, escapism, peppered with tenses to piety. We have has a consequence. This is also a bit of flag-waving? Not accord- seen their kind before. true of human persuasion. And ing to English documentary film- They are the heirs of all in this instance, Hollywood and maker and film historian Paul the murderous ideologies Washington saw fit to alter the Rotha. He wrote that all movies, of the 20th century. By attitudes of American citizenry American and otherwise, con- sacrificing human life to with blindly nationalistic, unreal- tain propaganda. (57-59) And, as serve their radical visions istic, ethnocentric, and even rac- in much territorial propaganda, -- by abandoning every ist propaganda messages. But the implication by comparison is value except the will to after V-J Day, an American that if the Japanese were to win power -- they follow in the population jubilant in victory, the war, American children path of fascism, and Na- finding itself the dominant force would be subjected to alien zism, and totalitarianism. in the postwar world, began to Shinto rituals instead of birthday And they will follow that believe too much in its own ex- parties with cake, ice cream and path all the way, to where aggerated importance, its own roller skates. it ends: in history's un- racial and cultural superiority, marked grave of dis- and in a role for America in Writers on the subject, including carded lies … Every na- world affairs in which our coun- Rotha, maintain that propa- tion, in every region, now try lives out its manifest destiny ganda can be communicated in has a decision to make. as the planet's omnipotent and both explicit and implicit ways, Either you are with us, or all-wise peacekeeper. And then by blatantly obvious statements you are with the terrorists. came Korea, Vietnam and now as well as through subtle back- From this day forward, the morass of Iraq, George ground stimuli. For example, a any nation that continues Bush’s Vietnam. film such as Rambo: First Blood, to harbor or support ter- Part Two (1985), exhibits mo- rorism will be regarded ments when the message is as Territoriality in Film Propaganda by the United States as a obvious as the serrations on hostile regime. Stallone's killing knife. When the Consider two excerpts from (www.whitehouse.gov Vietnam veteran is asked to re- President Bush’s speeches: Sept. 20, 2001) turn to Southeast Asia for a commando mission, he asks if Americans are asking, Our nation enters this con- "they’ll let us win” this time. why do they hate us? flict reluctantly -- yet, our America’s Vietnam guilt and They hate what we see purpose is sure. The peo- anger is there on the screen for right here in this chamber ple of the United States all to see and hear. But in the -- a democratically elected and our friends and allies antiwar film M*A*S*H (1970), government. Their lead- will not live at the mercy Robert Altman subtly communi- ers are self-appointed. of an outlaw regime that cates much more than the ex- They hate our freedoms -- threatens the peace with

weapons of mass murder. War that American freedom it- even unjustified American impe- We will meet that threat self was threatened, "so long as rialism such as the war against now, with our Army, Air the forces of violence are al- Mexico and the Spanish- Force, Navy, Coast Guard lowed to pursue their wider pat- American war can be character- and Marines, so that we tern of aggressive purposes.” In ized as defensive. (280) do not have to meet it promoting war with England in Analyzing any of Lyndon John- later with armies of fire 1812, James Madison insisted son's speeches in August of fighters and police and that Britain's true intention in 1964 shows how this same por- doctors on the streets of their bellicose naval encounters trayal is accomplished in the our cities. with U.S. ships was no less than latter 20th century. In a radio (www.whitehouse.gov total re-colonization of America. and television report to the March 19, 2003) In all these speeches, this defen- American People following the sive instinct, this territorial im- Ardrey’s book, The Territorial "renewed aggression in the Gulf perative, is used to create a Imperative, makes the convinc- of Tonkin", August 4, 1964, credible threat to our homes, ing case that as with lower spe- Johnson said: families, our rights, our laws and cies, man is a territorial creature our democratic way of life in the In the larger sense, this who will instinctively defend his minds of the audience. new act of aggression, space against all comers. Inde- aimed directly at our own pendent evidence and argument Ronald Reid has theorized that forces, again brings home far beyond the scope of this es- nations are more than willing to to all of us in the United say is required to completely wage war when they "are per- States the importance of validate all of Ardrey's territori- suaded that (1) their territory, the struggle for peace and ality theories, but I’ll confidently especially the center of their security in southeast Asia. settle for the proof of usage: As territory, is endangered” (284). Aggression by terror evidenced by their most famous Reid maintained that since the against the peaceful vil- war orations of the past and War of 1812, the concept of lagers of South Vietnam President Bush’s current at- American territoriality has ex- has now been joined by open aggression on the [The] American population be- high seas against the United States of America. gan to believe too much in its (495) In a speech the next day at Syra- own exaggerated importance cuse University, Johnson as- sured his audience that “peace and in a role for America in is the only purpose of the course that America pursues," and that world affairs in which our coun- "Aggression-has unmasked its face to the entire world. The try lives out its manifest des- world must never forget … that aggression unchallenged is ag- tiny as the planet's omnipotent gression unleashed. (498) and all-wise peacekeeper. Threats to Our Way of Life An excellent example of Ardrey’s theory of man’s territoriality is the first appeal from tempts at war rhetoric, American tended to U.S. possessions on World War II films presented Presidents have believed territo- the high seas. Kidnapping of here: "The enemy threatens our rial appeals to be highly effec- sailors and confiscation of ships democratic institutions and our tive, and have included them in by Great Britain were among the way of life." As quoted earlier in nearly every war message ever offenses that President Madison the film China, the Japanese presented to the American peo- cited were grounds for declaring general boasts that “… the fate ple. war. (278) Reid also notes that, of Pearl Harbor will be the fate especially in America, expan- A few examples: Both Abraham of all so-called free democracies sionism has negative persuasive Lincoln and Jefferson Davis in- that dare to oppose the Imperial appeal. However, "by portraying sisted that the other's forces Japanese Government. We and expansionism as defensive by were out to usurp their territory, our allies, for the ultimate good depicting it as a response to an government and institutions. of all nations concerned, have existing outside threat or an Using the always-handy domino determined to establish a new honorable effort to recover terri- theory, Lyndon Johnson main- world order.” tory unjustly taken by outside tained throughout the Vietnam forces at some point in the past,"

Similarly, in the 1942 film , All nents of the "American dream" if nese, who soon would occupy Through The Night, Nazi agent the Nazis have their way. The the area. But Pop, sitting on his and gangster Conrad Veidt at- liberty ship's carpenter is asked front stoop and lifting a jug of tempts to butter up gangster why he went to sea. He explains: whisky for a drink, says that he Humphrey Bogart, appealing to has spent 40 years building his their supposed similarities: Carpenter : Before the war, shipyard, and "If I leave it, they'll I had my own business have to carry me out." So he will Veidt: You and I are alike: and my own house -'got a wait for the Japanese with his You take what you want, little money put away. jug and shotgun. Director John and so do we. You have Ford, reprising the mournful Mate : Whaddya doin' out no respect for democracy; harmonica rendition of "Red here, then? neither do we. River Valley" from The Grapes Of Wrath , pulls back to a wide Later in the film, in a speech to Carpenter : Well, I wanna shot of the old man as he sits his fellow hoodlums urging keep my business and my resolutely on his porch, smoking them to help him fight the Nazis, house, and I figure that his pipe, unwilling to leave his Bogart answers the objection of this [their job, delivery of home, and ready to doggedly one of the gang bosses, who high test gasoline to the defend the epicenter of his terri- argues that he doesn't care who Allies] is a smart way to tory against those who would runs the country as long as they do it. usurp it. leave him alone. But in this speech, Bogart makes it clear And on March 19, 2003, in his that the American traditions Likewise, in his State of the Un- address to the nation at the out- even gangsters cherish are union address, Jan. 29, 2002, the set of the war against Iraq, Presi- der attack: “Axis of Evil” speech, President Bush, too, attempts to connect dent Bush said, with FDR and World War II Bogart: Listen, big shot - rhetoric: “America is no longer The people of the United they'll tell you what time protected by vast oceans. We States and our friends to get up in the morning, are protected from attack only and allies will not live at and what time to go to by vigorous action abroad and bed at night. They'll tell ya what you can eat, what kinda clothes to wear, what ya drink. They'll even tell ya what morning paper you can read. Or, as President Bush also remarked in an address to the nation on the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks,

The attack on our nation was also an attack on the ideals that make us a nation. Our deepest national conviction is that every life is precious, because every life is a gift of a The explosion of the destroyer U.S.S. Shaw during the Japanese Creator who intended us attack on Pearl Harbour to live in liberty and equality. More than any- increased vigilance at the mercy of an outlaw thing else, this separates home.” (www.whiteouse.gov regime that threatens the us from the enemy we Jan. 29, 2002) peace with weapons of fight. We value every life; mass murder. We will our enemies value none – meet that threat now, not even the innocent, not Similarly, in They Were Expend- with our Army, Air Force, even their own. (www.c- able (1945), old “Pop,” the Navy, Coast Guard and span.org Sept. 11, 2002) American owner of the Filipino shipyard where American P.T. Marines, so that we do A scene in Action In The North boats are being repaired, is of- not have to meet it later Atlantic (1943) reminds audi- fered the chance to join Rusty with armies of fire fight- ences that they may not be able (John Wayne) and his crew to ers and police and doc- to count on the simplest compo- escape the wrath of the Japa- tors on the streets of our

cities. (www.c-span.org) gold plate. It's a great (www.mtholyoke.edu Oct. philosophy. 8, 2002) In the 1942 Alfred Hitchcock film, Saboteur, Tobin, an enemy Tobin : I neither intend to In Cry Havoc (1943) , a group of agent, explains to an American be bombed or sunk, Mr. nurses talks about the war, and factory worker named Kane, Kane. That's why I'm leav- how it all came to happen. One who is wrongly accused of an ing [for Cuba] now. And if of them, Pat, is confused. Andra act of sabotage that Tobin actu- things don't go right for and Sue answer her. ally ordered, why a wealthy you, if, ah, we should win, American with "society connec- then I'll come back. Per- Andra : I'll tell you what's tions" wants to assist the Nazis haps I can get what I want going on, Pat. A world in overthrowing the U.S. govern- then. Power. Yes, I want revolution, a war to the ment. Tobin explains that Kane, power as much as you death ... being an average American, want your job, or that girl. can't understand that to a rich We all have different Sue : This is a very simple man like himself, power is the tastes, you see. Only I'm war. Oh, it's big, and terri- only thing outside his grasp, and willing to back my tastes ble, and it's frightening, the American form of democ- with the necessary force. but in other wars, lots of ratic government puts a limit on times you didn't exactly President Bush also warned any one man's power. Therefore, know why you were fight- against an individual or a for- he prefers the kind of totalitarian ing. But that's not so in eign government acquiring coer- system the Axis would impose this war. This war we're cive power over the United on this country, which might all fighting for the same States and other countries in his allow him greater privilege as a thing. We all know what it speech in Cincinnati on the use member of the ruling elite: is ... our lives. Because if of force against Iraq: we should lose this war, we'd all be dead. You, Kane : Why is it that you Some ask how urgent this you and me, millions and sneer every time you refer danger is to America and millions of us. And those to this country? You've the world. The danger is of us who were down done pretty well here. I already significant and it under the ground would don't get it. only grows worse with be the luckiest. Because Tobin : No, you wouldn't. time … Saddam Hussein those of us who weren't You're one of the ardent is harboring terrorists and would be slaves. That's believers, the "good the instruments of terror, why it's a simple war. American." Oh, there are the instruments of mass In the same speech in Cincinnati millions like you, people death and destruction, noted earlier, President Bush that plod along, without and he cannot be trusted. also presents a grim fate await- asking questions. I hate to The risk is simply too ing the nation unless Saddam use the word "stupid," but great that he will use Hussein is stopped: it seems to be the only them or provide them to a one that applies. The terror network … If the We resolved [on Sept. 11, great masses - the moron Iraqi regime is able to 2001] and we are resolved millions. Well, there are a produce, buy or steal an today to confront every few of us who are unwill- amount of highly en- threat from any source ing to just troop along, a riched uranium a little that could bring sudden few of us who see that larger than a single soft- terror and suffering to there's much more to be ball, it could have a nu- America … We agree that done than to live small, clear weapon in less than the Iraqi dictator must not complacent lives; A few of a year. And if we allow be allowed to threaten us in America who desire that to happen, a terrible America and the world a more profitable type of line would be crossed. with horrible poisons and government. When you Saddam Hussein would diseases and gasses and think about it, Mr. Kane, be in a position to black- atomic weapons. the competence of totali- mail anyone who opposes (www.mtholyoke.edu Oct. tarian nations is much his aggression. He would 8, 2002) higher than ours: They be in a position to domi- get things done. nate the Middle East. He Threats to Our Loved would be in a position to Ones Kane : Yeah. They get threaten America, and things done. They bomb Saddam Hussein would The second territoriality appeal cities, sink ships, torture be in a position to pass is, "The enemy threatens our and murder so you and nuclear technology to loved ones." In nature, animals your friends can eat off of terrorists. that might run instead of fight

will instead fight furiously when nerable to their attacks. In both Air Force and Flying Ti- defending their young. In hu- (www.c-span.org Sept. 11, gers (1942), men listen to Presi- mankind, the instinct to protect 2002) dent Roosevelt’s famous "Day of our families is just as strong. To Infamy" speech over short wave, In World War II films, there are remind Americans of this, in and, via close-ups of them, we many more overt references to combat films, there are scenes are privy to their thoughts about the consequences of Axis victory. in which " home" is discussed, home. In Air Force , while listen- For example, in Thirty Seconds flashed back to, or brought to us ing to the speech, pilot Quincan- Over Tokyo (1944), when in the middle of the battle zone non's (John Ridgely's) eyes dart bomber pilot Van Johnson is (eg., in They Were Expendable, to a little toy airman he has asked why he considers it "OK to nurse Donna Reed visits a P.T. hung up in his bomber’s cockpit. bomb Japanese people in To- boat squadron’s officers for a His little son gave him the toy kyo," he replies, “Because, I fig- dinner at their Philippine head- before he left home. Similarly, ure, it's drop a bomb on them, quarters. Of course, her gentle Flying Tiger "Mack" (Jimmie or pretty soon they'll be drop- presence reminds the men of Dodd) listens to FDR, and stares ping a bomb on Ellen [his preg- their own sweethearts. at a picture of his mother, father, In Destination Tokyo, Cary Grant tells a sweet story of how proud ...by depicting expansionism as he was when he took his young son for his first haircut, when a response to an existing out- the boy announced to all the men in the barber shop, "This is my daddy!"). These digressions side threat or an honorable ef- remind not only the combatants, but the audience, that these sail- fort to recover territory unjustly ors are risking their lives for a territorial purpose: the defense taken by outside forces at some of their loved ones. Films such as Wake Island (1942) , Destina- point in the past," even unjusti- tion Tokyo and Howard Hawks 1943 epic, Air Force, begin with fied American imperialism can Marines, sailors and an Air Corps bomber crew saying goodbye to their loved ones. be characterized as defensive. These scenes aid immeasurably nant wife].” in bringing each man's ultimate and relatives back home with a war objective, the protection of Again in that Cincinnati speech, concerned look on his face. In homes and families, into clear President Bush personalizes the Guadalcanal Diary (1943), there focus. danger to American civilians by is a scene in which a Marine falls, President Bush’s speech on the demonizing the Iraqi dictator mortally wounded. He reaches first anniversary of the Sept. 11, and describing his tools of terror out his hand for his helmet, 2001 attacks also reminds us and intimidation over his own which flew off when he fell. In it that not just solders are on the citizens: is a picture of his wife and chil- firing line: civilians, including dren. Director Lewis Seiler then The dictator of Iraq is a women and children, are threat- cuts to a close-up of the helmet, student of Stalin, using ened: as the dying man's hand comes murder as a tool of terror into frame, touches the photo, For those who lost loved and control within his spasms, and falls limp. ones [on Sept. 11], it’s own cabinet, within his been a year of sorrow, of own army and even As in his “Axis of Evil” speech, empty places, or newborn within his own family. On President Bush has often made children who will never Saddam Hussein’s orders, comparisons between World know their fathers here on opponents have been War II and his wars against Al- earth. For members of our decapitated, wives and Qa’eda and Iraq . On one occa- military, it’s been a year mothers of political oppo- sion, the 60th anniversary of the of sacrifice and service far nents have been system- Japanese surrender ending from home. For all Ameri- atically raped as a method World War II, this attempt to cans, it has been a year of of intimidation, and politi- justify current conflicts by fa- adjustment, of coming to cal prisoners have been vorably comparing them with terms with the difficult forced to watch their own World War II, are clear: children being tortured. knowledge that our nation Sixty years ago this Friday, Gen- (www.mtholyoke.edu Oct. has determined enemies, eral Douglas MacArthur ac- and that we are not invul- 8, 2002)

25 cepted the Japanese surrender pen in their hometown. some form of status quo. In con- aboard the USS Missouri in To- trast, a total war’s aims are to do In President Bush’s March 17, kyo Bay. With Japan’s surrender, away with the status quo: It re- 2003, televised speech to the the last of our enemies in World sults in the invasion of the terri- nation, he warned that Saddam War II was defeated, and a tory of one of the belligerents, Hussein and his sons had to World War that began for Amer- followed by regime change and leave Iraq within 48 hours or the ica in the Pacific came to an end the establishment of a new or- U.S. would invade. He makes it in the Pacific. As we mark this der. World War II was total war, clear that Hussein’s regime is anniversary, we are again a na- followed by the creation of dif- also a threat to California, Texas, tion at war. Once again, war ferent forms of governments Oregon or Maine, and must be came to our shores with a sur- and new national boundaries for neutralized: prise attack that killed thousands many participating nations on in cold blood. Once again, we The regime has a history of reck- both sides of the conflict. When face determined enemies who less aggression in the Middle Pearl Harbor was bombed, FDR follow a ruthless ideology that East. It has a deep hatred of made it quite clear that the over- despises everything America America and our friends. And it throw of the Japanese govern- stands for. Once again, America has aided, trained and harbored ment would be the only result and our allies are waging a terrorists, including operatives that would satisfy the United global campaign with forces of Al Qaeda. The danger is clear: States. Frustrated with two suc- deployed on virtually every con- using chemical, biological or, cessive wars instigated by Ger- tinent. And once again, we will one day, nuclear weapons, ob- many, America’s European allies not rest until victory is America’s tained with the help of Iraq, the would also insist on the total and our freedom is secure. terrorists could fulfill their stated defeat of Germany. So the ambitions and kill thousands or "reverse territoriality" that this (www.signonsandiego.com Aug. hundreds of thousands of inno- statement applies is more than 30, 2005) cent people in our country, or rhetoric: It is the desire and com- Quentin Reynolds' stirring any other. The United States and mitment of the major allied gov- "forward" narration to 1942’s other nations did nothing to de- ernments to overthrow the re- Eagle Squadron contains more serve or invite this threat. But gimes of the Axis powers and than an explanation that Ameri- we will do everything to defeat it. replace them with systems less can aviators gallantly volun- Instead of drifting along toward likely to re-instigate hostilities teered to fly for England before tragedy, we will set a course and again threaten the govern- the U.S. was "stabbed in the toward safety. Before the day of ments of the U.S. and its allies. back:" horror can come, before it is too In the speech given by an RAF late to act, this danger will be Reynolds: These boys general at the conclusion of Ea- removed. (www.c-span.org knew what we are learn- gle Squadron (1942), the final March 17, 2003) ing now. They knew that goal of the war is made clear: the security of our coun- Reverse Territoriality General : And now that... try must depend upon our our two great countries dominating and control- Although territorial disputes in are actively allied, let us ling the air - the tragedies the animal kingdom are usually continue to work together, of the past months [Pearl settled when the invader is re- no matter where it may Harbor, etc.] have finally pulsed, Homo Sapiens is differ- be, for the final overthrow taught us as a nation ent. In human belligerence, re- of the enemy, and for the what these boys knew pulsing the enemy attack on establishment of an en- then. In London they saw one’s territory is often followed during peace. ghastly death and de- by a vengeful counterattack on struction fall from the the territory of the invader. This As often stated, shouted and skies; they saw the heart punitive difference between hu- vowed by characters in World of Britain bleed - but mans and "lower creatures" is War II films, America did not never break. They came the third territoriality statement, start the fight, but the U.S. will to know the civilians of "We shall turn the tables on the be the one to end it with a London and found them enemy, and threaten his terri- vengeance. As much as this just like their neighbors in tory." rhetoric sounds like boys sound- California, and Texas, There are two kinds of war, lim- ing off in schoolyard fistfights, Oregon, Maine - These ited and total war. In a limited it’s used often by presidents and they found were our kind war, like the skirmish between other chiefs of state around the of people, with our ideals an animal defending his territory world. As President Bush stated and our hatred of tyranny. and a temporary invader, the on the anniversary of the Sept. And each time they animal repulses the interloper 11, 2001, attacks, walked through battered and the battle is over. Then fol- In the ruins of two towers, under London they winced -- lows the reestablishment of a flag unfurled at the Pentagon, One day this might hap-

at the funerals of the lost, we We have seen how territoriality youngest citizens, never learned have made a sacred promise to was invoked in World War II to -- the lessons of the past, it is ourselves and to the world: we make clear the threats to the prudent to consider that the use will not relent until justice is American way of life posed by of territorial propaganda appeals done and our nation is secure. the Axis Powers. We have also used by George W. Bush today What our enemies have begin, seen how George W. Bush’s is nothing new: only the times, we will finish. (www.c-span.org political handlers and his the enemies and the rationale Sept. 11, 2002) speechwriters, conjuring up differ. similar thoughts and fears, In many speeches, President found ways to compare the cur- Sources Cited Bush warned that a change in rent crises posed by Al Qaeda regime in Iraq was the only rea- Ardrey, Robert. The Territorial and Iraq to that which was faced sonable outcome of the conflict. Imperative . New York, 1971. by the Greatest Generation. The And in his speech 48 hours be- war propaganda of President Burke, Kenneth. The Philosophy fore Invading Iraq, once more Bush’s administration and re- of Literary Form: Studies in drawing upon the sublimity of election campaign speechwriters Symbolic Action. Berkeley, CA, past rhetoric, Bush went so far was indeed up to the task, and University of California Press, as to predict, not unlike Cary the American people, hearing of 1931. Grant’s prediction about the these threats to their territory, roller skates, what Iraqis could Ellul, Jacques. Propaganda, The responded in sufficient numbers expect after Saddam Hussein Formation of Man's Attitudes, to re-elect the President in 2004. was deposed and his people are (New York: Vintage Books, 1973) liberated: It’s not the purpose of this essay Johnson, Lyndon B. "The Presi- to debate individual truths and In a free Iraq, there will be dent's News Conference of July falsehoods in propaganda state- no more wars of aggres- 20, 1965", in The Public Papers ments of the past or present. sion against your of The Presidents of The United neighbors, no more poi- son factories, no more executions of dissidents, “Reverse territoriality" is the de- no more torture chambers and rape rooms. The ty- sire and commitment to over- rant will soon be gone. The day of your liberation throw regimes and replace them is near. (www.c-span.org March 17, 2003) with systems less likely to re- Conclusion instigate hostilities and again So territoriality appeals at two levels. First, it taps into the threaten the governments of the "lower" instincts we share with the animal kingdom, and is sat- isfied when our sphere of influ- U.S. and its allies. ence, our domain itself, is no longer threatened. However, in Rather, it’s to point out the rela- States , (Washington, D.C.: Office today's world, many countries, tive lack of novelty in the in- of The Federal Register, National led by the U.S., have developed credibly successful contempo- Archives and Records Service, a global sense of territoriality, rary use of territorial appeals to 1965). which results in “defending our beat the drums of war – and, in territory” quite literally any- doing so, to secure what all U.S. Reid, Ronald F. "New England where. Also, at the presidents want most of all: re- Rhetoric and The French War, "preventative" level, the human election. Most who have studied 1754 - 1760: A Case Study in The territorial being's intelligence war rhetoric, both in the 1940s Rhetoric of War", Communica- allows him to think beyond the and today, have found in them a tion Monographs, No. 43, moment, to consider the future. potent mixture of truth, half- (November, '1976). Once attacked, Homo Sapiens truth and outright lies. And at Roosevelt, Franklin D. The Public has the ability to consider and this writing, indictments are on- Papers and Addresses of Frank- plan to prevent further incur- going, aimed at those who tried lin D. Roosevelt, vol. 1941, (New sions by the interloper. This of- to obfuscate blame for and dis- York: The MacMillan Co., 1941). ten takes the form of seeing to it credit criticism of such false- that the enemy no longer has hoods as the existence of weap- Rotha, Paul. Documentary Film. the ability to conduct such enter- ons of mass destruction in Iraq. New York: Hastings House, 1952. prises: This calls for, at the least, But for those who may have regime change. forgotten – or, in the case of our www.c-span.org/executive/

27 bush_NY911.asp? domino.html Sept. 12, 2002 speech to United Cat=Current_Event&Code=Bush_ Nations General Assembly. Public Papers of the Presidents Admin Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1954, p. www.whitehouse.gov/news/ President George W. Bush’s 381- 390 releases/2001/09/20010920- Sept. 11, 2002 televised speech 8.html www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/ to the nation. bush/Iraqspeech.htm President George W. Bush’s www.c-span.org/executive/ Sept. 20, 2001 televised address President George W. Bush’s Oct. warwithiraq.asp to a joint session of the U.S. 8, 2002 speech in Cincinnati on Congress. President George W. Bush’s the use of force against Iraq. March 19, 2003, televised speech www.whitehouse.gov/news/ www.signonsandiego.com/ to the nation at the outset of the releases/2002/01/20020129- news/metro/20050830-1321- war against Iraq. 11.html bn30speech.html www.cspan.org/executive/ President George W. Bush’s President George W. Bush’s Aug. bush_saddam.asp? State of the Union address, Jan. 30, 2005 speech in San Diego’s Cat=current_Event&Code=Bush_ 29,2002. North Island Naval Air Station Admin on the 60 th anniversary of the www.whitehouse.gov/news/ President George W. Bush’s Japanese surrender ending releases/2003/03/20030319- March 17, 2003, televised speech World War II. 17.html to the nation 48 hours before the www.whitehouse.gov/news/ President George W. Bush’s outset of the war against Iraq. releases/2002/09/print/20020912- March 19, 2003 televised speech www.coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/ 1.html to the nation . ~hst306/documents/ President George W. Bush’s

Films Cited Title Director Year Air Force Howard Hawks 1943 All Through the Night Vincent Sherman 1942 Action in the North Atlantic Lloyd Bacon 1943 China John Farrow 1943 Cry Havoc Richard Thorpe 1943 Destination Tokyo Delmer Daves 1943 Eagle Squadron Arthur Lubin 1942 God is My Co-pilot Robert Florey 1945 The Grapes Of Wrath John Ford 1940

Guadalcanal Diary Lewis Seiler 1943 Gung Ho! Ray Enright 1943 A Guy Named Joe Victor Fleming 1943

M*A*S*H Robert Altman 1970 Rambo: First Blood, Part Two George Cosmatos 1985 Saboteur Alfred Hitchcock 1942 They Were Expendable John Ford 1945 Wake Island John Farrow 1942

28 Captain America: The United States versus Itself, Through the Eyes of a War- time Fictional Hero Christian Dailly shows how the changing incarnations of the comic-book hero from his beginnings as the all-American hero in the struggle against Nazism in 1941 to the troubled and reflective warrior in the post 9/11 era, have reflected Ameri- ca’s changing views of their own society and its place in their world.

spawned a demand for tales of and to save the world. The crimi- heroic action and the costumed nals they fought were super- crusaders were designed to sat- criminals; and the crimes com- isfy these tastes and needs. mitted, even if they were symp- These new characters all bore toms of sickness in a society, “But we must have the traces of old myths and leg- were never stated because the ends. “They express in today’s super-heroes were interested in [enemies] – our patriotic idiom the ancient longing of the ‘battle’ not in the removal of fervour is so intense mankind for a mighty protector, its causes. They thought, spoke that we must use it a helper, a guide, or guardian and acted in clichés. Moral dis- angel who offers miraculous tinctions between ‘good’ and against someone.” deliverance to mortals” ( Comics: ‘evil’ were clean-cut and precise; Gustave Doré, L’histoire de Anatomy of a Mass Medium , i.e., the villain was ‘bad’ and the p.100, by Reitberger, R.), and as hero was ‘good’. Justice was La Sainte Russie. such they are rightly called the seen to be done and that was it. omic-books appeared ‘modern myths’. Though it is fair to say that these as a popular cultural The basic structure of these early comics’ stories did not phenomenon during early comics was more than make any direct social state- the late 1930’s. This C simple: characters resembled ments, they did reflect their occurred principally in the character types more than indi- times. This is even more notable United States, and it was the U.S. vidual characterisations with a following U.S.’s involvement in that, for the most part, produced sense of a unique personality. World War II. Its effects, in the adventure comic-books during They were representations as end, would have an unprece- the early years of the medium’s opposed to discernable individu- dented impact upon American existence. The super-hero genre als. Or in other words, they were society: women and race issues would only emerge with Action a vehicle for simply telling a were given a new light and the Comics #1 in June 1938 and the story as opposed to making a U.S. would no longer be isolated creation of one of their most comment on the ‘types’ repre- from the rest of the world. Many influential representative: Super- sented by the characters. They of that first generation of comic- man. This was an immediate lived in a Manichean world: they book readers went to war and success, and consequently cre- were always ready to avert ca- took their love of comics with ated a series of imitators. In fact, tastrophes, help damsels in dis- them and brought it back after- the super-hero variety grew out tress, prevent crimes being com- wards. There emerged many of the Depression period. It mitted or injustice being done, characters whose purposes were built for WWII.

Captain America, my example the story of Steve Rogers, an true story of Albert Einstein for this analysis, grew out of that American born on July 4 th , 1917 (1879-1955). When Adolf Hitler era and such notions. His first in the Lower East Side of Man- came to power in January 1933 adventures depicted him as bat- hattan, New York, from Irish and passed “The Law of the Res- tling the forces of the Third immigrant parents. You will al- toration of the Civil Service”, Reich and Japan, as well as Nazi ready detect that he is a which forced all Jewish univer- sympathisers and secret agents ‘fashioned’ typical American: he sity professors out of their jobs, that had infiltrated the American was born in the most represen- Einstein was forced to renounce home front. For example, the tative multicultural city of the his Prussian citizenship and cover of Captain America #1 United States which was the first stayed in the United States like (1941) pictures the hero actually landscape immigrants used to our fictional Dr. Reinstein. How- punching the jaw of Adolf Hitler, see, coming from Old Europe by ever, even if we could draw a at a time when most American boat. He is a ‘product’ of the parallel between Operation Re- popular culture was avoiding melting-pot and ‘the American birth and the Manhattan Project, specific mention of the Axis Dream’ concepts that some we have to bear in mind that powers, preferring to hint claim to be at the roots of Amer- Einstein, as opposed to Dr. Rein- vaguely at ‘powers of darkness’. ica. Moreover, he was not born stein, did not invent the project. ‘Cap’, as he is affectionately on any date; he was born on He had only signed a letter to named, was explicitly a product Independence Day – the ‘Fourth President Roosevelt urging the and agent of the U.S. military, of July’, which celebrates the study of nuclear fission for mili- and remained America’s most adoption of the Declaration of tary purposes, under the fears powerful piece of wartime Independence from the King- that the Nazi government would comic-book propaganda. Wear- dom of Great Britain (July 4 th , be first to develop nuclear weap- ing the symbols of America all 1776) - just after WWI. As a char- ons. Nonetheless, the important over himself, Cap became the acter, he is already a patriot by concept of secret weapon is ultimate patriotic hero and a heart. there, as the rumours during national figure: he represented a WWII of Nazi ‘wonder weapons’ That is why, by the early 1940’s national desire more than an abound in our reality. (comic’s timeline) and before individualistic one. Thanks to America’s entry into WWII, Eventually, the ‘Rebirth’ process War, he was considered as a Steve Rogers (Captain America’s transforms the weak Steve ‘person’ you could relate to, simply because he was both an embodiment of society and of an ‘Cap’, was explicitly a product individual during wartime. As an example, soldiers who were and agent of the U.S. fighting like ‘supermen’ against awful human conditions saw Cap as a representation of this. military, and remained Furthermore, it is interesting to note that Captain America America’s most powerful comic-books were sent to soldiers in huge quantities, and the piece of wartime comic-book troops enjoyed them as a mo- rale booster for the duration as propaganda. well as a form of contact with their homeland. alter ego), a tall but scrawny Rogers into a man with the On the side of good in man disturbed by the rise of the maximum of human efficiency, World War II Third Reich, tries to enlist only greatly enhancing his muscula- to be rejected due to his poor ture and reflexes. Dr. Reinstein Having presented the context in constitution. An army officer declares Rogers to be the first of which Captain America was looking for test subjects offers a new breed of man, a “nearly born, I will now turn to his fic- Rogers the chance to serve his perfect human being” ( Captain tional history in order to decrypt country by taking part in a top- America #109, Jan.1969). At that the first symbols used at the secret defence project – Opera- moment, a Nazi spy reveals him- time which make the character tion: Rebirth, which seeks to self and shoots the professor, more than interesting to study. create a means of developing leaving the formula undupli- super-soldiers. Rogers becomes cated and Rogers the unique He was created in 1941 by Joe one of the first human test sub- ‘Super-Soldier’. It will surely Simon and Jack Kirby, and was ject for the Super-Soldier serum strike one as odd that this fer- first published by Timely – invented by the scientist Dr. Re- vent defender of American de- which became later on Marvel instein. The name was not cho- mocracy, of all people, can per- Comics – in Captain America sen without purpose: this pro- sonify an idea preached by Nazi Comics #1. The first episode tells fessor has strong links with the ideology: the spoiled

Nietzschean concept of Georges Washington is also this particular era a saturated ‘Übermensch’. Nevertheless, credited with saying: market and readers who had lost even if Cap is a tall blond blue- interest. “The patriotic flames “We took the stars from eyed man and a WASP, we can that had inspired the heroes and Heaven, the red from our also see it as a back-scent, a had spurred them on to action mother country, separat- transformation of this concept during wartime had died ing it by white stripes into the one of the ‘self-made down” ( Comics: Anatomy of a thus showing that we man’ – i.e. an American Mass Medium , p.106, by Reitber- have separated from her, ‘embezzlement’ of an enemy’s ger, R.). As a consequence, with and the white stripes shall concept for their own profits. the end of WWII, Cap lost his go down to posterity rep- ‘raison d’être’. Cap was not just “It is the image of Cincin- resenting Liberty.” any super-hero, and he simply natus which persists in Source: did not work well in the new him, an archetype that http://www1.va.gov/opa/feature/ context. In 1949, the first series has possessed the Ameri- celebrate/Flag.asp was cancelled: in 1945 (comic’s can imagination since the timeline), during the closing time of Washington: the Secondly, his shield is an uncon- days of WWII, Cap and Bucky try leader who enlists for the ventional weapon. It has two to stop the villainous Baron duration and retires unre- uses: offence, by throwing it like Zemo from destroying an ex- warded to obscurity.” a boomerang and defence. In perimental drone plane. On the some of his adventures, Cap will Leslie Fiedler, The Mid- plane, Bucky tries to defuse the even have the American Consti- dle Against Both Ends, 1955. bomb but it explodes in mid-air. tution written behind it. As a The young man is believed to be In the comic, the U.S. govern- result, it can have two mean- killed, and Cap is hurled into the ment, making the most of its ings: one, Cap is simply the pro- freezing waters of the North At- one super-soldier, re-imagines tector of the American Constitu- lantic - neither body is found, him as a super-hero who serves tion and protects it behind his and both are presumed dead. as both a counter intelligence shield; or metaphorically, the agent and a propaganda symbol Constitution itself is a shield, a The 1950’s - Fighting the to counter Nazi’s head of terror- symbolic shield which enables red menace ist operations, the Red Skull. To Cap to be invincible and show that end, Cap is given a uniform the ‘true American Way’ to his As society shifted gear after modelled after the American adversaries by throwing at them WWII, so did the comic industry. Flag, a bullet proof shield, and the political and social corner- Just as Hollywood and the film the codename Captain America. stone of his country. To con- industry would undergo political The imagery of the costume is clude on this issue, he is the scrutiny and suffer from McCar- more than important in this embodiment of the perfect sol- thyism (1950s) and the headhunt analysis in order to comprehend dier: invincible, patriotic, ex- for communist supporters, the the character. First, clad in the tremely masculine and firmly comic industry also had their Stars and Stripes, he incorpo- grounded in the ideology of own problems with the govern- rates American ideology. He ‘Truth, Justice and the American ment. The great responsibility represents with the star the fifty Way’. As Richard Reynolds for this and the ‘cleansing opera- U.S. states and with the stripes notes: tion’ which followed fell on Dr. the thirteen original colonies Fredric Wertham ( March 20 , “[…] the third term has that rebelled against the British 1895 – November 18 , 1981 ). He stood for the ideals enshrined in crown. Thus, he becomes the was a German -American psy- the U.S. Constitution. Superhe- unconquerable spirit of the USA, chiatrist and crusading author roes have been better an incarnation of the all- who protested the purportedly ‘Americans’ than most American ideal – from North to harmful effects of mass media [Americans].” (p.74) South, from East to West. Be- on the development of children. sides, in terms of the symbolism Reynolds R., Super Heroes , His crusade against comics of the design itself, a book about BT Batsford Ltd., 1992 started in 1940 and culminated the flag published by the Con- in 1954 when he published his gress in 1977 states: accusations in a book entitled Seduction of the Innocent . The Throughout WWII, Captain “The star is a symbol McCarthy era, “that heyday of America and his sidekick Bucky of the heavens and the divine the blindly hysterical” ( Comics: would fight the Nazi menace goal to which man has aspired Anatomy of a Mass Medium , both on their own and as mem- from time immemorial; the p.133, by Reitberger, R.), was his bers of the super-hero team the stripe is symbolic of the rays of great time. As a result, the U.S. Invaders. However, many heroes, light emanating from the sun.” Senate Subcommittee on Juve- who experienced a short blos- nile Delinquency investigated Source: soming between 1940 and 1949 comic-books, believing they cor- http://www.usflag.org/colors.ht following in Superman’s wake, rupted the youth of America and ml would encounter at the end of

31 debased culture. The comic in- the radio and television. Not a greater sense of ‘realism’ and dustry banded together and cre- realizing we were slowly going ‘individuality’ than had previ- ated the C.C.A. (Comic Code crazy. That the serum in our ously attempted. Stan Lee, foun- Authority) which would serve as veins was tainted. Making us der of Marvel Comics, was a ‘self-monitor’ of the industry, see enemies where none ex- breaking new ground: this era instead of letting the govern- isted. ” witnessed the first real examples ment do it for them. Content of of social commentary within comics is dictated by the type of Captain America v.5 comic-books. Some comics as society in which they appear - #7, 2006. well as reflecting the society and “Mass culture is the screen We discover that by the middle period of creation, actually com- through which we see reality of 1954 (comic’s timeline), they mented upon social issues of the and the mirror in which we see are irrationally attacking anyone day. In their search for truth, ourselves. Its ultimate tendency they perceive to be Communist; heroes “found themselves face is even to supersede reality.” and in 1955, the F.B.I. places to face with the reality and the (Robert Warshow ‘American them in suspended animation social problems that beset the Popular Culture’, 1954, The Im- (Captain America #153-156, land” ( Comics: Anatomy of a mediate Experience ) – Captain Sept.-Dec. 1972). This can bring Mass Medium , p.108, by Reitber- America’s covers went so far as out how American society, ger, R.). The ways in which they to bear the subtitle “Commie- through comics, ponders on the were presented had an entirely Smasher” during this decade. ‘witch-hunt’ and in general over new approach: serials, in many As with WWII, the ‘Cold War’ its past history. instalments, made it possible to gave a ‘new’ enemy for Amer- give the characters a much ica’s heroes to fight and turned The theme of the ‘enemy within’ greater complexity than they America’s abstract ‘enemy will be re-introduced much later had ever had before. Another within’ into a reality. in 2006 in The Winter Soldier important sign of progression storyline by Ed Brubaker, in the was that the artwork, as the sto- It became a conglomeration of wake of what we could consider ries, was more considered, real- American ideals gone too far, a new ‘witch hunt’ on the back- istic and individual. Accordingly, and Captain America became a ground of 9/11. In this story, it led to the new-found status of more than usual black and white which insists on its resemblance ‘authored’ work and of “realistic moral super-hero representing a with The Manchurian Candidate fantasy” (Stan Lee’s words in a united opinion in America, as (a 1959 book by Richard Con- Fantastic Four anthology , pub- shown in this particular storyline don), we discover that the first lished by Marvel in 1977). This of the 1950s: In 1953 (comic’s Bucky is still alive and being trend could be said to have been timeline), an unnamed man who used by Soviet espionage inter- the product of the ‘social aware- idolizes Captain America and ests as the ‘Winter Soldier’ (a ness’ that was synonymous with who had completed his PhD the- very talented killer) after multi- the latter years of the 1960s sis on Rogers, discovers Nazi ple brainwashes. It truly plays (counterculture). files in a German warehouse, on the old American fear of So- one of which contains the lost viet infiltration among them in By the same token, Captain formula for the Super-Soldier their own country. As one of the America was brought back in serum. He takes it to Washing- Soviet leaders argues in the 1964, first as a member of The ton on the condition that they comic: Avengers, then in his own series use it to make him the new Cap- in Tales of Suspense. As the tain America. Needing a symbol “It has long been my U.S.’s image began to alter, for the Korean War, they agree, plan to turn this American sym- Kirby and Lee, rather than just and the man undergoes plastic bol back against our enemies. I revamp their 1940s hero for the surgery to look like Steve believe, because he walks and 1960s, chose to explore him ex- Rogers, even assuming his talks just like them, because he plicitly as an anachronism: name. He meets a young orphan exudes ‘America’ with his every Having been frozen in an Arctic named Jack Monroe, and they breath, that the enemy will iceberg for twenty years after become the new Captain Amer- never see him coming.” the plane’s explosion in 1945 – ica and Bucky, but this time Captain America v.5 as his series had in fact been ‘on fighting Communism ( Young #11, 2006. ice’, this Cap was “a super- Men #24, Dec. 1953). However, heroic Rip Van Winkle, without as the character of Jack Monroe loved ones, purpose, or any unwill reflect many years later The 1960’s – a crisis of derstanding of the world around upon his role as Bucky in the conscience him. Although such melancholy Winter Soldier storyline: Although, the early 1960 did not and turmoil would have been completely alien to the Cap of “How strange to look see any major changes in the the 1940’s, it was strangely ap- back on those days now… Ko- overall structure of comics in propriate and often poignant in rea, the early days of the Cold regards of narration, there was a the context of the mid-1960’s” War, the HUAC hearings all over conscious effort on the part of some writers to give characters (Goulart R., The Encyclopaedia

of American Comics , 1990). It tain America #122, 1969: with the apparition of Frank would indicate that the world of Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns “And, in a world rife with comic-book super-heroes was or Alan Moore’s Watchmen . The injustice, greed, and end- just beginning “to lose a certain truth is “there was something in less war. Who’s to say the innocence” (Max Allan Collins’s the zeitgest in 1986, something rebels are wrong?” introduction of Captain America: in the air” (comics’ historian The New Deal TPB, 2003). Like the soldiers of the United Peter Sanderson, source: States in Vietnam (1959-1975), http://www.comicbookresources. During Steve Englehart’s stint as he feels alone in a strange land. com ). a writer (1970s), Captain Amer- The character suffers the meta- ica was explored as a character, The writer Mark Gruenwald ex- morphosis of his conscience a historical phenomenon, and a plores numerous political and from a political one to a human- national symbol. Rogers en- social themes, such as extreme ist one, and the alienation he counters his revived, but still idealism when Cap fights the feels is the one created by the insane, 1950s counterpart. He anti-nationalist terrorist ‘Flag- establishment. This is also and becomes deeply disturbed that Smasher’ ( Captain America # still exemplified in his comics by he could have suffered his 312, 1986); or in Captain Amer- the character of Jack Monroe clone’s fate at the hands of the ica #332, when a Presidential (the Bucky of the 50s) suffering government ( Captain America Commission on Superhuman of post-traumatic hallucinations #153-156, Sept.-Dec. 1972). This Activities told him he is to start (paranoia) due to the Super- set forth an allegory of America taking orders from them or they would find a Cap who will. Al- ready troubled by the corruption Torn by self-doubt, Captain he had encountered with the Nuke incident in New York City America even searched for a new (in the Daredevil: Born Again arc by Frank Miller, 1986), Rogers image as a sort of ‘easy rider’ chooses again to resign. This particular story arc illustrates the “looking for America, but could- differences between Cap’s beliefs and those of his replace- ment John Walker. Walker has a n’t find it anywhere”. jingoistic attitude that reflects a large segment of American Cul- watching his past errors com- ture during Reagan’s administra- Soldier serum, like the soldiers mitted during McCarthyism and tion (1981-1989), embodied by drugged during Vietnam: there are also the first glimpses other fictional characters such as of ‘Metacomics’: a medium re- “But I start losing time the movie hero ‘Rambo’ (1982, flecting upon itself by the exami- again, waking up in my 1985, 1988). In this regard, it nation of the super-hero genre. motel room with no idea could be said that themes ques- The series also dealt with the how I got here. I can feel tioning authority and corruption Marvel Universe’s version of the it all happening, just like were prevalent at that time. Watergate scandal (1972-1974), before. It’s like two parts Rogers eventually re-assumes making Rogers so severely disil- of my mind are at war. the mantle after reconsidering lusioned that he abandons his The rational mind and the his status: the Captain America Captain America identity for a one that’s trying to kill it, identity is a symbol of America’s time in favour of one called the insanity mind. Some- ideals rather than of its govern- ‘Nomad’ ( Captain America #176- times, right as I woke up, I ment. It conveys the eternal con- 183, 1974-1975). Torn by self- have a fever vision about flict between politics and ideol- doubt, Captain America even it. In the vision, there’s ogy. The character will many searched for a new image as a another me growing in- times respond: “I’m loyal to sort of ‘easy rider’ (a reference side my head…Like a tu- nothing, General… Except the to the 1969 road movie by Peter mour.” Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Terry Dream” ( Daredevil #233, Southern). As the characters in Captain America v.5 Aug.1986), or “I’m here to pro- the movie, Cap is “looking for #7, 2006. tect the people and the Dream. Not your secrets” ( Captain America, but couldn’t find it any- (See the opening sequence of where”. Added to that, this America: The New Deal TPB, v.4 Apocalypse Now , 1979, with #4, 2003). quote, “this used to be a helluva Martin Sheen as Captain Benja- good country. I can’t understand min L.Willard). It is at the same period that what’s gone wrong with it”, Cap’s archnemesis, the Red from Jack Nicholson’s character Therefore, the 1980s witnessed a Skull abandons his beliefs in - George Hanson, sounds very great deal of experimentation in Hitler. In the beginning, his role similar to Cap’s words in Cap- the mainstream of comic world in the comic-book was the incar-

33 nation of Nazi intimidation: less, always trying to destroy the might expect from a comic- world, and indestructible thanks book. The creators give us their “A Nazi icon made to to its functioning, explained in interpretation on particular is- spread terror across this referenced motto to the sues that came after 9/11 like the Europe. Like a bogeyman, mythical Lernaean Hydra: “if a ‘falling-man’ who jumped from to send Jewish children head is cut off, two more will the Towers, the hate-crimes into screaming fits at bed- take its place” (Strange Tales against Arabs, Captain America time.” #135, August 1965). visiting Ground Zero and Dres- Captain America: The den but for the first time he does Winter Soldier vol.1, v.5 #2, Post 9/11 – the end of his- not wear a uniform: 2006. tory? “Dresden. You didn’t un- He was even given almost iden- On the eve of 9/11, the super- derstand what we’d done tical origins with Hitler: the key hero idea, through many years here until September the episode was when he fell for a of censorship, is just beginning Eleventh. These people local Jewish girl, but when she to enter a world that is closer to weren’t soldiers. They spurned his advances, he mur- the one we know. After realizing huddled in the dark. dered her finding release for his that the methods of the past are Trapped.” frustrations (For Hitler, the girl is no longer appropriate, Captain Captain America: The New Deal , replaced by the rejected dream America is finally adjusting him- v.4 #5, 2003. of entering at the Academy of self to the times. The key transi- Fine Arts, 1907-1908). In the tion would be his recognition Moreover, at one point in the 1980s, instead of being an that he is no longer part of the story, a young German girl American Nazi-created icon, the Authority; the knowledge that he represents an allegoric voice for Skull turned towards America is no longer on the side of the the Allies in this time of ‘War on and its ideological idealisms powers that be anymore, be- Terror’: becoming a wealthy American cause the powers that be are “It’s so confusing to the businessman and manipulating wrong. He is offered as an anti- rest of us – Your allies his way into the position of Sec- establishment image, a radical that you ignore. It retary of Defence as Dell Rusk – opponent to the status quo. He changes everyday. Who an obvious reference to Dean became a vehicle for challenging you’re fighting. Where Rusk, a former U.S. Secretary of received notions of charismatic you’re fighting – What the State, but also an anagram for authority and leadership. In a great evil is that America ‘red skull’. In that way, the Red sense, he is a real ‘New Deal’ must destroy today.” Skull became untouchable and character. embodied at that period the fear In Captain America: The New Captain America: The of most conspiracy theorists: Deal (2003), Marvel responded New Deal, v.4 #5, 2003. “In the councils of Gov- to the horrors of 9/11. The inter- Even more interesting is the pas- ernment, we must guard esting thing to point out is that sage where the U.S. is con- against the acquisition of the writer John Ney Rieber and fronted with the very fact that it unwarranted influence, artist John Cassaday give us a builds weapons and sells them whether sought or un- courageous tale which tries to as an arm-dealer ( Captain Amer- sought, by the military- examine the complexities of the ica: The New Deal TPB, v.4 #3, industrial complex . The issues surrounding terrorism. 2003). This can show that it is potential for the disas- Specifically, it does not try to not important how much Cap- trous rise of misplaced dodge the things the U.S. has tain America could have been power exists and will per- done to feed the hatred, as one heroic, because not even he sist.” of the terrorist says inside the could have prevented the col- comic: lapse. The issue is not so much President Eisenhower’s valedic- how he will never again be able tory, March 1961. “Tell our children then, American, who sowed death in to save the day, because he is I will also speak briefly about their fields and left it for the in- and always will be fictional. He another Cap’s threat which is nocent to harvest? Who took and comic-books in general, like still very significant as a vivid their hands? Their feet?” literature or any other media, image of the world we are living can have a lot of ramifications as now post 9/11: Hydra. This fic- Captain America: The this book in particular. It is “in tional terrorist organization of New Deal , v.4 #3, 2003. colour, after all, not black and the Marvel Universe, if real, However, we have to stress that white – and one of the most would be the worst fear of G.W. Rieber offers no justification for dominant and troubling colours Bush. It represents metaphori- terrorism. Rather, his point here is grey” (Max Allan Collins’s cally the essence of the U.S.’s is to insist in examining the root introduction for Captain Amer- vision of a terrorist group: rest- causes in a more complicated, ica: The New Deal) . grown-up manner than one To conclude, I will finish on

these words from Captain Amer- Reynolds R., Super Heroes , BT Comics Group, 2006 ica v.4 #11, 2003: Batsford Ltd., 1992 Brubaker E. and Epting S., Cap- “I remember a time when Condon R., The Manchurian tain America: Winter Soldier it was easy to feel pride in Candidate , Jove Books, 1959 vol.2 (collects v.5 #8-9 and 11- this ‘country’. When ‘this’ 14), Marvel Comics Group, 2006 country celebrated the Essays

victories of its loyal sol- Bloor R., The Comic Book as a diers. When ‘this’ country Text: a Study of “Watchmen” , Internet Sites was my country right or ELCH Dissertations wrong. And most of the http://www.marvel.com/ McLachlan B., Superman: Repre- time it was right. But http://www.comicbookresources. sentation and Embodiment of times have changed, com haven’t they? The battles America at War http://www.nationalreview.com/ are less clear, the wars Comic-books less noble, the cause less comment/comment- right, even in the shadow Young Men #24, Dec. 1953 medved040403.asp ( Captain of 9/11. Dark men with a America, Traitor? by Michael Captain America #109, Marvel th ‘cause’ come at us like Medved, April 4 2003) Comics Group, Jan. 1969 thieves in the night. Men http://www.racematters.org/wwii who consider their ‘cause’ Captain America #153-156, Mar- captainamerica.htm ( Reliving noble. Men who consider vel Comics Group, Sept.-Dec. World War II With a Captain their cause ‘holy’. Men 1972 America of a Different Colour , by whose ideals carry power, st Captain America # 176-183, Mar- Brent Staples, December 1 and weight, and sub- vel Comics Group, 1974-1975 2002) stance and make us seem wrong, but whose actions, Captain America #312, Marvel http://www.usflag.org/colors.ht reprehensible and vile, Comics Group, 1986 ml make murderers look http://www1.va.gov/opa/feature/ right. This government Miller F., Daredevil: Born Again , celebrate/Flag.asp (United States can be wrong. Our politics Marvel Comics Group, 1986 Department of Veterans Affairs) can be flawed. We are, Miller F., Batman: The Dark after all, a complex sys- Knight Returns , London fter fears of flight can- tem run by human be- : Titan, 1986 cellations, a very early ings.” morning meeting and a Moore A. and Gibbons D., race around Heathrow Bibliography Watchmen , Titan, 1987 A airport to catch our flight, the Books: Captain America #332, Marvel thirty students and four teachers Comics Group, 1987 from Loreto College counted Goulart R., The Encyclopaedia of ourselves lucky to make it to American Comics , Facts on Rieber J.N. and Cassaday J., New York for the first part of a file, 1990 Captain America: The New Deal two stage history and politics (collects v.4 #1-6), Marvel Com- Reitberger R. and Fuchs W., trip. However the trip turned out ics Group, 2003 Comics : Anatomy of a Mass to be the experience of a lifetime Medium , Studio Vista, 1972 Rieber J.N., Austen C. and Lee that all concerned were hoping J., Captain America: The Extrem- for. Brooker W., Batman Un- ists (collects v.4 #7-11), Marvel masked: Analysing a Cultural After an exhausting flight, we Comics Group, 2003 Icon , New touched down at John F. Ken- York; London: Continuum, 2001 Morales R. and Baker K., Truth: nedy airport in New York only to Red, White and Black , Marvel find a customs queue that Pearson R.E. and Uricchio W., Comics Group, 2004 seemed to stretch right back to The Many Lives of the Batman: Manchester. We nervously Critical Approach to a Superhero Brubaker E. and Epting S., Cap- waited to be processed, remem- and his Media , tain America: Winter Soldier bering not to joke with officials Routledge/BFI, 1991 vol.1 (collects v.5 #1-7), Marvel in the airport after being re-

hectic schedule of visits to enjoy shopping on 5 th Avenue (much Loreto Goes to to the delight of some of the girls) and the ludicrously sized meals in that make British ‘large’ portions seem like a joke Washington throughout our trip. We got lost in, Central Park that provides a th welcome respite from the over- By Beth English, 6 form student, whelming skyscrapers all around. Loreto College Manchester The day I was most looking forward to in our stay in New York was the visit to the Statue of Liberty and the immigration museum on Ellis Island. We piled on to the boat that was to trans- port us across and braved the wind on the top deck to get the best possible view of the statue and the classic image of Man- hattan from the water. The statue itself is smaller than we expected, but as a symbol of liberty and hope for arrivals to the USA it is beyond compare. The museum on Ellis Island chronicles the experiences of immigrants to the United States for over 200 years and is defi- antly worth seeing. The ordeal arrivals went through including medical examinations, literacy tests, arduous waiting and the looming fear of being denied sights of the United States, the entry is fascinating and, even fter fears of flight can- after this experience the mu- cellations, a very early Empire State Building. Excite- ment grew as we walked seum shows the hostility of resi- morning meeting and a dents to new arrivals which par- race around Heathrow through the snow-covered A streets towards the tower that is allels current immigration hys- to catch our flight, we thirty stu- visible for miles around. The teria in the UK as well as the dents and four teachers from USA. We also saw Wall Street, Loreto College counted our- view from the balcony: New York at night spread out as an the crowning symbol of the US’s selves lucky to make it to New capitalist economy, adorned York for the first part of a two array of glistening lights; illuminating the Brooklyn Bridge; with American flags in all its stage history and politics trip. glory. However the trip turned out to Rockefeller Centre and the be the experience of a lifetime countless skyscrapers is inde- The trip to Washington was tir- that all concerned were hoping scribable. It is truly awe inspir- ing but broken up by a short for. ing to look out at the city that stop over in Philadelphia to see endured the world’s largest ter- the Liberty Bell and Independ- We touched down at John F. rorist attack and was the cause ence Hall, where the founding Kennedy airport to find a cus- for the ill-fated ‘war on terror’. fathers drafted the Declaration toms queue that seemed to After taking in the sights and of Independence that eventually stretch right back to Manchester. purchasing some King Kong secured their freedom from Brit- We nervously waited to be proc- themed merchandise we headed ish rule. The trip was well worth essed, remembering not to joke back to a well deserved sleep. while when, after the formalities with officials in the airport. We of the arrival in Washington, we stepped outside to a blast of icy The next day began with a walking tour of some of the most walked the short distance to see February air that took your the White House at night. Seeing breath away. Let’s just say that famous buildings in New York from the United Nations (that the famous marble columns up temperatures of -8˚ can only be close and knowing we would fully appreciated once experi- unfortunately wasn’t in session) to the stunning, art deco Chrys- actually venture inside the next enced. Having made it to our day was thrilling and reminded hotel and checked in we headed ler Building built during the New Deal. We also found time in our all of us of the ideals of open out to one of the most iconic 36

government the founding fa- Under Law’ above the door and seum as the most popular. We thers laid down in the constitu- entering the place were 9 men really enjoyed seeing the shut- tion. had upheld the right to abortion, tles and learning about the his- deemed segregation to be un- tory of the space race, and, We woke the next day excruciat- constitutional and forced the while in the museum, we were ingly early but in high spirits and release of the Watergate tapes able to see the American Treas- made our way to the entrance that eventually led to the resig- ures exhibition that includes the which was manned by heavily nation of President Nixon was original C3PO and R2D2 from armed guards that were a little astounding. Famous decisions Star Wars, the counter where intimidating and, after making are inscribed in gold on the the first ‘sit-in’ for the civil rights our way through yet another walls and busts of famous jus- movement was held and Kermit rigorous set of security checks, tices are everywhere. We the Frog. The day was topped we entered the building that has crowded around to take pictures with a trip to the National Ar- housed the nation’s leaders through the door of the court chives to see the Constitution, since President Lincoln. The fact and then put our cameras away the Bill of Rights and the Decla- that this is even possible was to step inside for a talk on the ration of Independence. The rev- amazing to students from a workings and history of the judi- erence ordinary Americans pay country that does not allow its ciary. That same day we went to to these documents is admirable citizens access to the street Arlington Cemetery, resting and being able to look down at where its leader lives, let alone place of most of the nation’s the original words that defined to their home. We wandered presidents as well as many other the core of American democracy through the halls, desperately important figures. After studying was a highlight of the trip. trying to take in every detail as the civil rights movement in AS cameras were strictly forbidden. History we were keen to see the The halls were lined with busts graves of both John and Robert and portraits of past Presidents Kennedy and were not disap- and, much to our surprise and pointed by the flaming monu- delight, the first bust is not a ment to the 35th President ac- President but Dr Martin Luther companied by an inscription of King Jr, a leader in the civil his inauguration speech. We rights movement and advocate were lucky enough to see the of peaceful protest. The tour changing of the guard at the made us realise how overlooked tomb of the Unknown Soldier many of the 19 th Century Presi- that was extremely moving. Dur- dents (some of whom we were ing our trip we also visited the ashamed never to have heard monuments to the Vietnam and of) are and how the increasing Korean Wars and were horrified importance of image in politics by the sheer length of the wall in the 20 th century has led to the chronicling those killed in Viet- election of a different type of nam. President; coiffed, well presented and affixed with a con- It is surprising to realise that the vincing smile. Everywhere you Congress building housing the All in all the trip to America was turned there was the eagle mo- legislature is far more prominent an outstanding success despite tif, in wood carvings, furniture than the White House. The a few mishaps, some extremely and perched over every door white, domed building that is cold weather and Miss Cooper’s frame, a constant symbol of the mirrored in every state capitol declaration that taking sixth values the nation was founded across the country shone in the formers abroad is more trouble upon. While taking photographs stark February sunlight as we than it’s worth. It allowed us to outside the White House we also queued for tickets for the tour immerse ourselves in American met a protestor against Ameri- and, after a quick photo opportu- culture, get to grips with the can involvement in various wars nity outside we headed in. The nation’s proud history and its (and his dog) who had been tour itself is hurried in order to political system and come to camped opposite the White cover the significance of the art- appreciate the diversity of the House for over 30 years. It re- work on the ceiling, the numer- world’s only hyper-power. Yet, minded all of us that this great ous statues and, interestingly, despite its influence and power, power can inspire and influence the echoing effect on the old the trip reminded us that democracy world wide but can representatives’ chamber that amongst the wealth and mag- also cause great damage if its forced them to move to a more nificence there is extreme pov- actions on the world stage are fitting home. We also saw the erty the like of which we are un- misguided. old Supreme Court building in accustomed to in the UK. We left the basement of Congress. with a greater understanding of Visiting the Supreme Court on the roots and customs of a di- the same day was almost over- Given the brevity of our stay in vided nation. whelming. Walking up the steps Washington we could not visit with the Statue of Justice and the entire Smithsonian and set- the inscription ‘Equal Justice tled on the Air and Space Mu- 37

too far and that although he wanted the constitution to be The Barringer capable of change he did not want it to be so elastic as to be meaningless. This would be a difficult line to tread for any Fellowship, Summer president, but in a newly independent state that had to be turned into one nation against 2006 the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, to even come close is Kathryn Cooper of Loreto College Manchester is the praiseworthy. But even when recognising all he did and tried first recipient of the BAAS Barringer Teacher to do to be faithful to his con- Fellowship. She has written this account of her study cept of liberty and the republic it trip to Virginia. is sometimes hard to like Jeffer- son. I imagine he could sometimes be insufferable. pplying for the Bar- denial of the American ringer Fellowship was ‘rebellion’ by the British or more Being a busy teacher, having a combination of want- likely, that other periods are time to research and study was ing the opportunity to more fashionable it was a sur- in itself a real pleasure. Oppor- A tunities like this are very rare in study in Virginia, wanting to prise how little was there. On learn about the Colonial period the positive side, one reason for education in Britain. Added to in hopes of teaching it, and applying for the Fellowship was this was the chance to attend the wanting to support the British that my exam board has intro- seminars and take visits to Mon- Association for American Stud- duced Colonial options, so per- ticello which all brought the pe- ies. Getting accepted and then haps the fashion is changing. riod to life. My students might finding out I was the first British think it geeky that I spent part of The final work I did was to pro- Fellow gave me pause for my summer in study but it un- duce a teaching pack on how thought. But it turned out to be doubtedly increased my under- presidential power developed, a tremendous experience in so standing of US history and, I especially under Jefferson: how many ways. hope, improved my ability to far did Washington, Adams and teach it. Knowing little about Thomas Jefferson stretch the powers the Jefferson or early American his- constitution gave them and The whole experience was made tory meant doing some reading therefore develop the executive even more enjoyable by the before setting off for the US. office. All three tried to abide by wonderful reception from all the Looking back I should have done the constitution yet all three at staff at the Jefferson Center. more of this. It would have various times seemed to inter- Everyone was interested in what helped me narrow down exactly pret their constitutional author- we were doing and eager to of- what I wanted to look at before I ity in as wide a way as possible, fer advice and support as well as went, and also made my re- especially in foreign affairs. the occasional lunch. And Joan search faster once I got there. With Adams’s Federalist views is quite simply a star. this is hardly surprising, but in When I started my background Virginia is beautiful and the Fel- Jefferson it often seems hypo- reading and looked for books on lowship truly gave me the critical. He criticised wide inter- early American history in the chance of a lifetime. I would pretation on many occasions, bookshops of Manchester I was sincerely like to thank the Bar- even going so far as to attempt surprised how few there were. I ringers, Andrew and everyone at to stir up the states against the have been teaching US history the Jefferson Center for the op- Sedition Act. Yet holding back for about nine years and have portunity I was given. the ‘midnight appointments’, the watched the subject become Louisiana Purchase and the Em- more and more popular and the bargo Act all seem to see Jeffer- American history section of my son interpreting executive au- local Waterstone’s expand from thority in a very wide manner. a couple of shelves to a couple At times it was hard to decide of book cases. Yet the vast ma- whether Jefferson was simply a jority of the books were on the hypocrite, or simply a man who late modern period. There was when faced with the reality of a great selection of texts on the presidential power found things Civil War and on contemporary were not so black and white. It America, but surprisingly few on does seem that he was con- the Colonial era. Whether this is cerned when he felt he had gone

38 News and Events from the ASRC

death of his older sister, Clara and then by the institutionalisa- 'Hard Times and Hard tion of his mother, Nora. By the 1930s, Okemah, once an oil boomtown, went bust forcing Travellin' Guthrie to move to Texas where he married, had three children Celebrating 20 years of the American Studies Resource and began his musical career. Centre When the dust storm hit in 1935, By Shonagh Wilkie Guthrie, along with thousands of other 'Okies', headed for Califor- nia. The 'hard travellin', hostility and exploitation that he and the other 'dust bowl refugees' endured on the road to the 'golden state' is captured in his Dust Bowl Ballads, which are among the most popular he recorded. By comparing Guthrie's songs with those penned in Tin Pan Alley, such as 'Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?', Dr Kaufman showed how America's 'original folk hero' rejected balladry en- treating the poor to meekly accept their fate, instead calling for greater political activism and economic justice. Until incapacitated by illness, Guthrie supported many progressive campaigns for equality, social justice and economic reform, though when pressed on whether he was a member of the Communist Party, he an- swered, "I ain't a communist necessarily, but I been in the red all my life". Guthrie died in 1967 but his words live on through The Joe H Makin Drama Centre placed and vilified as unwanted his song 'This Land is Your echoed to the sounds of a by- migrants in their own country. Land', now the unofficial anthem gone era, as Dr Will Kaufman of the USA. evoked the politics, passions The performance more than jus- and poetics of Woody Guthrie to tified Industrial Workers of the Originally from New Jersey, Dr mark the 20th anniversary of World activist Joe Hill’s belief Kaufman is Reader in English LJMU's American Studies Re- that while 'a pamphlet is never and American Studies at the source Centre. read more than once... a song is University of Central Lancashire learned by heart and repeated and has published widely on During the 'Woody Guthrie: over and over'. Though written many aspects of American cul- Hard Times and Hard Travellin' decades ago, Guthrie’s songs ture. He has also been a semi- event, Dr Kaufman held the au- still resonated as a powerful professional folksinger and mu- dience enthralled with his ac- critique of a society that failed to sician for over 30 years, and is count of the forgotten and support its most vulnerable citi- equally at home playing the gui- homeless during the Depression zens. tar, fiddle and banjo. and Dust Bowl of 1930s Amer- ica. Using Guthrie's songs to Guthrie was born in Okemah, Oklahoma in 1912. His life was punctuate his historical com- This article first appeared in mentary, he was able to give marked by tragedy, first by the JMU News voice to the communities dis-

An eventful year for Students learn about the Depression, Roo- the ASRC sevelt and the New Deal As you may have already gathered, 2007 marks the 20th anni- Schools Conference Report by Helen Tamburro versary of the founding of the American Studies Centre (see separate article.) To celebrate this, a number of special events have taken place during the academic year. These included a series of guest lectures from colleagues in the American Studies field and further. The year began with the 20 th annual Schools Conference. A report of this, by Helen Tam- burro, is carried in this edition, as is a report by Shonagh Wilkie of the ‘Woody Guthrie: Hard Times and Hard Travellin’ lecture given by Dr. Will Kaufman (University of Central Lanca- shire). The Centre also presented an illustrated presentation by Richie Barton and Billie Harrison on the forthcoming Left to right Dr Will Kaufman, Dr Jenel Virden, Frank Lennon and Dr release of the film ‘Cunard Niall Palmer Yanks’. Supported by Dave Cot- terill of Souled Out Films , (a Liv- This year’s conference at Liver- commented “Yet again the Cen- erpool based independent pro- pool’s Maritime Museum wel- tre provided a conference with duction company) the speakers comed 120 students and teach- excellent speakers, who not only considered the impact and leg- ers from across the North West. inspired the students, but pre- acy of the young men who Jacqui Bentley, Education Offi- sented lectures that will un- worked on the Cunard Transat- cer from the National Museums doubtedly assist them in the lantic run between Liverpool and of Liverpool, introduced the successful completion of their New York from the 1950s speakers to the enthusiastic au- studies. Another excellent day.” dience. through the 1960s and how Ian Ralston of the American American popular culture and This year’s speakers included Studies Resource Centre noted, fashion were brought into Liver- Frank Lennon of Liverpool Hope “The success of any conference pool. In particular, the film con- University, whose lecture dealt depends on meeting the needs siders the impact of the activities with President Hoover and The of teachers and students and of the Cunard Yanks on the de- Depression, Dr. Jenel Virden of finding academics who can velopment of popular music and the University of Hull, who really get the message over. the ‘Mersey Sound’ of the six- evaluated the impact of the New Without a doubt the success of ties. For more details of the film, Deal, Dr. Niall Palmer of Brunel the conference was due to those which is to receive its Premiere University who discussed Roo- factors; an attentive audience, in the Philharmonic Hall in Liver- sevelt, Congress and the Su- four superb speakers and a per- pool, go to preme Court. This was followed fect setting at the Maritime Mu- http:// by the multi-talented Dr. Will seum”. www.souledoutfilms.co.uk/ Kaufman of the University of Central Lancashire, who as- Special thanks to organisers Ian sessed the effect of the Depres- Ralston of the ASRC, Jacqui Significant changes will also be sion and the music of Woody Bentley of the NML and to the taking place over the summer in Guthrie - also giving a live per- four speakers. Thanks also to the layout and content of the formance on the guitar, banjo the British Association for Centre. As a consequence, it is and fiddle of not only Guthrie’s American Studies (BAAS) and likely there will be serious dis- music, but others of that period. the Public Affairs Office of the ruption to our services from late U.S. Embassy in London for June until September. We The lectures were followed by a their assistance. apologise for this is advance. Question and Answer session More on this will appear in next with the panel of speakers. The next conference should take years issue but keep a close place at the start of the next aca- watch on the ASRC web site for Kathryn Cooper, Head of History demic year, Check our website further news or announcemens. at Loreto College, Manchester, for details. 40 writing America”. In the critical Book Reviews

Literature Sang Hyun Lee (ed. ) The Princeton Tanner, Tony. The evaluation provided of Tanner’s Companion to Jonathan work, Bell indirectly exposes American Mystery. how America’s literary language Edwards . Cambridge: came into being at a time when Princeton: Cambridge America was eager to present Princeton Uni- UP, 2000. itself as a new nation independ- versity Press, 2 4 2 p p . ent from Europe. 2005. 331 pp. (paperback). In each essay, Tanner highlights ISBN 0-691- I S B N his close textual analyses with 12108-7. 0521783747 quotes coming from the primary Reviewed by Reviewed by sources under consideration and Matthew Smith Tatiani Ra- embellishes the discussion with Amid the bur- patzikou references to key secondary sources. Whenever necessary, geoning litera- In this book Tony Tanner ex- explanatory notes are also pro- ture on Jonathan Edwards, the plores an array of key nineteenth vided at the end of each essay. sheer scale of his extant writings and twentieth-century American In addition, Tanner concentrates still cries out for guidance and writers. This makes his study an on characterization and the nar- elucidation. The nineteen es- indispensable guide to students rative tropes – metaphors, word says in this volume are intended and scholars alike. He devotes plays, homophones – each au- to furnish a “brief and yet in- the twelve essays contained in thor employs. In this way, Tan- structive and authoritative intro- the present volume to Emerson, ner enables his readers to appre- duction to the key ideas in Ed- Hawthorne, Melville, Henry ciate not only the distinctive wards’ theology” (xi). The listed James, Howells, Fitzgerald, De- rhetoric that each one of the contributors read like a Who’s Lillo and Pynchon. Teachers writers uses but also value the Who of current Edwards scholar- who are designing A Level or socio-cultural and political con- ship, a field which has grown Access survey courses on nine- text within which their works almost continuously since 1949, teenth and twentieth century were conceived and published. when Perry Miller published his American literature and Ameri- Some of the notions to be ad- influential but controversial can Studies, as well as univer- dressed are: slavery, democracy, Jonathan Edwards . The old sity and college lecturers, will identity, sexuality, materialism, New England intellectual tradi- find that the present book offers history. tion with which Miller identified a valid introduction to the writ- owed much to Edwards and his ing style of certain eminent The information printed on the followers, but recent scholarship American writers and the literary sources where the present es- has rightly placed it in a much trends – transcendentalism, real- says had originally been pub- wider context, spiritually and ism, modernism and postmod- lished and the bibliographical geographically. ernism – that each one of them data appearing at the end of These essays impressively place represents. each essay familiarize students of American literature with the Jonathan Edwards in historical Emphasis is placed on the dis- scholarship of Tanner’s work as context. Edwards easily con- cussion of particular works with well as guide them through sec- fuses the modern reader, at attention paid to the way lan- ondary criticism. An index is once embracing the contempo- guage has been treated by each also available. rary intellectual currents of the author for the construction of a Enlightenment, while looking distinctive American literary dis- back to the classical theology of course. The present volume Augustine and the Scholastic starts with a preface by Edward thinkers of Medieval Europe. W. Said, who had been respon- Miller’s belief that Edwards’s sible for the posthumous collec- theology transcended the con- tion and compilation of the es- tours of its own time, however, says to be included in this book, will simply no longer do. If any- as well as with an introduction thing brought Edwards’s writing by Ian F. A. Bell under the title, into a coherent whole, it was his “Tony Tanner on American effort “to harmonize scripture means of writing and means of with the human knowledge of

41 his day” (xiv). Unlike the late land’s Free Church reformation the Old World and the impor- Stephen Jay Gould, who posited (302). tance of America as a promised the separate magisteria of relig- land in Jewish thought. Of par- The Princeton Companion to ion and science, Edwards em- ticular merit is the essay by Jonathan Edwards is a solid braced both spheres of knowl- Priscilla Wald, which reassesses contribution to a crowded his- edge interdependently. As canonical texts of the pre-war torical field. While “an authori- Robert Brown points out, he years, evaluating the recent im- tative introduction” may be elu- “was completely enamoured migrants’ endorsements or cen- sive, this book belongs on the with the modern intellectual ensures of their new homeland; shelves of every scholar of the terprise and accepted its claims her conclusions are surprising Great Awakening, not to men- to produce real knowledge and well argued. Less success- tion historian of colonial Amer- about the world” (96). This de- ful is Susan Gubar’s considera- ica. An equivalent compendium spite the extreme idealism of tion of Jewish American depicting Jonathan Edwards as Edwards’s theology, which con- women’s writing, which lacks a pastor remains to be written, ceived the entirety of physical framework, leaving the reader however, this book will be an creation as “shadows of divine slightly confused. While the invaluable appendix to Ed- things” in the mind of God (37). individual essays vary enor- wards’s Complete Works , soon While Edwards’s tendency to mously in focus, as a whole, the to be completed by Yale Univer- approach theological problems collection is an in depth investi- sity Press. by analogy to “natural philoso- gation into the importance of phy” may appear problematic, it The Cambridge identity in Jewish American lit- certainly spoke to the intellectual erature, and the impact of lan- battleground of the day, chal- Companion to Jewish guage and conceptions of home. lenging the discourses of deism American Literature by The clearly stated purpose of and enthusiasm alike. Michael P. Kramer and this collection is to show the The Edwards of these essays is a Hana Wirth-Nesher, eds. variety encompassed by the practical conservative, open to term Jewish American literature: intellectual innovation but es- Cambridge to reconsider well-known sentially formed by his Puritan UP, 2003. themes and authors and to sug- heritage. Edwards criticized ISBN hard- gest those that require further emotional excesses of eight- b a c k attention in the future. It at- eenth-century revivalism, even 0521792932, tempts to tell the full and com- questioning the great awakener paperback plex story of Jewish experience George Whitefield concerning 0521796997. in America, not just the simplis- “spiritual ‘impulses’ and assur- pp 296. List tic journey from ‘trouble to tri- ance of salvation” (10). Accord- price: Hard- umph’ that is normally propa- ing to Wilson H. Kimnach, Ed- back: £45, gated. The collection certainly wards’s notorious sermon, paperback: covers a wide range of time peri- “Sinners in the Hands of an An- £17.99. ods and movements; however, gry God,” was not even a true Reviewed by the essays are predominantly “hellfire” piece, “consumed as it Alex Hobbs leftist or liberal in tone and pro- is with the here and now,” in- mote secular Jewish output over stead of the everlasting hereaf- Kramer and Wirth-Nesher’s col- the alternatives; there is little ter (253). Harry S. Stout con- lection comprises fifteen sepa- interest in Orthodox Judaism as vincingly lays to rest Miller’s rate essays addressing different an influence, apart from to ex- claim that Edwards abandoned aspects and themes in Jewish pose its irrelevance. Puritan “federal theology” in American literature. The chap- The desire behind this collection favour of preaching individual ters include explorations of the was to present a more nuanced salvation. Edwards was as origins of Jewish American liter- account of Jewish American much a Puritan as his celebrated ary history; Eastern European literature, and while this is a grandfather Solomon Stoddard immigrant contribution; Hebrew worthy aim, it does put the had been; the twin concepts of and multi-lingual writing; poetry; reader under some pressure. It God’s Israel in New England and the impact of the Holocaust; and would be helpful for the reader the covenant of grace rested contemporary literary theory, to have some knowledge of the easily one beside the other. Ed- and writing. The chapters run in accounts this collection wishes wards’s theology endured chronological order, although to right. This collection is cer- through the nineteenth-century, there is, of course, some over- tainly to be recommended as albeit in unexpected corners. As lap. further reading within the field, Mark Noll points out, while Con- Helpfully, the collection begins but it would perhaps be a diffi- gregational New England went with informative and clear es- cult introduction or overview for down the path of Unitarian relig- says from Michael P. Kramer the uninitiated. However, for ion, Edwards’s theology contin- and Susannah Heschel, which those already well read in such ued to inspire the likes of Tho- serve to set up later chapters, critical material, it is an engag- mas Chalmers, leader of Scot- offering background analyses of ing read.

The Oxford Book of man prefers Whitman’s original identities,’ Men Beyond Desire version of ‘Song of Myself’ writ- presents a refreshing and com- American Poetry, ten in 1855, rather than the 1891- prehensive study of the repre- Chosen and Edited by 2 revised edition preferred by sentation of gender and gen- David Lehman the previous editors. The editor dered relationships by authors has also rightly reclaimed such as Ir- Oxford: Ox- Gertrude Stein as an important ving, Coo- ford Univer- poetic figure, including three full per, Poe, sity Press poems and excerpts from A Hawthorne, 2006 Book Concluding with As a Wife Melville, and 019516251X, Has a Cow A Love Story . S t o w e , £25, pp1132 among oth- Inevitably in an anthology like ers. Feeding Reviewed by this, there is some controversy from and Nicola in Lehman’s inclusions and contesting Presley, Uni- omissions and selection of po- traditional, versity of ems. For example, there are just unproblem- Exeter three poems from Pulitzer-prize atic under- winning writer Anne Sexton and David Lehman’s The Oxford standings of puzzlingly, Lehman includes her Book of American Poetry is a the cult of American manhood, 1974 poem ‘The Fury of Cocks’ selection of poetry from the sev- David Greven searches for the rather than one of her more fa- enteenth century to the present ‘queerly inflected threat’ embod- mous and successful like day, with an introduction and ied in the emergence, develop- ‘Housewife’ or ‘her Kind’. De- short biographical note on each ment, and literary representation spite a good selection of Allen poet by Lehman. It is a much- of the figure of what he vari- Ginsberg’s work there is no needed update of Richard Ell- ously calls the ‘unavailable,’ ‘Howl’, and just two poems from mann’s The New Oxford Book ‘undesiring,’ and, more consis- W D Snodgrass, omitting the Of American Verse, which was tently, the ‘inviolate’ male. For masterly ‘Heart’s Needle’. Ad- published in 1976. Ellmann’s Greven, the ‘inviolate male’ was mirably, Lehman includes many anthology, in turn, revises F.O the product of the ‘discordant African- American poets who are Matthiessen’s 1950 edited col- agenda[s]’ of the contemporary collected in the Oxford Anthol- lection The Oxford Book of discourses and movements be- ogy for the first time although American Verse . Lehman draws hind the ideologies of selfhood, notably, there is no space for attention to his predecessors in manhood, effeminacy, propriety, Alice Walker. his introduction to the volume and acceptable behaviour and is complimentary about Despite these shortcomings, (namely, the ideology of self- their methods of poetry selec- Lehman’s handsome anthology made manhood, sexual and tion and editorial control but in is a welcome addition to the health reform, temperance and the case of Mathiesson’s Oxford series and will surely conduct literature). Ultimately, choices, Lehman ‘feels inclined introduce many of these poets the inviolate male’s elusiveness, to do the opposite’. Lehman’s to a whole new audience. One his condition as ‘a hermetically rationale, therefore, is ‘more can only look forward to the sealed vessel of chastity and poets but less space for each’, next update, which will no doubt purity,’ is seen as a response to hence the weightiness of this include many new, fine young the conflicting coexistence – in anthology. He includes over two poets. its compulsory form – of homo- hundred poets, almost three sociality and heterosexuality in times as many as Matthiessen David Greven, Men Be- nineteenth-century American and Ellmann. yond Desire: Manhood, life. The poets anthologised begin Sex, and Violation in Greven persuasively separates with Anne Bradstreet writing in American Literature the inviolate male, actuated by a the seventeenth century and end ‘self-conscious deferment of with John Yau, born in 1950. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, desire,’ from the bachelor, who Lehman has used the birth year 2005, £35.00 hardcover. Pp. 294; represents ‘bounteous desire of 1950 as the cut off date for ISBN: 1-4039-6911-6) with no clearly directed, socially inclusion of poets. Of the poets responsible aim,’ and sees the Reviewed by Encarna Trinidad in the volume, there are varying former as more deeply problem- Open University/ Queen’s Uni- amounts of space given to each. atic for ‘the idea of normative versity Emily Dickinson and Walt Whit- heterosexuality as destiny.’ man are predictably heavily rep- Set against the backdrop of the Throughout the book, Greven resented and Lehman cites their Jacksonian era’s obsession with questions the critical and cine- importance, referring to them as social purification and its under- matic tendency to idealise ho- ‘poetic grandparents’ in his in- lying opposition to ‘non- mosocial or fraternal bonds as a troduction. Interestingly, Leh- normative gendered and sexual way of reinforcing heterosexual-

43 ity and erasing ‘queer potential- as The Beat Scene East and Politics ity,’ thereby extending the Jack- West, Censorship, Religion, Gen- sonian opposition to effeminacy, der, the Visual Arts etc. The which he believes it was both Overview section (136 pages) Haynes Johnson. complied with and critiqued by places the period into context in Sleepwalking Through the authors in the study. a manner that is solid and informative for students engaging in History: America in the Most of Greven’s work is con- a first time study of the Beats. Reagan Years. cerned with white inviolate manhood as realized through charac- Volumes 2 and 3 (Authors) com- W.W. Norton ters such as Ichabod Crane, prise a further 1,000 plus pages & Co: New Natty Bumppo, Fanshawe, Dim- dealing with specific writers and York, New mesdale, Coverdale, Billy Budd poets, (ranging alphabetically ed, 2003, and the narrator of ‘The Fall of from Paul Blackburn to John $15.95) the House of Usher. Yet Greven Wieners) each one structured in 525p. ISBN: also transposes the ‘inviolate’ similar fashion (Introduction, 0393324346 state to black manhood, through Principal Works, Commentary, Reviewed by his reading of Uncle Tom’s Primary Sources etc.) Although Dr James Cabin and the Tom-Eva, Tom-St this structure may feel slightly Miller Clare relationships, and to wom- repetitive to some readers, it (King’s Col- anhood, in his overview of Au- does allow the content of this lege Lon- gusta Evans’s Macaria and its major work to be ‘user friendly’ don) unavailable female protagonists. and accessible. (The entire struc- The coda to the book examines ture could be described as ency- Since his death on June 5, 2004, briefly how the figure of the in- clopaedic.) Ronald Reagan has been hailed violate man permeated the lit- by many on the Right, credited Many would ask if it is worth erature of the end of the nine- for winning the Cold War and investing in such an expensive teenth century and how the im- restoring prestige to a nation collection in this time of re- age has also been perpetuated rattled after the humiliations and stricted budgets. However, as a by twenty-first century literary scandals of Vietnam, Watergate reference text and one (as al- and cinematic representations of and the Iran hostage crisis. In ready noted) for the student en- manhood. the light of such hagiographic gaging in first time serious study historical revisionism, this new of the Beat Generation, this is a The Beat Generation: A edition of Haynes Johnson’s highly valuable collection and celebrated study is a welcome Critical Companion, one that is therefore recom- corrective. A highly readable (Three volumes) Project mended. In addition, for more and journalistic study, with re- advanced students, or those Editor Lynn M. Zott, search based largely on inter- engaging in research, the work views with a wide range of fig- Thompson is also a valuable starting point. ures from the period, Sleepwalk- Gale, 2003. The Further Readings sections, ing Through History explores ISBN: 0 7876 whilst variable in suggestions the reasons for Reagan’s victory, 7569 5 for a continually expanding area and the many scandals and cul- (set).£244.88 of study, still also offer a solid tural changes that marked his basis from which to progress. Reviewed by Presidency. Ian Ralston, Having examined two other col- Haynes memorably describes ASRC John lections in this Gale Thompson Reagan as a “consumer instead Moores Uni- series (The Harlem Renaissance of a preserver, a raider instead versity. and Americans At War) and con- of a protector” and the “vehicle sidered student feedback to their Study of the around which conservative practical value, I would conclude Beat Generation, arguably one forces could and did rally.” Par- that if your budget will stretch to of the most significant literary ticularly astute at understanding it, they are well worthy of addi- movements in American history, Reagan’s mastery of electronic tion to your university library. remains thankfully strong, with a media, he shows how the Presi- variety of new texts each year dent used his natural charisma on the plethora of writers in- and the oratorical skills devel- volved. This extensive work at- oped during his career as an tempts to provide both an over- actor to charm and, to a certain view as well as a critical evalua- extent, to cheat the American tion of the writers and their work public. He was the benevolent as a whole. front man for a wide range of socially destructive policies. De- Volume 1 (Topics) consists of scribing his Presidency as one of 528 pages covering issues such

“pictures, symbols, and staging” David L. Holmes, The these women ‘were significantly with every public act “planned more orthodox in [Christian] by his media experts for its Faiths Of The Founding religious belief than the men’ (p. maximum impact through televi- Fathers 109). Holmes says that this has sion” Haynes shows a sophisti- not been satisfactorily ex- New York: cated understanding of how plained, but goes on to offer six Oxford Uni- mass media, public relations factors he regards as significant, versity and political policy were brought and they combine to form an Press, 2006 together by the Reagan admini- explanation that is both cogent ISBN stration as a formidable means and convincing. 0195300920 of image-control. Although the The final contribution this book Reagan administration posi- Reviewed by makes is in its survey of the tioned itself as anti-tax, anti- Sarah Martin faiths of the Presidents of the communist and anti- modern era, from Kennedy to government, Haynes argues that The Faiths of George W. Bush. Here again, in fact nepotism, corruption and the Found- because Holmes steps outside self-aggrandizement at the ex- ing Fathers the strict remit of his title, there pense of public interest are the is a slim is more academic room for ma- defining motifs of many of book and one that sticks closely noeuvre, and this allows him to Reagan’s key players. Particu- to the subject described by its make interesting points about larly astute in his exploration of title. After a condensed and the Presidency as a modern in- Reagan’s economic policies, slightly disorganised opening stitution and the way it has been Haynes traces the boom of the outlining the religious context in moulded by each of its recent early eighties through the bogus the American colonies in 1770, incumbents. In addition, it en- theorising of supply side eco- the main substance of the book ables him to underline the politi- nomics all the way to the slump is a chapter-by-chapter descrip- cal point of his moderate and that ended the decade. He tion of the religious practices descriptive book. The book has shows how Reagan’s economic and views of Benjamin Franklin been written as a corrective to policies, which strongly fa- and the first five Presidents of the growing nationalist mythol- voured the wealthy over the the United States. David Holmes ogy of the religious right in the poor and slashed spending at all sticks scrupulously to the avail- United States, which tends to levels of government except able evidence and draws from it reinterpret history in the light of defence, had the net effect of fair and balanced assessments its own emergence, and sees the transforming the United States of the degree to which each of past of the United States as an from being the world’s largest these men was a practicing and unbroken stream of Christian international creditor to the believing Christian. Although the continuity from Plymouth Rock world’s largest debtor nation. chapters may be usefully read to today’s Bible Belt. This evan- Equally thorough in his critique for supplementary information gelical version of U.S. history of Reagan’s foreign policy, regarding their subjects, they has had some difficulty with the Haynes astutely dissects the are in truth descriptive rather Constitutional separation of complexity of the Iran-Contra than analytical and add little that church and state as well as with scandal and the depth of the cannot be found in a decent bi- the Deistic and Unitarian views administration’s involvement ography of each man. Sadly the of some of the nation’s founding with Noriega. book does not discuss the Con- stitution or the first amendment fathers, and has tended to rein- For this new edition, Haynes has in relation to the founders’ terpret the establishment of the added an afterword in which he faiths, and neither does it dis- United States in the light of its considers the implications of the cuss the interaction between own assumed link between war on terror and asks how far their religious views and their American patriotism and Chris- 9-11 represented “the inevitable political actions. tian faith. In this context it has consequences of actions taken – become important to describe or, perhaps more accurately, of In the final third of the book the faiths (or the lack thereof) of actions not taken by American David Holmes covers two sub- the founding fathers clearly and leaders and their institutions.” jects on which he offers more moderately, and this is the con- Written in an accessible manner, analysis. The first is his discus- tribution that David Holmes’ thorough in its coverage of de- sion of the faiths of the wives book succeeds in making. tail, unsparing in its criticism, and daughters of the founding Sleepwalking Through America fathers. Again we are treated to is a fine example of political- a schematic description of a se- investigative journalism. It is lection of individuals’ religious worth reading for all students of views and experiences. However contemporary American politics in this case Holmes is prepared and history, as well as those to synthesise the data that he looking for a better understand- has gathered and observes that ing of the present situation.

Kingdom Coming: The sense that, instead of solid data handed over the morning-after and studies to justify their work, pill. She illustrates perfectly this Rise of Christian they solely rely on biblical scrip- sense of widespread and grow- Nationalism. By ture, which some people, par- ing influence of these Christian Michelle Goldberg, ticularly US citizens of different right agendas that are permeat- faiths, would potentially oppose. ing the lives of ordinary Ameri- Norton, It boils down to that old debate cans. 2006. ISBN over separation of Church and Particularly illuminating is Gold- 0393329763 State. Religion and Politics berg’s point that “the things that rarely mix easily. Reviewed by so many Islamic fundamentalists Helen Tam- Goldberg highlights the sporadic hate about the West – its sexual burro. growth of the so-called openness, its art, the possibili- megachurches, (in 1970 there ties it offers for escaping the When cast- were 10 of these types of bonds of family and religion, for ing my eye church, now there are more than inventing ones own life – are over this 880), which contain hundreds of what the Christian Nationalists year’s list of Christian nationalists under one hate as well”, although this books to roof, or as Goldberg describes could well be the thoughts of review, them, “tightly organised right- any hard-line Christian. She as- Kingdom Coming: The Rise of wing political machines”. The sesses the mixture of religion Christian Nationalism immedi- power that such movements can and politics in the Bush White ately stood out as a book cover- wield is enormous and any pre- House and its impact on the cur- ing an issue that I had wanted to vious potential to persuade has, rent political and social climate explore further. Author Michelle under the Bush administration, in the US, catapulted onto the Goldberg travels across America metamorphosed from a bur- centre stage in the aftermath of in the run-up to the 2004 elec- geoning movement to an estab- 9/11. The recently deceased tion, observing and reporting on lished realm at the core of Christian fundamentalist and the “growing influence of American culture in 2007. televangelist Jerry Falwell sug- dominionism – the doctrine that gested that “the pagans, and the Christians have the right to rule The part Christian nationalism abortionists, and the feminists, non-believers”. plays in education is immense, and the gays and lesbians…the particularly in relation to the It is a controversial subject that ACLU” were partly to blame for growth of homeschooling in the has proved increasingly topical - the attacks. Christian national- US and the Patrick Henry Col- being particularly synonymous ism is known for its bigotry, anti- lege in Virginia, which was the with the ‘compassionate conser- feminism and extreme homo- first college in the US specifi- vatism’ governing of the Bush phobia - “the foundations to cally for homeschooled under- White House. As Goldberg ex- their beliefs.” graduates. (In 2004, 7% of White plains, she “started this book in House interns were Patrick It is this extremism that led to part because I was terrified by Henry graduates, including one the Christian Social Services America’s increasing hostility to of Karl Rove’s staff). The intro- Division of the Salvation Army the cosmopolitan values I cher- duction of ‘Intelligent Design’, or in New York City being radically ish.” ‘creationism’ into the school purged of gay and non-Christian Goldberg begins by addressing curriculum is another issue. staff, resulting in eighteen for- the roots of Christian national- Goldberg emphasises that one mer staff members together ism, its recent history and what can believe in both God and with the ACLU, suing the Salva- she views as the growing power evolution, but that supporters of tion Army and the city, state and exerted by the widespread intelligent design are too rigid to federal government. The Justice movement. A prominent theme be impartial, although the fact department ruled against them throughout her investigation is that 65% of Americans favour because a rule of Bush’s Faith- its link with the Bush administra- the teaching of creationism based policies is that religious tion, primarily the Faith Based alongside traditional evolutionist groups can hire or fire staff Initiatives launched under Bush, theories in itself proves that gen- based on their religious views. It and both the positive and nega- erally Americans seem to find is this some may say interfer- tive influences of such schemes two options more attractive than ence, which calls into question (for example, publicly funded one. the motives of the ‘policy drug-rehabilitation programs wonks’. Such interference from Goldberg highlights the contro- with help from prayer and scrip- the government (and in Britain versy caused in some areas by ture). this would be a severe case of the introduction of sexual absti- the nanny-state rearing its head) She essentially questions the nence programs and communi- is also however an erosion of transfer of money and power ties where health centre staff civil liberties, which US citizens between Republicans and the turned to God to decide whether have been significantly affected religious right, especially in the a female customer should be

by since 9/11, specifically follow- future may hold. Goldberg con- Accounting for this shift in the ing the Patriot Act in the wake of veys a current anxiety in Amer- U.S. political landscape is the the terrorist attacks. ica that extends “into paranoia purpose of Professor Larry J. and hatred” of fellow citizens, Sabato’s latest work, The Sixth She notes the increasing reli- going so far as to link the ap- Year Itch: The Rise and Fall of gious polarisation in the US, “As pearance of it with Fascism. She the George W. Bush Presidency . Christian nationalism becomes also worries about the lack of That Sabato should craft a book more militant, secularists and the “entire social mechanism by on the 2006 campaign season is religious minorities will mobilise which truth is distinguished hardly surprising. Not only is he in opposition…thus we’re likely from falsehood” – and therefore the director of the University of to see a shrinking middle ultimately and unfortunately, the Virginia Center for Politics, but ground, with both camps in- demise of democracy. this text also serves as a logical creasingly viewing each other progression of a series of publi- across a chasm of mutual in- The Sixth Year Itch: The cations that he has previously comprehension and contempt.” Rise and Fall of the edited. This is, of course, in ref- Goldberg acknowledges the im- George W. Bush erence to Midterm Madness: posed limitations to Christian The Elections of 2002 , and Di- nationalism – the Constitution, Presidency. Edited by vided States of America: The the Courts and Capitalism. In Larry J. Sabato. Slash and Burn Politics of the other words, the usual checks 2004 Presidential Election ]. and balances, but somewhat Longman, In order to complete this task, surprisingly she predicts that a 2007. Paper- Professor Sabato has assembled Democrat win in 2008 will not back. 505 some of the biggest names in necessarily reverse the growth pp. ISBN U.S. political punditry. Collec- and influence of Christian na- 0321467000 tively, they have produced over tionalism. That it will be the $14.95 US / twenty-five articles concerning over-represented conservative £7.51 UK. various aspects of 2006. The states in the Electoral College, Reviewed by contributors include Charlie together with the growth of Simon Hill, Cook of NBC News , Stuart Roth- those Christian megachurches Liverpool enberg of the Rothenberg Politi- (not forgetting the socio-political J o h n cal Report , and National Jour- messages stemming from the Moores Uni- nal’s Chuck Todd. There is even White House’s Christian-right versity. a chapter submitted by the for- agendas) that will continue to mer chair of the Federal Elec- dominate US political culture. Between 2002 and 2004 the Re- tions Commission, Michael This would certainly support the publicans were the majority Toner. The articles utilise a wide arguments for a review of the party in U.S. politics. Indeed, variety of sources: interviews, electoral voting system; if it defying the conventional wis- newspapers, exit polls, federal needs to be more demographic dom that midterm elections gen- demographic data, websites, and representative then they erally punish the President’s and such like. The result is a would need to look at alternate party, in 2002 Republican book that is authoritatively writ- options. George W. Bush became the first President since FDR in 1934 ten. The arguments contained Kingdom Coming is an eye- to witness his party make gains within its pages are plausible, opening, fascinating peek into in both chambers of Congress well articulated, and well sub- the epicentre of the American during the President’s first term. stantiated. religious right. What is most In 2004 the Grand Old Party Broadly speaking, The Sixth revealing is not the fact that the ‘earned political capital’ by re- Year Itch is structured into four Bush administration streams taining the White House, this parts. Part One seeks to put 2006 their messages, but the extent to time with the popular vote on into the ‘big picture’, and place it which it runs through every vein their side, and by making even in its correct historical perspec- of policy. further inroads into the Con- tive. This is achieved by writing Goldberg gives a passionate gress. However, in 2006 the Re- general overviews of the House, report painting a genuine picture publican juggernaut ran out of Senate and Gubernatorial races. of her experiences in the world steam. In that November’s mid- The reader learns that 2006 re- of Christian nationalism, albeit term campaign, Bush’s party stored midterm elections to their from the perspective of a Jewish lost six Senate seats, thirty correct pattern – after the “urbanite”. Though obviously House seats, as well as six Gov- anomalous results of 1998 and sceptical, she puts herself in the ernorships. This downturn pro- 2002 - and that the notorious position of many who feel genu- pelled the Democrats into a clear ‘sixth year itch’ struck like clock- inely threatened by the rise of majority in the legislature for the work. Part One also introduces Christian nationalism in their first time in over ten years. It the reader to Charlie Cook’s arti- nation, and predicts what the was a significant reversal of for- cle on ‘wave’ elections, and how tunes.

47 in this election cycle the Republi- not distributed throughout the Race, Slavery and can ‘levees’ ultimately proved whole book. This can limit the ineffective. Part Two is con- scope for further research. Per- Civil Rights cerned with finance and the me- haps a more uniform standard dia. It notes that U.S. elections should be applied in future stud- Kevern Verney, The De- are becoming increasingly ex- ies? Secondly, The Sixth Year pensive, and that possessing the Itch does not contain a definitive bate on Black Civil latest information technology is bibliography at the end, nor Rights in America. essential in waging an effective does it contain an index. This (Manchester: modern campaign. As a result, lack of an index, in particular, Manchester this book goes beyond the 2006 makes detailed navigation of the University election cycle, and broadens its book somewhat difficult – espe- Press, 2006), scope to incorporate analyses of cially when one is using it for pp.196, p/b wider changes within the U.S. reference purposes. Moreover, £15.99 ISBN political system. Parts three and although the publication did 0719067618 four round off by producing case provide numerous case studies studies of individual Senate and into various Senate and Guber- Reviewed by Gubernatorial races. As you natorial races, I felt a little disap- Dr Lee Sar- might imagine, these parts fea- pointed that some House races tain, Univer- ture the McCaskill-Talent race in were not reviewed in a similar sity of Not- Missouri, the Lieberman-Lamont manner. I appreciate that there tingham contest in Connecticut, and the are too many House races for all senate showdown in Montana, of them to be included in a sin- The prob- to name but three examples. gle volume – but one or two lems of writing historiography These sections are largely narra- could have been highlighted in are manifold. The most promi- tive in structure, but they do their own right. A prime candi- nent of these is that no sooner is contain useful analyses too. date would have been Illinois 6, it published than it instantly They are therefore ideal for which saw Iraq War veteran needs updating with the latest readers who wish to know more Tammy Duckworth stand as a research, such is the wealth of about how the individual ground Democrat in this normally material being introduced into wars were won or lost. G.O.P.-leaning district. our libraries at seemingly increasing momentum. Other Overall, one can judge The Sixth I also believe that there could problems involve not upsetting Year Itch favourably. In addition have been a chapter that fo- colleagues by missing them out to its analytical strengths, part of cused on Kansas, Oklahoma and of the index and resisting the its appeal is that it is able to Wyoming. These are states that overuse of the epithet “seminal” reach out to a broad audience. gave Bush over 60% of their in describing the vast array of The academic reader will derive vote in 2004, yet they all re- academic works. pleasure from reviewing its in- elected Democratic governors sightful conclusions, but the with comfortable majorities two With this in mind it is an estima- general reader will also find the years later. The fact that these ble feat that Kevern Verney has informal writing style and nu- governors were returned to of- achieved through his contribu- merous tables most accessible fice in states that are normally tion to the Issues in Historiogra- too. Another area where The hostile to their party says some- phy series. Anyone who has Sixth Year Itch is to be com- thing about the power of incum- any knowledge of African Ameri- mended is its coverage of the bency, and why governorship can history in the time of the governorship races. Typically, races are different. Perhaps this Civil Rights Movement will be the focus of the immediate post- also indicates that 2006 was not aware that it is a daunting task election analysis is on the bal- as nationalised an election as we to behold the multitude of his- ance of power within the Con- might initially suppose? Perhaps torical accounts and to know gress, rather than in the states. local factors still counted for where to begin its study. Now, That this is so is most unwise. something? This avenue was with the assistance of Verney’s Governors Carter, Reagan, Clin- worth pursuing further. comprehensive survey, the stu- ton and George W. Bush all dent can have a sound starting Despite these minor issues, The went on to become President. point in their studies. However, Sixth Year Itch succeeds in what Thankfully, Chuck Todd re- this book is not just invaluable it sets out to accomplish: to pro- dresses this imbalance with his for the beginner in US civil vide a detailed and entertaining article. rights history but is an almanac synthesis as to why the 2006 for students at any level of study That said, however, I would like midterm elections took the form who wish to get to grips with the to offer one or two constructive that they did. I would whole- subject. Indeed postgraduates criticisms. Firstly, although the heartedly recommend this text would find this a useful tool to book does contain numerous to anyone. keep up to date with their own footnotes, these references are research areas and reminding

themselves of the expertise that Woodward’s own views were students and the public gener- has preceded them. Meanwhile soon seized upon by Joel Wil- ally were not well informed lecturers and teachers will find liamson and others and argu- about slavery, resistance and this a core guide to set in their ments over the origins of racial abolition. Also about this time modules on the twentieth cen- segregation carried on. Davis began teaching slavery as tury civil rights struggle. a subject on its own in summer- Verney’s book is essential in school seminars for high-school The book is approachable in understanding the wider discus- teachers and in a semester-long covering the time period from sion of who writes history and undergraduate lecture course. 1895 and delineating various for what purpose. It is an invalu- Inhuman Bondage aims to set substantial areas of debate able contribution for students slavery in the United States throughout the twentieth cen- who will find this vital in their "within the larger contexts of the tury. For example, the first five studies and in their understand- Atlantic Slave System and the chapters encompass what might ing of historical debate. Up- rise and fall of slavery in the be seen as the traditional areas dates will no doubt follow. The New World" because it "can no of African American studies: the debate, after all, continues. longer be understood in paro- era of Booker T. Washington and Dr Sartain’s book ‘Invisible Ac- chial terms or simply as a chap- accommodation, the ‘New Ne- tivists: Women of the Louisiana ter" in southern U.S. history. gro’, the Great Depression and NAACP & the Struggle for Civil the Second World War, the Civil Inhuman Bondage is "not a com- Rights, 1915-1945’ is published Rights Movement up to 1965, prehensive or encyclopaedic by Louisiana State University and Malcolm X and the Black survey", but it covers a lot of Press in April 2007. Power movement. The last two ground. Beginning with the chapters add further insight by Davis, David Brion. In- Amistad affair, it goes on to deal discussing the new conserva- with slavery in antiquity, the tism since 1980 and, of growing human Bondage: The origins of anti-black racism, Af- interest to researchers and stu- Rise and Fall of Slavery rica's involvement, the Atlantic dents alike, the importance of in the New World. system - Brazil and the Carib- African American contributions bean, colonial north America, to popular culture. New York: the problem of slavery in the Oxford Uni- American revolution, the French In a mere 196 pages, which in- versity and Haitian revolutions, the cludes chapter endnotes and a Press, 2006. nineteenth-century south (two skilful bibliography, Verney has Pp. xvi, 440. chapters), nineteenth-century achieved a virtually impossible Cloth, ISBN- slave conspiracies and revolts, task with a breadth of knowl- 10: 0-19- British and American abolition- edge and intimacy of style that 514073-7, ism (two chapters), the politics will entertain, inform and chal- £17.99. of slavery in the United States, lenge the reader. and civil war and emancipation. [The LoC Verney’s account considers the Eighty pages of endnotes pro- Cataloguing- history behind the writing of vide ample references in- history. The reader is shown (occasionally a note points to Publication how the times that historians sources in another of Davis's Data show an additional ISBN - live in can affect their views of a works) and much supplementary 13: 978-0-19-514073-6. The ISBN subject and how they, in turn, information. There is no sepa- on the publisher's accompany- often attempt to interact with rate bibliography. The index, ing information sheet is given their own social and political peculiarly, gives no superordi- without hyphens and there is a environment. A perfect illustra- nate entries for "slave trade" or publication date of 25 May tion of this is the white liberal synonymous terms and only a 2006.] southerner C. Vann Woodward few subordinate entries. Davis who actively engaged in being a Reviewed by George Rehin of gives due narrative and analyti- part of the civil rights struggle in Lewes, Sussex cal attention to established his- 1950s America, showing how torical knowledge, to historians' David Brion Davis, an out- historians often debate the past debates and discoveries, in a standing and prolific historian, to explain the present and to try near conversational style, al- won a Pulitzer Prize with his first and facilitate change. Indeed ways explaining why he com- book on slavery, The Problem of Woodward’s seminal (it really is mends facts or interpretations. Slavery in Western Culture, 1966. impossible to avoid that word) His latest volume , Inhuman Yet there is uneasiness in this book, The Strange Career of Jim Bondage , springs from the reali- historiography, particularly in Crow (1955) was itself held up sation in the 1990s that - despite prologue and epilogue, where by Martin Luther King Jr as be- epic scholarship, debates, and Davis outlines and contextual- ing ‘the Bible of the Civil Rights discoveries of historians since ises his substantive text and Movement” (p.18). But with the 1960s - school and college attempts to lead readers to con- historians being what they are,

49 sider slavery's consequences benefited. However, southern and ramifications and abolition's Democrats in Congress held the limitations. Davis treats anti- Katznelson, Ira. When balance of power in the majority slavery and abolition as the Affirmative Action Was party and effectively, if figura- paramount features of the long, White: An Untold His- tively, vetoed legislation that complex and tenacious history might destabilise the region's of slavery, which provide its tory of Racial Inequality social order of racial segregation chief lessons. Antislavery move- in Twentieth-Century and exclusion. To accommodate ments are "historically unique"; America. the "solid south", laws and pro- they "succeeded in overthrow- grammes were deliberately de- ing" productive, profitable and New York and signed to protect white interests extensive slave systems in less London, and advantages, although osten- than a century. This understand- Norton, 2005. sibly meant to be colour-blind. ing yields a "positive message of Pp. xv, 238. For example, Social Security and willed moral achievement", Paperback minimum wages excluded agri- which "must also be linked with [Norton pa- cultural and domestic workers; the need to recognize the heavy perback first three-quarters of African- and complex legacies" of slav- published in Americans lived in the south ery. Willed achievement is less 2006], ISBN where their employment was certain in the book's final para- 098 0 393 concentrated in agriculture and graph; it "may have no parallel"; 32851 6, £9.99. domestic service. Where such but "despite its many limita- indirect exclusion could not be tions" it "should help inspire [The informa- written into legislation, Congress some confidence in other move- tion above is mandated decentralised admini- ments for social change". This from the ac- stration, state and/or local, al- verbose, circumlocutory and companying leaflet from Norton lowing covert discrimination e.g. tentative language betrays an UK.] in vocational training for veter- ambivalence about moral force [On the invoice accompanying ans. Private-sector providers versus realpolitik. the review copy the ISBN is often discriminated, north and Considering the cruelties of slav- given as 0393328511, and in the south; e.g. mortgage lenders ery and similar institutions, book and on back cover two refused federally guaranteed Davis writes: numbers, ISBN-13: 978-0-393- loans to low-income veterans 32851-6 and ISBN-10: 0-393- and on properties in disfavoured "No doubt we will always have 32851-1; price $14.95 on back locations, relatively excluding … individual psychopathic tor- cover. No information on hard- more blacks than whites. The turers …. The worst evils arise back edition is available.] effect was to deny African- when institutions encourage … Americans their fair shares of "ordinary" people to adopt simi- Reviewed by George Rehin of social and economic goods. The lar behavior and win approval … Lewes, Sussex whole pie and every piece grew, from, let us say, fellow guards at When Affirmative Action Was but the relative size of the Afri- a Nazi death camp or even at an White describes the period from can-American piece diminished. American-run Iraqi prison. We the depression to the aftermath This is the "untold history of are seldom willing to recognize of the second world war, Roose- racial inequality" … that every war converts … velt's and Truman's administra- ordinary citizen-soldiers into tions, focussing on federal poli- Katznelson's purpose, not pri- serial killers …. " cies and programmes in four marily historiographic, is to lo- cate the history strategically on Such contradictions are mir- areas affecting living standards terrain, affirmative action, still rored, inter alia , by the inconsid- and life chances: 1) relief, wel- contested today. Positive dis- erate fact that slavery survived fare, Social Security (state pen- crimination or preferential treat- Congress's prohibition of the sions); 2) "rules for work", mini- ment of African-Americans to "migration or importation" of mum wages, union membership redress past discrimination, par- slaves into the United States and benefits; 3) mobilisation and ticularly in education, employ- (from 1808) for two generations, military service; 4) the G.I. Bill ment and related fields, began in and was overthrown by military (benefits for veterans). the mid-1960s. Its career has force in a bloody civil war. The Katznelson argues that these been one of conflict and chal- Iraq war and its contradictions national government interven- lenge, leading to Supreme Court are one root of Davis's ambiva- tions - essential to deal with decisions restricting its applica- lence; keep this in mind when global depression, world war tions, disallowing race-based reading this valuable volume. and peacetime readjustment - group preferential treatment, but produced a virtual social trans- allowing employers, universi- formation, a middle-class wel- ties, unions, etc. to take race into fare state, in which white and account in hiring, admitting, pro- black Americans participated and

50 moting individuals, under two Deyle, Steven. Carry Me ways of working with a wide conditions. Action must aim to range of sources to arrive at an rectify specific historic racial Back: The Domestic accurate estimate of the size of injury, and for a public purpose Slave Trade in American the antebellum slave trade. sufficient to justify breaching the Life. Johnson’s Soul by Soul uses colour-blind rule, the equal pro- slave narratives and court re- tection guaranteed by the Con- New York: cords to examine the everyday stitution's 14th amendment. Oxford Uni- experience of America’s slave- Katznelson thinks that the disad- versity Press, pens and auction-blocks from vantages blacks suffered in the 2005. ISBN the perspective of trader, buyer, 1930s and 1940s, the obverse of 0-19-516040- and slave; while Gudmestad’s a massive preferential resource 1 work concludes by asking us to distribution to whites, count as consider the legacies of the Reviewed by injuries which can be redressed, ‘troublesome commerce’ – seen Stephen C. and count as racial because Con- most dismally in the transforma- K e n n y gress excluded African- tion of slave trader Isaac Frank- School of Americans deliberately, directly lin’s ‘favorite plantation, Angola’ History, Uni- or indirectly, as its southern into the Louisiana State Peniten- versity of members demanded. tiary of today. Liverpool. In conclusion Katznelson offers Deyle’s study offers us several In recent years there has been a some examples of affirmative fresh perspectives. First, he re- surge of historical interest in the action "that could yield both tan- frames the domestic slave trade domestic slave trade in the gible and symbolic compensa- as a central feature of American, American South. A look at the tion". There is space here for rather than just Southern, life. total numbers of enslaved peo- one. For the delayed entry into This requires us to pay closer ple forcibly transported by road, Social Security the "excluded attention to the trade’s origins, river, or sea across the expand- could be identified and they, or to examine the North-South ing empire of American slavery their heirs, could be offered one th flows of enslaved people in the in the 19 century reveals that time grants" required to be de- late 18 th century, and also to the domestic slave trade en- posited "into designated retire- reconsider the political motiva- snared over twice the estimated ment funds." Whether a suffi- tions behind the purchase of the figure of African captives im- cient public purpose could be Florida and Louisiana territories ported directly into North Amer- found in such wider applications – regions which not only contrib- ica via the Transatlantic slave is moot, but it is doubtful Con- uted to the growth of slavery, trade (around 2 million in the gress would sanction or fund but which also became magnets domestic slave trade compared such programmes. Katznelson for the institution’s commerce in with approximately 450,000 doesn't discuss the politics of human beings. Another innova- from the Transatlantic trade). affirmative action today or to- tive feature of Carry Me Back is There is now a consensus morrow, the book's major flaw, Deyle’s focus on the importance amongst American slavery’s an absence of practical political of local sales in slaves. Contrary scholars that recognises both science. to the dominant image of the the scale and the impact of the domestic slave trade as being This book is rich historiographi- interstate slave trade on en- interregional, Deyle highlights cally; it brings together topics slaved people in the United that ‘the overwhelming majority and disciplines too often isolated States as a Second Black Dias- of enslaved people who were and offers a trenchant public pora. sold … were sold locally, by one policy discussion informed by a Monograph studies on the do- owner to another or by nearby moral concern for social justice. mestic slave trade in the US in- county courts as a way to settle It will reward students of history, clude: Michael Tadman’s Specu- debts.’ As the title of chapter five the political economy of race, lators and Slaves: Masters, Trad- emphasises, in the antebellum social policy and administration, ers, and Slaves in the Old South South, slave trading was ‘a regu- and more. There is no general (1989); Walter Johnson’s Soul lar part of everyday life’ and was bibliography, but 43 pages of by Soul: Life Inside the Antebel- ‘performed in full public view.’ notes provide numerous refer- lum Slave Market (1999); Robert (144, 145) ences and much pertinent infor- Gudmestad’s A Troublesome mation. Anyone seeking to understand Commerce: The Transformation what American slavery was can- of the Interstate Slave Trade not afford to ignore the buying (2004); and these are now joined and selling of human beings. As by Steven Deyle’s significant Walter Johnson wrote, the real contribution. Tadman’s study is history of the antebellum South largely responsible for reawak- is the history of two million ening current academic interest slave sales. Deyle’s study is an in the subject, pioneering new

51 important addition to the re- narrative which foregrounds and in turn, Moynihan used slavery evaluation of the domestic slave amplifies the importance of fam- as a causal factor to explain to trade and the nature of slavery ily ties among black Americans the Johnson administration per- in the United States - Carry Me and their struggle for freedom, ceived ‘pathological’ weak- Back will be of use and interest as well as the complex and am- nesses in the contemporary to all readers. biguous nature of slavery and black family. Such ideas duly race in the Old South. provoked a strong and sustained Franklin, John Hope and challenge from a new wave of A vigorous debate centred on slavery scholarship that had just Schweninger, Loren, In the impact of enslavement on ‘discovered’ black testimony. Search of the Promised black family life in the United Historians, such as John Blassin- States can be traced back to the Land: A Slave Family in game, George Rawick, and, nation’s antebellum era and is most notably on the question of the Old South. perhaps most visible in the con- the black family, Herbert Gut- trasting literary treatments of New York: man, reinterpreted American the institution produced by the Oxford Uni- slavery from the enslaved per- period’s Southern and Northern versity spective and argued that slaves novelists. The definitive aboli- Press, 2006. were much more than mere vic- tionist novel was of course Har- ISBN 0-19- tims of slaveholder cruelty or riet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle 516088-6. passive recipients of slaveholder Tom’s Cabin (1852), which high- benevolence. Rather, these his- Reviewed lighted the role of the domestic torians argued, enslaved black by Stephen slave trade in breaking apart Americans were resilient and C. Kenny slave families and, through the culturally creative autonomous School of figure of the licentious brute agents capable of resisting History, Simon Legree, how Southern slaveholder power and of shap- University slaveholders could also under- ing their own worlds. Gutman’s of Liverpool . mine black family stability by work, contra Stampp and Elkins, sexual predation. By contrast, Franklin and Schweninger’s argued for the strength of slave Southern proslavery novels, latest co-authored history of families despite the impact of such as Mary Eastman’s Aunt American slavery (following on sales, separations and slave- Phillis’s Cabin (1852), suggested from their prize-winning 1999 holder interventions. Further- that blacks actually benefited collaboration, Runaway Slaves: more, Gutman saw family net- from slavery’s paternal largesse Rebels on the Plantation ) revisits works among slaves as the basis and protection, downplaying, or and complicates some elements for the development of a viable completely ignoring, the domes- of earlier debates in slavery slave community and the spread tic slave trade and the sexual scholarship with a focus on an of a vibrant African American exploitation of black women, atypical antebellum slave family . culture. The authors examine an excep- promoting instead a sanitised tionally strong and dynamic ex- and romanticised vision of the In Search of the Promised Land tended family, the Thomas- institution that would linger in- draws on a rich variety of Rapiers, over three generations terminably. sources in carefully reconstruct- ing the historical backdrop to the as they struggle to escape the In the twentieth-century, down Thomas-Rapier family saga. shackles of American slavery to the early 1970s, among those Among the materials used are and racism. Matriarch of the of American slavery’s historians documentary records from sev- clan, Sally Thomas, is intro- who thought to consider the eral states, probate records, cen- duced to the reader as she is problem, there was general sus records, city directories, being transported with her sons agreement with the abolitionist newspaper articles, acts of gen- from a tobacco plantation in position that the black family eral assemblies and petitions to Charlottesville, Virginia to Nash- was destroyed or, at best, re- southern legislatures (one of ville. Once in Nashville, Sally mained highly insecure under Schweninger’s many jobs is edi- hires herself out and eventually slavery. This ‘damage model’ of tor of the impressive online establishes a profitable laundry the enslaved black family ‘Race and Slavery Petitions Pro- business, gaining custom and reached its apotheosis in the ject’). However, the key sources respect from the town’s wealthy writings of Kenneth Stampp, are the autobiography of James white residents. Sally enjoys a Stanley Elkins and the Elkins- Thomas, which Schweninger measure of freedom and pros- influenced 1965 Moynihan re- edited and published in his ear- perity in Nashville unknown to port on The Negro Family . lier From Tennessee Slave to St. most slaves in the rural South, Stampp argued that, living ‘in a Louis Entrepeneur (1984), and a nevertheless she remains a kind of cultural chaos,’ slaves large collection of correspon- slave in the eyes of the law and had no meaningful family rela- dence, the Rapier-Thomas pa- is still vulnerable to the constant tionships. Elkins claimed that pers (held at Howard Univer- threat of sale and separation slavery ‘vitiated family life’ and, from her family. So begins a sity).

tecture, 1909. others it was a philosophical stance – they felt an emphasis While the authors acknowledge ’ You can’t come here. We don’t on race was divisive to national that Sally Thomas and her prog- have black folks here.’ Dean of a unity. eny were exceptional in many University, 1910. respects and that few enslaved, Lives of Black Architects or free black, people in the ante- Lifting the veil Paul Revere Williams was the bellum South could have African American Architects first architect to become a mem- achieved the degree of personal have contributed significantly, ber of the AIA (American Insti- freedom, business success, or albeit often anonymously, to the tute of Architects). He had a incredible freedom of movement architectural heritage of the lengthy career from 1913 to 1974 enjoyed by some members of USA. However, a veil of ano- and he designed more than 3000 the Thomas-Rapier family, they nymity, made denser by racism buildings. The majority of his argue that such uncommon ex- and gender, has resulted in a work was in Los Angeles in the periences open up new vantage dearth of documentation about golden age of Hollywood; many points on race, slavery, and their role as architects. The new movie stars were his clients in- southern society. Perhaps some dictionary will be of concern to cluding Will Hayes, Tyrone of the most important of these architects on both sides of the Power and Bill ‘Bojangles’ Rob- fresh perspectives are the focus Atlantic who are interested in inson. In 1956 he even designed on the lives of ‘quasi-slaves’, enfranchisement within the ar- a house for Frank Sinatra in the such as Sally Thomas, and the chitectural profession. This chal- Hollywood Hills. Williams’s most limits and possibilities of free lenging volume is intended to recognisable project in the black life in Florence, Alabama, correct the exclusionist tradition 1960’s was the Los Angeles In- as experienced by Sally’s son, of American architectural his- ternational Airport Theme Build- John Rapier. Franklin and tory. The survey starts in 1865, ing. Resembling a futuristic Schweninger’s narrative won’t the end of the Civil War and spaceship, it became a familiar suit those looking for a broad- ends in 1945 after WW II. In the- cultural sight because movie based or theoretically informed ory, Black Americans had more producers used it as an ‘icon’ of historical exploration of the en- control over their lives, work and Los Angeles. slaved family experience in the education during this time. The Old South, but what it does pro- presumption for setting 1945 as The father of Golden Zenon was vide is an expertly-crafted and the end of the survey was that a sharecropper and Golden very engaging history of a re- many post war Black Americans walked five miles each way to a markable black family’s odyssey. could gain college education one-room parish school house after the GI Bill. for Blacks. He went on to be an Culture architect, expert in designing Relevance of racial identity schools and he designed twenty to architectural advance- different types. His Flanagan African American Archi- ment. Alternative High School is an tects: a biographical dic- The relevance of racial identity especially interesting brick build- tionary 1865-1945 , ed- to architectural advancement is ing similar to Mies van der Rohe’s early brick houses. ited by Dreck Spurlock controversial but it is carefully addressed by the editors. The John Louis Wilson was born in Wilson authors use the descriptive term Mississippi and could trace his ‘African American’ to describe a Routledge, family lineage back to the racial group. The adjective Taylor & American Revolutionary War. ‘Black’ is used to characterize Francis, His grandfather was born a ancestry, not skin colour. Owing 2004. In- slave; in 1924 Wilson moved to to the 100 contributors who sub- cludes bib- New York. He is celebrated for mitted the 168 named entries liographical his work on the highly acclaimed the contextual terms ‘Negro ’ and references Harlem River Housing Project, ‘coloured ’ are used occasionally, and Index, New York’s first publicly funded not to be disparaging, but in an ISBN 0-415- housing, which was constructed attempt to be historically syn- 92959-8 during Roosevelt’s New Deal. onymous. Most of the male ar- (hardback) chitects and all of the female If racial prejudice restricted pp 1-517. architects featured, felt that Black men entering the profes- Reviewed by ‘race’ was crucial to their iden- sion, then women, more so, had Dr Rob MacDonald. tity and relied on ethnicity to difficulties in throwing off the obtain clients. For some, race shackles of slavery. For the fe- ‘Architectural and engineering was seen as a negative factor in male Black Architects who were education is a tough field at best their professional advancement exposed to the International and it might be twice as tough and therefore it was expedient Style of Walter Gropius, Mies for a Negro’ Professor of Archi- to play down their ethnicity; for van der Rohe and Marcel Breuer

53 at Harvard, the results were lib- Douglas Field, ed., Robert Lowell). erating. American Cold War Cul- In terms of navigation, following Amaza Meredith’s earliest pro- ture. an introduction, these nine chap- ject was ‘Azurest South’. It was a ters are divided into two sec- one storey house for herself and Edinburgh: tions – cultural themes and cul- a friend. Sited in a lush dell of a Edinburgh tural forms. Each essay is pref- University campus, the house University aced by a contextualizing intro- was in a bold International Style; Press, 2005. duction (in a different font to white stucco finish, curved cor- ISBN 07486 demarcate it from the main es- ners, industrial windows and 1922 4 say), end-noted and backed up bands of glass blocks. ‘Azurest (hardback); with a bibliography, suggestions South’ was filled with art and 07486 1923 2 for further reading and an index. modern furniture that were care- (paperback). In addition to my criticism fully documented in Meredith’s Reviewed by above, another is that each es- sketchbooks. The intellectual Nathan say – intended as a case study of courage exemplified in the de- Abrams, the themes aforementioned – sign of this ground-breaking University of seems shoehorned into its ac- house cannot be overstated. In Wales, Bangor companying theme but doesn’t Virginia, the dominant Anglo- always seem to fit snugly. Fur- There have been so many books Colonial Revival Style, even thermore, while the book is not on the subject of American cul- now, has been consistently reaf- intended to be comprehensive ture during the Cold War that firmed as architecture for the or exhaustive it doesn’t go anyone might wonder what is there whites. where near those themes and new to be said. In this respect, topics which really have been Beverly Green was the first Black American Cold War Culture only neglected. Why, for example, is female licensed as an architect half succeeds. Its editor, Douglas there not more on religion? in the USA. In 1955 she worked Field, an independent scholar Overall, then, American Cold for Marcel Breur in New York. who has taught at the University War Culture will make a fine Green is credited with working of York and Staffordshire Uni- introduction to students of this on some of Breur’s major pro- versity, has lined up an impres- area, not least as the means for jects including the UNESCO sive array of talent. The con- them to really look for the unex- United Headquarters in Paris. tributors include Robert J. Cor- amined. Georgia Brown is believed to be ber, Jacqueline Foretsch, Cath- the second African American erine Gunther Kodat, Scott Lu- David Dante Troutt (ed.), women licensed in the USA. In cas, Alan Nadel, David Ryan, 1938 she moved to Chicago and Dina Smith and Hugh Stevens, After the Storm: Black took a course taught by Mies writing about topics like gender Intellectuals Explore the van der Rohr at MIT. Later she and sexuality, race, politics, the Meaning of Hurricane settled in Brazil and she consid- family, mobility, film, literature, ered it a better place to practice culture and television. Certainly, Katrina architecture free of racial some of these chapters have a New York, boundaries. ring of the familiar about them, and London: already having appeared in Liberating our Profession The New other forms elsewhere, some- Press, 2006) This book could have been dedi- what belying the cover’s claim xxvii + 164 cated to Stephen Lawrence. Afri- to introduce ‘a number of previ- pps., ISBN 1 can American Architects raises- ously neglected themes, films 59558 116 2 many questions about the his- and texts’. At the same time, (Cloth) tory of discrimination in educa- however, there were some $22.95 tion and the architectural profes- genuinely new and insightful sion. It throws much light on the contributions to this already Reviewed by silent aspects of the architectural well-developed field. In this re- Andrew Mi- profession; in my mind, it raises spect, the stand-out chapter here chael questions for us in the United was Smith’s ‘Movable Contain- Fearnley University of Cam- Kingdom. ers: Cold War Trailers and bridge, UK Trailer Parks’, to which can be Everyone, seemingly, has a added the offerings from For- story to tell about Hurricane estch (on women’s magazines Katrina: of the violence and loot- and the polio crisis), Field (on ing that were rumoured to fol- James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s low it; at remembering the pa- Room ), Kodat (Disney’s Song of thetic images of displaced peo- the South and the Birth of the ple, overwhelmingly black peo- White Negro) and Stevens (on ple; of being quizzical upon see-

54 ing the Dali-esque pictures of further, more sustained thinking A foreword written by floating cars and submerged about the broader issues of race distinguished legal scholar, Der- dwellings. But above all, the and class in contemporary rick Bell, is relatively predictable Katrina story is one framed by American society. Much has in the points it raises, chiefly the notorious and abysmal lev- been written about the graphic being an attempt to work out els of government incompe- images of those affected by the how to apply the branch of tence, political chicanery, and storm, and in particular the infa- analysis developed by Bell in the backslapping (memorably tack- mous labelling of almost identi- late 1970s to the events of 2005. led by CNN correspondent cal photographs, with one black Not, of course, that such a per- Anderson Cooper), alongside person identified as a ‘looter’, a spective is inevitably a bad the wonkdom of federal and white couple described as hav- thing, but just that such a per- state agencies. It is such political ing ‘found food’. Turning their spective has a number of dis- inertia and incompetence that attention to this incident, Cheryl tinct, and well-known limita- exacerbated an already dire Harris and Devon Carbado do an tions. It is these failings--in par- situation, and it such political impressive job of unpacking the ticular, the belief that racism is a failings, and all their attendant meaning of these now infamous natural, unchanging, and eternal implications, that this work at- captions. Michael Eric Dyson, feature of the American past and tempts to scrutinize. It is then a one of the few historians to be future - which explains the con- work that begins, quite sensibly, included in the collection, simi- fusion apparent in an otherwise to question in what sense larly pens a provocative essay poetic essay by Anthony Paul Katrina was a ‘natural’ disaster. on the migratory consequences Farley. It is a real pity Farley’s of the storm. essay was included in this col- After the Storm is a collection of lection, even more so that it was ten essays, for the most part As with any collection of essays, inserted as the tailpiece of the elegantly written, cogently ar- agreement is not a prerequisite work, for with its pat observa- gued, and insightful in their de- for impressive scholarship. This tions, and ill-considered adher- livery. Ten of the thirteen people is certainly true here, and two of ence to the critical race perspec- who contributed to the project the collection’s most accom- tive, Farley helps perpetuate the are among America’s leading plished pieces--that penned by view that racialised modes of black law professors (the re- John White, and the essay that analysis are characterized by maining three are two historians directly follows it, written by the flabby thinking and shrill de- and a professor of political sci- UPenn political scientist Adol- mands. Farley’s opening conten- ence). Following introductory phe Reed--are in basic disagree- tion that “whiteness is wealth remarks by Charles Ogletree, it ment about what took place in and wealth lives above sea level is clear the work is united by a Louisiana, how to analyse those in New Orleans” [147] is chal- common concern for what events, and what they might lenged by John White’s point Katrina reveals about contempo- mean for future (progressive) that some affluent white people rary race politics and racial political strategies. Such ex- also lived below the levee banks; thinking, as well as what lessons treme perspectives works well Farley’s revolutionary chants scholars might take from this within the collection, pointing up insisting “the new beginning period and apply to similar inci- the fact that even those who is…accomplishable by those dents in the future. Although share similar political agendas, who have only their empty identified as ‘black intellectuals’ and intellectual backgrounds, hands” [158] disrespects other what unites these scholars more can differ so fundamentally as to scholars’ points that those af- than race is their common con- how to proceed. In contrast to fected by the storm were not cern for those worst affected by many of the other contributors, only “vulnerable” but else the storm, and their wish to see Adolphe Reed argues that to “powerless”. As the historian genuine political reform. And if dwell on the racist nature of Clement Price notes: “Recent the work crackles with political government decision-making scholarship does indeed suggest energy, these currents are gen- processes, or the disproportion- that poor people are dispropor- erated by the work’s circuitry of ate suffering faced by New Or- tionately at greater risk during serious scholarship. leans’s black community is po- disastrous episodes like hurri- litically and analytically futile. To The essays are uneven in length, canes and floods”. [73] But charge racism, Reed insists, is quality, intended audience, and above all I found Farley’s essay imprecise and provides a readability, and frequently one to be morally duplicitous, “concluding judgment rather has the sense of having read the though by no means unusual, than a preliminary to a concrete piece, either earlier in the collec- with his shudders of orgasmic argument.” [65] His alternative tion or in the deluge of report- pleasure at the thought of the strategy which would compli- age that oozed from news bu- pending revolution not really cate narratives of race and class, reaus in late 2005. Thankfully ringing true with his tenure as a demonstrating the futility of the though, many of these essays law professor at a prestigious market is one race theorists ig- are highly entertaining, and a university. nore at their peril. number will surely stimulate

With the exception of passing materials that are also student- Furthermore, a justification was references to the Great Flood of centred; and, indeed, the back needed for including lists of 1927 that struck the Mississippi and inside front covers are re- Oscar winners. The editors and Delta, and the book’s dedication plete with praiseworthy quotes. some of the contributors take it to the affected citizens of Ala- as self-evident that such a list is ‘Contemporary’ here is taken to bama, Mississippi, and Louisi- useful and tells us something mean American cinema from ana, After the Storm suffers for about American cinema but they 1960 until 2004. The book con- its preoccupation with the Peli- don’t explicitly say what. I sug- tains twenty-two chapters, writ- can State, neglecting to discuss gest that it clearly needs to be ten by a number of different au- the storm’s impact on communi- laid out that Oscars are no guide thors, and ranges over topics ties other than those of New to ‘good’ films (if a good film such as the decline of the studio Orleans and Baton Rouge. It wins an Oscar then it is more of system, underground cinema of might have been useful, and a coincidence than anything the ‘60s, blaxploitation, docu- instructive, had a comparison else) but rather a means of mentary, independents, Disney, been done with relief efforts in studying and understanding the Vietnam, women, black and gay the neighbouring Republican- internal politics and dynamics of cinema, and so on. Each section stronghold of Mississippi. the US film industry, as well as contains a set of fairly standard marketing and publicity. Michele While this collection automati- further references and case stud- Aaron makes the telling point, cally recommends itself to any- ies, lists of box office figures and for example, that a multi- one interested in the events of academy award winners and talented actress like Barbra August 2005 and their aftermath, questions for discussion. The Streisand never won an Oscar the occasionally knotty prose of budget has even been stretched for Yentl , despite being the first some authors, and the complex- to include some colour stills. woman to direct, produce, co- ity with which many develop The book is rounded off with a write and star in a Hollywood their arguments, makes the work glossary, bibliography, filmogra- film. more academic text than general phy and a mammoth index interest piece. Already the litera- (almost a requisite for navigat- At over five hundred pages this ture on both Hurricane Katrina ing a book of this size). book aims to be fairly compre- and the government’s handling hensive. Inevitably, however, The intention of the editors was of the debacle is voluminous, with a book this size there are to ‘present a cutting-edge over- and ever growing, leaving this going to be omissions and view of ways of looking at text to win its plaudits on the someone somewhere is going to American cinema since the basis of its unique perspective, be miffed that such and such 1960s’ by presenting ‘fresh and mostly measured analysis. was not included. While it’s an thinking and provocative ways’, Those looking for eyewitness understandable shame that and which accounts of the storm and im- some sections weren’t devel- ‘combine mediate aftermath would be oped, I couldn’t fault (other than established better advised to pick up a copy the brevity of the glossary) its models with of New Orleans Times-Picayune coverage and this text will cer- new ways of writer Jed Horne’s collected dis- tainly serve as a useful all-in-one thinking patches, Breach of Faith [2006], undergraduate primer on con- through his- or, for the most illuminating nar- temporary American cinema. It tories and rative overview, Michael is certainly more accessible than debates’. If Dyson’s recent Come Hell or some equivalent books on the so, then with High Water [2006]. subject. regards to Linda Ruth Williams and the case Harlem Renaissance: A studies, this was an opportunity Michael Hammond, eds., missed. The contributors to this Gale Critical Companion. Contemporary American volume opted for the tried and Thomson Gale, 2003. ISBN 0- Cinema . tested such as Psycho and Easy 7876-6618-1 (set hardcover). Rider (why reinvent the wheel?) Reviewed by Stephen C. Kenny, Maidenhead: Open University instead of going for choices School of History, University of Press, 2006. ISBN 0335 21832 which are often overlooked such Liverpool (hardback); 0335 21831 8 as Planet of the Apes , a film very (paperback). rich in its representation of not The last decade or so has wit- just race, gender and issues of nessed a boom in scholarly writ- Reviewed by Nathan Abrams, nuclear weaponry, but also of ing on the subject of the Harlem University of Wales, Bangor McCarthyism, science, technol- Renaissance, an upsurge of ac- Contemporary American Cinema ogy, counterculture and inter- tivity which has also resulted in bears the imprimatur of The generational conflict, backed up the publication of several major Open University – a sign of good by excellent make-up, set design encyclopaedia projects survey- quality teaching and learning and use of music and sound. ing the ‘New Negro Movement’. The latest, a Gale Critical Com-

panion, joins useful to have such a diverse As a three volume reference David Lever- range of scholarly perspectives work packed full of quality liter- ing Lewis’s collated in the same publication, ary and cultural criticism, the edited Port- this emphasis on exegesis does Gale Critical Companion to the able Harlem come at the expense of the pri- Harlem Renaissance provides Renaissance mary material, much of which is readers with a concise source of R e a d e r arguably new and unfamiliar to core facts and key debates on (1994), Aber- student readers. the literary aspects of the move- jhani West ment. However, those looking Of the three volumes, Volume and Sandra for a broader and more inclusive One offers the best overall West’s Ency- cultural portrait of the Renais- value. Through a variety of criti- clopedia of sance would do well to compare cal viewpoints, the five topical the Harlem Renaissance (2003), this title with the reference sections provide readers with and the more recent Routledge works mentioned above before the historical, contextual and Encyclopedia of the Harlem Ren- purchasing. theoretical tools essential to a aissance (2004) edited by Paul basic understanding of the ori- Finkelman. Given the wide Historical Dictionary of gins, significance, and key ele- choice of reference works avail- ments of the Harlem Renais- American Propaganda able, what makes the Gale edi- sance. However, there are also by Martin Manning with tion distinctive and desirable? many missed opportunities in Should a given school, college, Herbert Romerstein. this volume, but more noticea- or university decide to invest bly in Volumes Two and Three, Westport, £200 (or more, with the shipping which are largely a result of the Connecticut costs for three hulking tomes literary emphasis in the Critical and London: worth of 1900 hardbound pages Companion series. So, while Greenwood totalling 13lbs in weight) in pur- most of the principal New Negro Press, 2004 chasing the whole collection, or poets, playwrights, novelists, could the selection of single vol- ISBN 0 critics, editors, and journalists umes be more useful in the long 313296057 receive their due attention run? Most importantly, what can £39.99 (attracting between 30 to 60 students and/or researchers pages each), by contrast paint- Reviewed by learn from and actually do with ers, sculptors, and photogra- Toby Clarke this encyclopaedia? phers are discussed in a single As the au- The Gale Critical Companion section of Volume One (with just thors acknowledge in their intro- volumes are organized around 50 pages given over to discus- duction to the Historical Diction- entries on major topics and key sion of the work of Barthe, ary of American Propaganda, figures associated with the Har- Douglas, Johnson, Motley, the word 'propaganda' is not lem Renaissance. Volume One Parks, Savage, Van der Zee, and only notoriously difficult to de- examines ‘Overviews and Gen- Woodruff). Furthermore, there’s fine, it is also mired in negative eral Studies’, ‘Social, Economic surely a case to be made for connotations. It is, as they call it, and Political Factors’, more the inclusion of more (and 'the hated P-word.' It evokes a ‘Publishing and Periodicals’, perhaps also some colour) im- sinister form of communication, ‘Performing Arts’, and ‘Visual ages and illustrations of the art- involving deception, censorship Arts’. By contrast, Volumes Two works alongside the critical com- and intimidation. We prefer to and Three examine, in A to Z mentaries on the visual artists. ascribe it to others. We don't do fashion from Gwendolyn Ben- Unfortunately, in this encyclo- propaganda. The modern de- nett to Walter White, over thirty paedia, the musicians and actors mocratic societies of the West, of the movement’s leading liter- of the Harlem Renaissance don’t having sought to define their ary and intellectual voices. even fare as well as the poorly values by reiterating their con- Within each volume, new topical served visual artists. While Duke trast with those of the and individual entry sections Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and 'totalitarian' states - pre- begin with short introductory Bessie Smith feature briefly as eminently, the Third Reich and essays and are followed by use- individuals in the general discus- the Soviet Union - −have re- ful lists of representative works sion of performing artists, none garded propaganda as the name and a small selection of primary of these cultural giants receive of the lies of our enemies. What sources (an average of six pages any further consideration in Vol- we do is 'public education,' in Volume One, with a pitiful umes Two or Three. Given that 'information programs,' winning single page of documentary ma- the music of the Harlem Renais- hearts and minds.... terial provided in the ‘Visual sance reached a greater number Arts’ section). By far the bulk of and variety of people than the Manning and Romerstein will each section of Volume One is movement’s manifestoes and have none of this squeamish- given over to a compilation of literary outpourings ever did, ness. Their dictionary takes a critical essays. While it is highly this is a serious oversight. bold and refreshingly neutral

57 view of America's extensive re- gory would we find brought to- and a detailed list of American lationship with propaganda, and gether the extravagant person- research collections and film, TV embraces a very wide range of alities of John Wayne, Thomas and radio archives. discourses and contexts. The Paine, Ezra Pound, Wait Disney, The Historical Dictionary of coverage is particularly thor- Paul Robeson, and William 'Lord American Propaganda should ough in the areas of US govern- Haw-Haw' Joyce? Oddly, these have broad appeal, serving as ment and military organisations combinations are enlightening. an accessible cross-disciplinary of the Second World War, such We compare, for example, the reference resource for the study as the Office of War Information radio broadcasts made from of politics, history, media stud- (OWl) and the Psychological Nazi Germany by P.G. Wode- ies, literature, art history, and Warfare Division (PWD), and house, whose reputation has sociology, as well as general those that succeeded them in a never recovered from the blem- interest. shifting network of domestic and ish of his ill-judged satire, with overseas organisations domi- the tragedy of 'Tokyo Rose.' Michael Gilmore- Sur- nated by the Central Intelligence Also known as 'Orphan Annie - Agency (CIA) and the US Con- your favourite enemy,' she was face and Depth: The gress House Committee on Un- not a real person, but the name Quest for Legibility in American Activities. The inclu- US servicemen gave, apparently American Culture sive approach is attentive to the affectionately, to the voice of a global dimensions of the audi- dozen Japanese women who Oxford Uni- ences of American propaganda, broadcast their radio messages versity Press, and recounts the remarkably of wistful demoralisation to the 2003. 217pp. varied, and sometimes bizarre homesick Gl’s in the Pacific. One I S B N efforts to win over these audi- of the women, Iva Ikuko Toguri 0195313240 ences (mainly against Soviet d'Aquino, was hunted down by Reviewed by competitors) in South East Asia, the American government after And re w the Middle East, Africa and Latin the war, and served ten years in Jones America. prison. Gilmore’s The only limit to this breadth of There are gaps, of course. The provocative coverage is the bias towards the vibrant expressions of America's work at- twentieth century. This reasona- counter-culture, spreading be- tempts to unravel a common bly reflects the expansion of yond the anti-Vietnam war thread running through the mass communications media movement into the causes of American skein, one which he during this period and the much psychedelic 'consciousness rais- titles “legibility”: the desire for greater role played by public ing,' radical feminism and gay transparency and revelation and opinion in political life. Inevita- rights during the 1970s, are un- a continuing tension between bly, the Second World War and der-represented, given the ex- revealing and subsuming the the Cold War period provide the tent to which these have un- titular “depths” below the principal arenas of ideological doubtedly shaped our views of “surface”. He adeptly traces this conflict. But the dictionary does the world, and the ways we through classic American litera- include earlier contexts, with might express them. Entries un- ture ( The Scarlet Letter , Moby interesting entries covering the der the general headings of film, Dick and Cooper’s Leatherstock- American Revolution, Abolition- radio and television outline the ing tales amongst others) and ism, the Civil War, the Spanish- propaganda uses of these me- founding documents (The Decla- American War, and many exam- dia, but there is no comparable ration of Independence as illumi- ples of political journalism and entry on the emergence of the nating the machinations of state literature from the eighteenth Internet as a tool of political and John Winthrop’s sermon on and nineteenth centuries. communication. the Arbella as espousing the Beyond the activities of state Nevertheless, the approach of visible “city on a hill”) and bureaucracies, the production of the dictionary is one of unfussy places these alongside historical propaganda is recognised in the inclusiveness, revealing not only developments, i.e. the emer- battles fought by the grass- the dark works of repressive gence of movies contemporane- roots, voluntary organisations state propaganda, but also the ously to the acceptance of psy- which have clamoured from all remarkable energy, creativity, choanalysis (technological sur- points on the political spectrum. and often, sheer daftness of the faces vs. psychological depths) This makes for some strange modern world's political imagi- and the emergence of Land- bedfellows: the Ku Klux Klan, nation. scape as “ocular mastery of the the Sons of Liberty, and the physical environment” (p. x) Almost every entry is accompa- Catholic Church. What might we Gilmore’s approach hovers be- nied by a 'further reading' list of learn by comparing the discur- tween a classic myth-and- books and journal articles, and sive strategies of these different symbol reading of American there is a select bibliography, a bodies? Under what other cate- Culture and a more contextual chronology of important events

cultural analysis. Indeed, Gil- ceal them in The Scarlet Letter ? Native American Architec- more is quick to dismiss the for- How are these different and ture mer approach by relying on a similar to the “depths” of less imagistic and more experi- Freud’s id and superego? Gil- While European settlers did not ential model (his use of Freud is more neglects to address these always recognise or appreciate striking in this regard) thus ne- issues head-on and as such it is their efforts, Native American gating some of Bruce Kucklic’s unclear if there are many differ- groups had long preceded them lauded criticisms of myth-and- ent conceptions of “depth” in shaping the land for human symbol as a more visual mode throughout American culture or habitation. of analysis that can often lead to (less plausibly) whether the act It is impossible to single out why conclusions which bear a tenu- of exploration is the common a native dwelling looked and ous relation at best to . trope he is illuminating. Per- worked the way it did. The in- haps, though, Gilmore’s reti- Overall, Gilmore’s argument is digenous natives responded to cence to give a distinct answer powerful and lucid, but a few the climate around them and to these questions confirms his criticisms remain. By resurrect- made the most of natural build- point: the act of revelation and ing the idea of a shared Ameri- ing materials at hand. The evolu- seeking as process and empiri- can culture, Gilmore problemati- tion of a particular habitation cal exploration is just as impor- cally relies on canonical works was also affected by social or- tant as the revelation itself. Sur- of American fiction to elucidate ganisation, patterns of gathering face and Depth thus emerges as his claims. Although he ac- food, religious life and cultural a work whose intriguing thesis knowledges that this is his train- history. has much room for future explo- ing as a literature professor, ration. Staking a claim and shaping readers might wonder if the space thread of “legibility” might run American Architectural through more popular cultural In contrast, the first European forms also. History: a contemporary settlers, in what is now the reader (2004), Keith L. United States, saw the American While still thought-provoking, Eggener, landscape as virgin territory, raw the last chapter of Surface and and undeveloped. As environ- Depth seems to peter out rather Routledge mental historian John R.Stilgoe too abruptly. His corollary to the and Taylor demonstrates, the grid provided otherwise noble quest within Francis, Lon- the Europeans with one of their American letters to render the don and first and most successful tools machinations of society and New York. for ordering space. The grid de- government legible is that this sign of a mercantile city like legibility becomes both sublimi- ISBN 0-415- Philadelphia became the tem- nally and physically occluded 30695-7 plate for shaping other cities, (“illegible”, or indeed (Paperback) towns and territories across the “invisible”) when addressing the pp 1-450. American continent. Everybody presence of African-Americans Reviewed by recognises checkerboard Amer- within American culture. Can a Dr Robert ica. Like a great geometrical car- quest for legibility entail erasure MacDonald. pet, like a Mondrian painting, and obfuscation? Gilmore pro- the United States west of the vides some interesting readings “There is a new architectural Appalachians is ordered in a of Philip Roth’s The Human history to be written, and there vast grid. William Penn intro- Stain , Ralph Ellison’s Invisible is an old architectural history to duced the grid to the English Man and Frederick Douglass’ be rewritten .” John Coolridge, colonies in 1681, when he di- Narrative but falls into the myth- 1942. rected his agents and surveyors and-symbol trap by neglecting As if in renewed response to to lay out a city in Pennsylvania. to provide sound historical evi- Coolridge’s words, a new history Philadelphia was city by inten- dence to bolster his assertions. of American architecture has tion not accident. William Penn Given the strength of contextual emerged during the past four did not invent the grid - the forays in his other chapters, this decades. American Architectural towns of New Spain were or- is a disappointing elision, as is History is a collection of twenty- dered about a plaza and streets the consideration of gender ine- four previously published writ- intersecting at right angles. quality as something rendered ings, on subjects ranging from invisible also. Building the American colonial to contemporary times Dream What is also lacking in Gil- and representing a diverse more’s text is a solid definition group of individuals, sites, ob- The first essays deal with church of his central terms including jects, issues, events and schol- design and construction in “legibility”, “surface” and arly teachers of American archi- Spanish New Mexico; space in “depth”. Is Hester Prynne work- tecture and cultural history. parish churches, courtyards and ing to reveal “depths” or con- dwellings in colonial Virginia.

Building the American republic transportation and electronic History is discussed through the planta- communication and their effect tion landscape, the first architec- in breaking down the connective tural professionals and the mas- tissues and stable geographical Decision at Sea by Craig ter buildings of the Greek Re- relations of the city as tradition- L. Symonds. vival. ally conceived. Sorkin expresses alarm over the new obsession Oxford Uni- To the majority of citizens in the with security and surveillance, versity early Republic the ideal Ameri- the subsequent rise in new mod- Press, 2005. can house was an independent els of segregation and the homestead. This rural home, like ISBN hard- blandly simulated, themed na- the family for whom it was de- back 01951 ture of so much contemporary signed was considered the basis 7145 4, pa- architecture and urban design. for America’s strength and pro- perback gress. The regular homestead In a polemical essay, the Marxist 01953 1211 plan, the grid and the skyscraper social historian Mike Davies pro- 2. pp.378. resulted in the archetypical vides a critique of downtown List price: American city, Chicago. Daniel Los Angeles as it was develop- Hardback: Bluestone’s essay “A city under ing in the 1980’s. Davies de- £17.99, one roof: Chicago skyscrapers scribes this environment as a $30.00, paperback £10.99, 1880-1895” is an especially fasci- battlefield of class struggle. He $17.95. nating account of the history of finds that real public space in Reviewed by Daniel McKay, Uni- the skyscraper. Los Angeles is nearly gone; versity of Canterbury genuine democracy is in a state Even before skyscrapers took of shambles, security and priva- In the foreword to this work, possession of the down town tisation are on the rise and the Thomas B. Buell cites “fighting cityscape, Chicagoans had wor- poor and underclass are on the spirit” as the most desirable and ried about the scale of commer- run through sadistically de- consistent feature of American cial buildings. Sigfried Gideon signed street environments. naval commanders (xvii). and Carl W. Conduit pioneered Something of this original forti- serious architectural history of The final collection, by journalist tude must have transferred itself the Chicago skyscraper in the Marc Spiegler, discusses the to Craig Symonds’ storytelling 1940’s and 1950’s. increasingly troubled relation- when he wrote Decision at Sea . ship between major interna- Any reader on American archi- If there is one feature which dis- tional airports (eg Chicago’s tectural history would be incom- tinguishes this text, it lies in the O’Hare) and the city they pur- plete without Frank Lloyd author’s capacity to strike the portedly serve. Typical major Wright’s Prairie House, first un- right balance between an ap- airports, like O’Hare, have be- veiled in 1901. This “city man’s pealingly smooth read, devoid come virtually independent self- country house on the prairie” of unintelligible jargon, and an contained communities. Like was recognised as the first reali- adherence to the text’s central scores of shopping malls, office sation of his suburban domestic goal. This goal, put simply, is to parks and highway strips across ideal. Wright and his works are identify how five naval battles, the United States, O’Hare pro- icons of modern architecture. central to United States history, vides the focal point of an edge The Guggenheim Museum and “reflect the dramatic changes in city. Sprawling and placeless; Falling Water are very well America’s conception of itself as drawing life and business away known. Wright was also influen- a nation and its proper role in from downtown, they are based tial in Germany and LeCorbusier the world” (323). These five on convenience rather than cul- was certainly aware of him, battles, each occupying a chap- ture or community. without acknowledging it. Far ter, are: The Battle of Lake Erie more significant than these early In conclusion, we see the view (against the British in 1813); The influences was the dissemina- of the ongoing reconceptualisa- Battle of Hampton Roads (during tion of Wright’s ideas through tion and reconfiguration of the the Civil War in 1862); The Battle Dutch architecture in the 1900’s. American city, in the emergence of Manila Bay (against Spain in of a new generic landscape. This 1898); The Battle of Midway Deconstruction of the Ameri- contemporary reader usefully (against the Japanese in 1942); can City collects together a number of and Operation Praying Mantis In the 1990’s there has been interesting essays on modern- (during the Gulf War in 1988). ism, postmodernism, the battle widespread concern about the Though not entirely devoid of for the Vietnam Veterans Memo- shifting character and quality of historical deliberation, Decision rial, Los Angeles and O’Hare American urban life particularly at Sea remains solid in its atten- International Airports. In all, they around public space. Michael tion to narrative rather than criti- provide a thoughtful and schol- Sorkin, in “ The New American cal theory. Indeed, readers who arly body of work, which should City ” identifies a number of approach Symonds’ book ex- themes occupying centre stage be of interest to American cul- in 1990’s urban studies. He tural and architectural histori- writes about the rise of rapid ans. 60

pecting a lengthy defence of a or more of the battles Decision als of southern papers during particular historical model will at Sea examines, then this will the secession crisis to long- find him unforthcoming in that prove a thorough and accessible running debates over the eman- regard. No more inclined to text for complementing a cipation of slaves, all the major reveal the ontological premise of broader study. issues of the war are brought his study than he is to expose vividly to life. Featuring extracts the innards of a steam engine, it Andrew S. Coopersmith, from over 80 newspapers from is enough for Symonds that Fighting Words: An Il- 18 states, the author’s extensive each goes forward under sound lustrated History of research is immediately appar- and steady propulsion. In this ent. respect, he confirms himself as a Newspaper Accounts of That the book succeeds so well highly engaging writer whose the Civil War. is testament to Coopersmith’s book, while not challenging any well chosen newspaper extracts established historical notions, The New and the effective historical challenges every study with its Press, 2004 analysis through which he pro- readability. To accomplish this, ISBN vides context for the issues. Par- Symonds devotes his primary 1595581413 ticularly effective is the author’s attentions to technological de- discussion of emancipation, velopments in the military, Reviewed by highlighting how discussion on Washington politics and their Gary Smith, the issue evolved and was often repercussions, the battle ac- Department shaped by the political, geo- counts themselves, and charac- of History, graphical or ethnic position of ter studies. Technicalities, such University of newspapers and their editors as how guns were fired on Lake Dundee. Erie (66) and how fighter planes In the twenty-first century, with In contrast to the crowded col- took off from World War II air- countless television channels, umns of Civil War newspapers, craft carriers (232-3), are all ex- internet sites and other forms of the production of this book im- plained well. We also learn of technology helping ensure that presses, well laid out text inter- how developments in battle the- the latest news and information spersed with effective reproduc- ory informed the combatants’ are always within our grasp, the tions of period illustrations. A advancements against each importance of newspapers has fascinating glimpse into contem- other. For example, it is inter- been rather undermined. In a porary reports of the Civil War, esting to learn that the concept society where instant results are Fighting Words is highly recom- of industrial secrecy did not ex- increasingly demanded, news- mended for every scholar of the ist in the Civil War and thus both papers seem to have been su- Civil War. Readers will be left in North and South knew, through perseded, increasingly out of no doubt as to the power of the the newspapers, what the other touch with the desires of their press, a significant combatant side was manufacturing (98). readers. on both the home and military This resulted in the accelerated front. development of armoured war- Such a situation is in stark con- ships on both sides, although trast to that of the American Civil Joel Silbey. Storm Over the North’s industrial supremacy War, as Andrew Coopersmith Texas: The Annexation eventually won out just as it did convincingly shows in his excel- by the end of World War II. lent new work. With a populace Controversy and the hungry for news of the rapidly Road to Civil War. As one might expect, naval his- changing conflict, newspapers torians and the Boy’s Own Oxford: Ox- took on a vital importance. At crowd will both find this text of ford Univer- the start of the Civil War there interest. Footnotes are made sity Press, were over 3,700 newspapers in sparingly and Symonds is also 2005. 230 publication within America, with highly selective in his quota- pp. ISBN 0- the dailies having a combined tions, more often than not leav- 19-513944-5. circulation of 1.4 million. As Co- ing these as afterthoughts rather opersmith argues, this ensures Reviewed by than evidence. Although the that if we want to view events as Matthew final chapter gets weighed down the people of that time did, we Smith somewhat by the inevitable ter- have to look at the newspapers minology surrounding hi-tech that they read. February 28, warfare, there is also ready ma- 1844. In one terial for those seeking a com- To support his argument Coop- of those odd parative analysis of present-day ersmith has drawn together a accidents hostilities in Iraq with the events large variety of newspapers that give violent shape to his- of the first Gulf War. In sum, from both ends of the political tory, a muzzle loading cannon should any teacher or scholar spectrum, spanning north to aboard the USS Princeton ex- have a particular interest in one south. From the frenzied editori- ploded in clear view of President

John Tyler. Several bystanders tory. While readers may object Freedom From Fear: The died instantly, including the Sec- to powder keg explanations or retary of State, Abel Upshur. A monocausal theories of the Civil American People in De- pleasure cruise down the Poto- War’s origins, Texas annexation pression and War, 1929- mac provides a tragic turning does offer a solid foundation 1945 (The Oxford His- point in Joel Silbey’s concise from which to understand the and compelling Storm Over vehemence of antebellum sec- tory of the United Texas . Upshur’s death led to the tionalism. The disintegration of States) David M. Ken- emergence of Southern fire- the Union is played out from nedy. brand John C. Calhoun in Tyler’s 1844 to close via the Mexican- cabinet, during the 1844 election American war and its aftermath, Oxford Uni- year. Secretary Calhoun “clearly, through the political peaks and versity Press, deliberately, and optimistically troughs that accompanied the 2001. ISBN fanned the flames of sectional spread of slavery and free soil, paperback 0- tensions,” (43) using the then and the pyrotechnic meltdown 19-514403-1, white-hot Texas annexation de- of the Democratic Party. Bleed- pp. 936. List bate to do so. As early as 1836, ing Kansas, Dred Scott, and the price: £15.00. New Englander John Quincy Compromise of 1850 are not Reviewed by Adams saw in the Texas rebel- diminished as contributive fac- Dr. Wendy lion a conspiracy of slaveholding tors by Silbey’s account but the Toon. Ameri- interests (48.) The sectional cri- Texas controversy serves to in- can Studies sis, begun through annexation, terpret the chaotic nexus of Course in time brought down the Union, events leading to war. Those Leader, University of Worcester. according to Silbey. Calhoun looking for social history should emerges sinisterly, upsetting look elsewhere: this is politics as This single-volume edition, tak- “everyone’s applecart” in writ- national drama, intersected by ing its title from FDR’s famous ing to warn the British ambassa- electoral intermissions and Con- 1941 speech, argues that the two dor against Crown interference gressional soliloquies. There key crises, the Depression and in American affairs. Texas, ar- are no obvious heroes, although the Second World War, created gues Calhoun, must be joined to Martin van Buren and Stephen a climate of fear which the Roo- the Union: the United States Douglas are treated sympatheti- sevelt administration attempted government must negotiate an- cally, both for their loyalty to to overcome through a variety of nexation “in order to preserve a Jacksonian Democracy and their policies aimed at providing se- domestic institution” (41.) In various attempts to bridge an curity. Kennedy considers that seven mischievous words, Cal- ever-widening North-South di- this drive for security, both do- houn hijacked Tyler’s electoral vide. Storm Over Texas articu- mestic and international, charac- platform on behalf of the slave- lates the complexities of the de- terized the Rooseveltian re- holding South. scent into war, but does so al- sponse and hoped to secure for most exclusively from a Con- the American people one of the The book begins with a pro- gressional perspective. More main “four freedoms.” He high- phetic statement by New York seen from the Texas side of the lights the New Deal’s shortcom- Congressman Daniel Barnard: border would have added bal- ings, contradictions and failures “as certain as truth and God ance and contrast to Silbey’s and teases out the variety of exist, the admission of Texas thesis. Nevertheless, he has determinants in American World into the Union will prove, sooner written a first-class introduction War II strategy. Context is em- or later, an element of over- to the annexation crisis: “a sud- phasized and the author at- whelming ruin to the republic” den, resounding fire bell in the tempts to give a feel of the times (xviii.) This serves to fore- night, one that rang… with more in which the specific events took shadow Silbey’s elegantly sim- effect, than any that had pre- place. Although this volume’s ple thesis. He points to the de- ceded it” (181.) focus is firmly on the American mon of sectional animosity experience it does also consider unleashed by annexation, filling the other side, as it were, the vacuum of Jacksonian-era whether that be the Republicans, national politics. He treats with the British, the Soviets, the some skepticism Polk’s reputa- Japanese or the Germans. tion as “Young Hickory”—the heir to the Jacksonian throne. This book’s main achievement is Nowhere was Polk’s Southern the way in which it weaves bias more evident than in his seamlessly through the various willingness to go to war with aspects that shaped the Ameri- Mexico over the shape of the can experience in these two piv- Texan border, while compromis- otal decades. With a lightness ing with Britain over the extent of touch, particularly in the first of the free soil of Oregon Terri- half of this volume, Kennedy

deals with the full gamut of life. of bringing the past to life in all tained and there is a welcome The written style is sophisticated its fascinating detail. Although sense that the author has not yet accessible for undergradu- daunting in its size, the years do tried too hard to keep her chap- ates and above. As reader, you fly by. ter headings overly discrete; are carried at pace through some issues, such as the dra- these years by an entertaining Rebecca Edwards, New matic development of rail travel, and colourful narrative that Spirits: Americans in the appear influential in a variety of binds the often complicated and Gilded Age, 1865-1905 issues. sweeping events together. Free- Edwards’s central argument is dom from Fear provides the Oxford: Ox- that the latter part of the nine- reader with interesting portraits ford Univer- teenth century ushered in a fun- of the main players in American sity Press, damentally modern era in Amer- and world history in the 1930s 2006) ica, and in many cases initiated and 1940s. Their careers are the social and cultural antago- woven into the narrative from ISBN nisms that would come to domi- the start, with the clever opening 0195147294 nate the explosive twentieth in which key figures from vari- Pp. 296. century. Her approach is fre- ous countries are linked at the quently light-footed and anecdo- end of World War One. Chap- Reviewed by tal, with a narrative voice that ters that focus on the often Mark Storey, revels in the characters and at- rather dry topic of military his- School of mosphere of the time, yet she tory are still written in a lively American ensures it never becomes trivial manner and engaging. The fo- and Canadian Studies, Univer- by including some fairly arrest- cus on “people” however is per- sity of Nottingham ing facts and statistics. She is haps uneven. There is surpris- Edwards makes clear in her in- just as keen to include tables ingly little on the people (as in troduction that she is more inter- that breakdown the data of general populace) in the discus- ested in tracing the defining school enrolment age, or de- sion of the Second World War. themes and narratives of this scribe the origins of factions Despite this, examination of the transformative period of Ameri- within American Judaism, as important actors and statesmen can history – whether cultural, she is to recount the story of a is fleshed out with biographical political, economic or social – party thrown by the Vanderbilt details presumably in an attempt than producing a coolly chrono- family in their new $3 million to emphasize that they were logical procession of names and home (roughly $43 million to- people too. These portraits are dates. This is the same approach day), where they spent a quarter further coloured with their re- taken by Alan Trachtenberg in of a million dollars on food and flections on each other. this book’s most obvious prede- decorations. Along with a read- The author often exploits an cessor, The Incorporation of able and fluent writing style, the interesting collection of both America (1982), but what marks book is never less than engag- primary and secondary sources. them apart is Edwards’ decision ing, and at times offers fascinat- There is a clear awareness of to emphasise the increasing ra- ing and illuminating accounts of alternative interpretations for cial tensions within society, fre- the events and trends that many of the key events that quently citing the diverse and marked the period. shaped these two vital decades. often tragic experiences of Euro- The main drawback of such an Kennedy tests and challenges pean, Chinese and Mexican im- approach, of course, is that the some of the historiographical migrants as well as African period itself – forty intensely understandings of this period. Americans and Native Ameri- eventful years – can become However, much of the secon- cans. The book divides into rather homogenised, and at dary information is based on three sections: the first deals times any sense of causal devel- what would be considered clas- with political and economic up- opment or progression is lost. A sic but perhaps now slightly heavals, with an understandable more serious complaint for re- dated volumes. Footnotes, emphasis on the legacies of the searchers is the lack of referenc- maps, photographs, cartoons Civil War, while the second ing: Edwards does not acknowl- and posters support the discus- traces developments in social edge her sources in footnotes or sion. A comprehensive index and intellectual life, ranging endnotes, frustrating any at- and illuminating bibliographical from science and religion to sex- tempts to follow up on useful or essay are also included. The ual behaviour and youth culture. interesting points, and quotes bibliographical essay points to a The final section focuses on the are frequently dropped anony- wide range of additional reading conflicts, both national and in- mously into the text. There are, and further exemplifies Ken- ternational, that troubled and however, some useful sugges- nedy’s extensive knowledge of sometimes threatened to con- tions for further reading at the his chosen period. In summary, sume America during the time. end of each chapter, and the Freedom from Fear is a great As is always the case, these book does have a superb accom- example of the historians’ craft themes cannot be neatly con-

63 panying website with a wealth plentiful supply, but serious contextualized, against the back- of materials as well as some scholarly analyses of the politics drop of Ku Klux Klan lynching useful timelines, all of which of the period are less numer- and social unrest. goes some way in making up for ous.’ [2] He cites the overlooking This highly effective book suc- these shortfalls. The inclusion of of this period to be premature, cessfully differentiates between a ‘Questions for discussion’ sec- and sets his book apart from the Harding and Coolidge ad- tion at the end of the book sug- others by not dealing with the ministrations, Harding’s policies gests this is a text aimed more Wall Street Crash, thus avoiding often proving divisive and radi- at undergraduates, but its fasci- the trap of seeing the Twenties cal in their treatment of race, the nating array of facts and Ed- as ‘one long prelude to the Great World Court, shipping subsides, wards’s ability to produce a lu- Depression.’ [2] The result of disarmament and the veteran’s cid and occasionally compelling this is that Palmer is able to offer bonus, Coolidge on the other narrative from such an era of an original and fascinating hand emerging as a conserva- complex change means this analysis of Harding, whom he tive leader ‘undisturbed by book would be valuable reading refers to as an ‘underrated presi- changing political and social for anyone with an interest in dent’ [3] As well as succinctly realities.’[180] The concision and post-Civil War America. examining the traditional Twen- clarity of the narrative should ties themes of prohibition, the make this important book in- Niall Palmer, The Twen- post-war era, and racial unrest, valuable to scholars and stu- Palmer details Harding’s battle ties in America: Politics dents alike. and History, to stabilize the nation, but the unwillingness of his people to Historical Dictionaries of Edinburgh: Edin- see things his way, forced into burgh University seeking ‘unsatisfactory compro- U.S. Historical Eras Press, 2006) ISBN mises.’ [37] The often confusing Lanham, Md. 0748620370 and divisive issue of The Emer- The Scare- gency Quotas Act - which put a Reviewed by James crow Press No. cap on the thousands of immi- 3: Historical Fountain, University grants flooding into the US - is of Glasgow Dictionary of clearly explained, and once Revolutionary Niall Palmer’s book more, Harding defended, and America, is the most recent in a long line Palmer shows the reader the Terry M Mays of text scrutinizing one of the impossible task this President (2005) ISBN 0- most important decades in the faced in implementing his own 8108-5389-2, history of the United States. ideology – shown to be attempt- Hardback. Unlike any of his predecessors, ing to promote equality, upon Pages: 379. however, Palmer chooses to the distrustful, prejudiced mem- List Price: focus his narrative upon the two bers of both his cabinet and na- $72.00 No. 5: Presidential administrations of tion at that time. Historical Dictionary of the Early the period, Harding and Coo- America’s links with the outside American Republic, Richard Buel lidge. This move, in itself adds a world are deftly examined in a Jr. (2006) ISBN: 0-8108-5080-X. clarity to the analysis essentially chapter on foreign policy, as is Pages: 395. List Price: $92.00 missing in similar studies by the stalling of normalcy with the Reviewed by John Wedgwood Colin Gordon, David J. Gold- death of Harding, and the acces- berg, Alan Brinkley and George Pound MA (Dunelm) Ph.D Stu- sion of Coolidge. Consistently dent, University of Birmingham. E. Mowry. Arguably the most referring to newspapers and accessible and detailed of all the journals of the time, Palmer il- The Historical Dictionaries of US texts previously available on lustrates the disparity between Historical Eras is a marvellous Twenties America were Paul A. popular opinion and the political series, and these two constituent Carter’s two publications, The efforts of Harding and Coolidge. volumes are gems. Together Twenties in America (1969) and Sections on ‘Culture and Soci- they span the years 1763-1829, Another Part of the Twenties ety’ between political descrip- covering social, economic, and (1977). But even these do not tion keep the reader informed of political matters, domestic and match Palmer’s concision and the literary and artistic activities foreign insofar as they impact balance – regarding an often as they occurred, which nicely on the former, in well organised, controversial and volatile era of contextualizes the work of frus- sufficiently detailed, and cross- American politics, where bal- trated writers such as John Dos referenced encyclopaedic entries. ance and impartiality are neces- Passos: ‘who railed at the shrink- Each volume benefits from an sary tools for an historian if his ing status of the ‘ant-like’ indi- introductory scoping essay, reader is to make any sense of it. vidual before the might of giant chronology, and an outstanding, Palmer addresses this issue in factories and corporations.’ [112] most comprehensive Biblio- his Introduction: ‘Published The growth of jazz and black graphic survey which includes works on the Twenties are in American writing is equally well digital sources.

May’s Revolutionary America “Era of Good Feelings” to an raises fascinating ‘what ifs’ in does not address in detail the account of the Battle of Lundy’s the mind of the reader at every Revolutionary War – this is dealt Lane in July 1814 during the turn. with in a further volume, how- invasion of Canada; from the What, for example, would have ever the issues that provoked Temperance Movement to the been the outcome of World War colonial opposition, and the 1798 Sedition Act. Again, every II if a few influential Americans, course of this resistance is conceivable fact of policy, poli- notably the dashing Billy traced from the mid 1760s tics, and history is cited and con- Mitchell and the occasionally through to ratification of the textualised. terrifying ‘Hap’ Arnold, had not Constitution. Every step is A particularly useful feature in incessantly pushed for the crea- charted through the Dictionary’s this volume is an account of tion of a U.S. Air Force in the succinct yet informative entries every Presidential Election dur- years after the First World War? on British Acts of Parliament, ing the period, in addition to And what would have happened colonial protests, committees, Administration details for each if Arnold’s team of hand-picked political initiatives, and conven- President provided in the Ap- officers, led by Ira Eaker, had tions – all dealt with efficiently, pendix. been shot down off Portugal in constituting a particular strength 1942, as nearly happened, when of the work. These volumes will prove to be they were on their way to take invaluable to students at ad- Biographical and topographical up their duties in Britain? vanced, undergraduate, and entries are written in relation to postgraduate level, providing as Miller’s other qualities on dis- the overarching theme, as are they do valuable information for play here will be well-known to entries on foreign countries, reference, context and, indeed those who have seen him in ac- thus “France/Spain/China…and engaging material for just tion: his narrative enthusiasm, Revolutionary America.” The ‘dipping into’. Whilst the price and his treasure trove of sheer biographical vignettes are com- will perhaps render them unat- information. Combined, they prehensive, going beyond the tainable for some students, li- make it a fascinating read, both headline figures; influential indi- braries should certainly ensure for academics and enthusiasts. viduals outside the period, such that sufficient copies are stocked. as John Locke and Edward Coke Miller’s deep compassion for the are also included. Masters of the Air by young American airmen makes their experience vivid, through Appendices in this volume lists Donald L. Miller, detailed interviews with those signatories to the Articles of who were there. (Miller’s own Confederation, the Declaration Simon & father was a WW2 fighter pilot, of Independence and attendees Schuster and you have the sense that the at the 1787 Constitutional Con- ISBN 0 historian is paying his dues to vention – all of whom have dedi- 743235444 that generation.) cated articles within the body of (to be pub- the work. lished The human element is never that far away. Miller does not Buel’s Early Republic volume shortly in forget the victims and survivors takes a similar approach, which the UK un- of such raids as Dresden (there is no less successful – every con- der the title are interviews with those too), ceivable entry on matters con- ‘Eighth Air nor the other American military cerning the challenges facing Force, who were taken prisoner, such the new republic, Hamilton’s American as Kurt Vonnegut. He links Financial Programme, commer- Bomber Crews in Britain’) these vivid accounts with the cial expansion to foreign rela- Reviewed by Sue Wedlake, U.S. intense debate which raged tions, embracing the fall of the Embassy, London among the Allies over precision Federalists, Jeffersonian Amer- bombing versus blind bombing, ica and major development in What retrospectively looks like a and the agonising decision the country through to John foregone conclusion, or at least (which went right back to Quincy Adams. Major themes a smooth narrative, rarely feels Mitchell) over whether civilians are embraced through overarch- like that to the people living it. should ever be targeted. ing summary articles such as This is especially true of war. ‘Territorial Expansion’ and The best history brings out this My own favourite factoid (out of ‘Economic Development…1789- quality of surprise and confu- many in the book) is the notion 1829’, further augmented by, for sion, and of fate seeming to turn of Billy Mitchell that fighter pi- instance, in this example, dis- on sometimes trivial decisions, lots would be the modern crete articles on areas of finan- so that the reader lives it along equivalent of ‘the armoured cial policy. with the protagonists, and un- knights of the Middle Ages’, the derstands it all the better. Don- Few representing the many, and The breadth is impressive, from ald L Miller’s book Masters of putting their lives on the line on a description of the so-called the Air does this, in spades. It their behalf, to save widespread

65 slaughter. clared wars, rebellions and in- surrections. In the eighteenth It’s an interesting connection, As well as giving the stage to century Americans were at war and like much in this book, not high profile statements, the arti- more than at peace. Between something I had heard before. I cles explore broad social cur- 1700 and 1800 Americans en- wonder if Churchill ever heard rents and the interactions be- gaged in seventeen separate it? tween everyday life and war. conflicts and rebellions.' These There is an admirably lucid lay- conflicts, involving civilian mili- Americans at War: Soci- out in the presentation of tias as well as an increasingly themes which enables us to fol- ety, Culture, and the professionalised army, prepared low the larger stories: The near Homefront, by John P. the nation for the Civil War destruction of American Indians, (1861-1865), 'America's second Resch, the suppression of Mexico and revolution.' Central America, and the racial Macmillan The four volumes are arranged battles fought in the journey 2005 ISBN 0 in chronological sections: 1500- from slavery to integration. Re- 02 865993 7 1815; 1816-1900; 1901-1945; counted, for example, is the Reviewed by 1946-the recent present. They story of the mass migration of Toby Clark include 395 articles, each with a African-American populations bibliography. Every volume has from the rural South to the in- Americans a glossary, a chronology, and a dustrial cities, notably Chicago at War ex- generous collection of primary and Detroit, which followed the amines the source documents drawn from Civil War, and which accelerated impact of acts of Congress, court case during the industrialisation of war on the statements, memos, speeches, the 1920s and 1930s. This migra- social, cul- declarations, unofficial manifes- tion of people and their labour tural, economic and political life toes, and excerpts from litera- was born of conflict and warfare, of America from the period of ture, songs, personal letters and and also fed off (and fed) the the first European colonisation journals. The chronological ar- means of war; for these were the to the present. The emphasis is rangement provides a strong centres of the industrial produc- not on the immediate activities narrative structure, while the tion of military hardware, and of warfare itself, so we do not synoptic outline of entries in- they became recruiting grounds find a preoccupation with cam- cluded in each volume allows for the labourers of war, serving paign strategies, battle tactics or the reader to follow the develop- and dying in the two world wars, weapon technologies. Instead, ment of a particular theme as well as Vietnam and Iraq. the focus is much broader: so- across the centuries. cial and political themes cover Can it be true - and we're asked the economy, industry, the con- The inclusion of the primary the question here, I think - that stitution, patriotism, national source texts is a particularly America's most enduring sym- identity, civil liberties, dissent, valuable resource, making this bols and narratives of national race, gender, and the family. both a reference book and a key identity and unity have been Cultural themes cover media, text reader. It includes some of generated by warfare waged not literature, music, the visual arts, the iconic landmarks of Ameri- only against other nations and and cinema. What emerges is a can political rhetoric, like Lin- ideologies (such as Cold War picture of the extent to which coln's - 'this nation, under God, communism, and now, armed every area of life has been shall have a new birth of free- Islamic fundamentalism), but shaped by war. In its quiet and dom' −Gettysburg Address of also against its own people? We understated way - there's no 1865, and John F. Kennedy's - might think so, having recently gung-ho rhetoric here, or any 'Ask not what America will do seen, for example, those pic- other obvious agenda - it pro- for you' - inaugural address of tures of National Guardsmen poses, perhaps, that we under- 1961. Each text is introduced carrying machine guns into the stand America (and maybe any with a useful commentary ex- flooded streets of New Orleans. other country) through its his- plaining its context, and the se- Maybe - but the collection of tory of war. lection sets up some illuminat- articles in these volumes also ing comparisons: JFK (and his reveals the rich traditions of This isn't overtly theorised in the speechwriters) knowingly recy- American pacifism, compassion introductory essays, but is sup- cle Lincoln's Biblical exhorta- and dissent. ported by a simple recounting of tions, while Paul Robeson's 1956 facts; as the preface to the first Americans at War has a well- testimony to the House Un- volume tells us, 'Between 1607 organised collection of articles American Activities Committee and 1700, apart from frontier and primary texts, and brings Hearing echoes the indignation skirmishes, raids, and am- with it a thought-provoking of the 1845 autobiography Nar- bushes, colonists from South premise. Unfortunately, it's let rative of the Life of Frederick Carolina to New England were down by the sloppy handling of Douglass: An American Slave. engaged in over a score of de- illustrations, often omitting the

artists' names and, more impor- accounts of the Vietnam War is Kaufman, Will, The Civil tantly, the dates of the images. given new life through his focus Some illustrations are contem- on the My Lai massacre. That War in American Culture porary with the events depicted, the American people have not Edinburgh: Edin- while others are later interpreta- been good at recognising the burgh University tions, so that, for example, inci- Vietnamese victims is much ma- Press, 2006 dents in the American Revolu- ligned amongst certain scholars tion are illustrated with kitsch of the Vietnam War, but Oliver’s ISBN 0748619356 R nineteenth and twentieth cen- account implies a much more eviewed by Tracy tury graphic art, and the extent subtle, albeit no less thorough, Rex, American to which these depictions were disregard of the Vietnamese Studies Depart- shaped by their later contexts is who were killed both at My Lai ment, University of not examined. It's disappointing and in the war more broadly. Wales, Swansea that the visual documents aren't Oliver argues that, prompted by handled as if they might be use- a desire to determine both the The American Civil War is seen ful historical evidence, and hav- cause of the massacre and to as the definitive American War, ing failed to do this, it would be identify those who were respon- possibly due to the well- better if many of the illustrations sible for it, attention was shifted documented gore and contro- had been left out. away from the details of what versy of the war which, because actually happened and, more it was recorded for generation Apart from this grumble, these importantly, from whom it hap- after generation to study, in- are handsomely produced (and pened to. Such a focus meant, creases the appeal of the conflict. expensive) volumes, written in Oliver argues, that not only were In the twentieth and twenty-first an engaging and accessible way. the victims sidelined in the way centuries media forms play a Americans at War would be of that the massacre was presented huge part in public perception of use to students of history, litera- to the American public, but that, history and with the great influx ture, American studies, war once William Calley’s trial ended of Civil War media available it is studies, and media studies, and in the early 1970s, the issue not surprising that it was and of interest to the rest of us, who could be gradually forgotten as still is such an immense cultural just want to know what the many wished the war itself phenomenon. world is made of. There is also would be. Jonathan Sutherland's African Kaufman chose to organize the Americans at War: An Encyclo- This argument forms the basis book in the following structure: pedia, 2003. for much of Oliver’s subsequent ‘Antebellum Groundwork’, which thinking about why the Ameri- discusses the role of culture in the Oliver, Kendrick. The My can media and the American pre-Civil War period; ‘Reunion and Lai Massacre in Ameri- military seem to have learned so Resistance’, which considers the nostalgic period of Reconstruction; can History and Memory. little from the way that the war was fought and reported. ‘Martyrdom and Memory’, which takes, as its central theme, a de- Manchester Oliver’s methodology, which bate about the impact of, and reac- and New weaves together three main tions to, two of the most controver- strands of historical investiga- York: Man- sially disputed characters of the tion - the news media, the mili- chester Uni- war, John Brown for the Union and tary perspective and, particularly versity Press, Stonewall Jackson for the Confed- 2006. pp. in the later chapters, popular eracy. Kaufman continues this 300; ISBN: 0- culture exemplified by a range theme of personal recollection and 7190-6891-6. of material from film, literature judgment with ‘Abe Lincoln’s Mixed and music - is comprehensive, Reviewed by Reviews’ with a reflection on the detailed and ultimately engag- impact of one of America’s posthu- Claire Stocks ing. The social and political intri- University of mously best-loved presidents from cacies of the way in which the his assassination to the tragic Oxford massacre was investigated and events of 9/11; ‘Rebels Inc.’ de- Thirty-one years after the Fall of reported are explored in a con- bates the role of the ‘Lost Cause’ Saigon, one would be forgiven vincing and thought-provoking as a motive for the white suprema- for thinking that it might be diffi- way, and this book constitutes a cist attitude still dangerously cult to say a great deal that has- significant contribution both to prevalent in America’s Southern n’t already been expressed understanding America’s mem- states; while ‘the Regendered War’ about America’s War in Viet- ory of the Vietnam War, and also takes a more progressive view of nam. However, while several of to how that memory has shaped the impact of the war, considering the broader issues that Kendrick the U.S’s subsequent military women’s writing both during and Oliver addresses have been encounters. after the conflict; ‘The Virtual Civil raised numerous times before, War’ considers the development his exploration of the ethnocen- from contemporary photographic to modern-day multimedia represen- tricity which tends to dominate

67 tations of the war; ‘The Transna- Richard Labunski, House Representatives that he tional Civil War’ inspects the inter- be national impact the war had and James Madison and the still has on both the melting-pot Struggle for the Bill of gan to show his support for a st Bill of Rights. Even then, he society that is 21 Century Amer- Rights ica and the international academic, seems to have been motivated literary and media-driven commu- Oxford; New more by votes and a desire for nity; finally Kaufman’s conclusion York: Oxford popular acceptance of the con- ‘History is my Starting Point’ con- University stitution than a genuine belief in siders the issues surrounding this Press, 2006 the necessity of amendments. national, and international obses- I S B N Once in Congress, however, sion with an event that took place 0195181050 Madison began to campaign over 140 years ago and poses wholeheartedly for a Bill of questions regarding the likely de- Reviewed by Rights that would protect and velopment of this cultural phe- Kirsten secure the rights of the Ameri- nomenon now that all Civil War Phimister can people. participants have passed away. The scope of In his account of this period, Kaufman claims to have had a Richard La- Labunski considers the critical boyhood obsession with the Civil bunski’s nature of Madison’s role and the War, an obsession he continues latest work is much broader than numerous obstacles that stood into adulthood, and it is this fasci- the title would suggest. It is less in the way of the constitution nation that compelled him to un- a study of James Madison’s and Bill of Rights being ap- dertake a journey searching for the campaign to secure the adoption proved. The author is to be cultural representations of the of a Bill of Rights than it is an praised for emphasising the dif- American Civil War that have been account of the Virginian’s role in ficulties that Federalists, Madi- prevalent since the build-up to the the drafting, ratification and son in particular, faced and the conflict in 1861. It is to Kaufman’s amending of the federal consti- extent to which ratification was credit that he omits the more well- tution. Labunski begins at the far from a foregone conclusion. known cultural expressions of the Constitutional Convention in the In a field that has been domi- Civil War, as, as he states ‘such summer of 1787; in succeeding examples have been amply cov- nated by national studies of the chapters, he considers elections ered elsewhere’; this omission ratification process, Labunski’s to the Virginia ratifying conven- allows him to uncover some of the discussion of Virginia’s pivotal tion, the extensive debates in more hidden gems of Civil War position is a useful contribution culture, and thus keep the reader that body, the elections to the to the literature. However, this enthralled as to what new curiosi- First Congress and finally, Madi- is, above all, a narrative survey ties he will uncover next . This is a son’s efforts to win the neces- and as such, it is not always suf- work that, in 163 pages, introduces sary approval for his proposed ficiently analytical. Labunski the reader to Civil War nostalgia in amendments. As Labunski him- traces, but does not satisfacto- the form of books, movies, com- self acknowledges, Madison rily explain, Madison’s conver- puter games, photography, music, originally opposed a Bill of sion from opponent to supporter public performance, personal Rights: at both the Philadelphia of amendments and, in a book memory, deep seated beliefs and and Richmond conventions he supposedly devoted to the erected monuments from both a maintained that it would be an struggle for a Bill of Rights, sur- Union and Confederate standpoint, unnecessary addition to the new prisingly little attention is paid to and which are related to both white frame of government. In a letter the extensive arguments on the and black participation, recollection to Thomas Jefferson, who was substance and extent of these and historical development, in ac- deeply concerned by the ab- rights before they were consid- cordance with the ideals of the sence of a Bill of Rights, Madi- ered in Congress. period. This brevity is both an son defended his position by advantage and disadvantage, arguing that the people retained This is an accessible, readable while it is, as the précis suggests, all rights not expressly assumed study that general readers and ‘a clearly written introduction de- by the federal government, that undergraduates might enjoy. It signed to offer students’ a state governments would main- could be useful for researchers ‘definitive short survey’ it is the tain a check on the powers of seeking an introductory survey, case that the reader is often left the national body and that but experts will probably find wanting more, and while Kaufman amendments of this nature little to engage with. does provide a detailed bibliogra- would be ineffective if they were phy, he presents such an enter- at odds with the popular will. In taining and revealing perspective this instance, a Bill of Rights on the ethos of the American Civil would be little more than a War that further development of “parchment barrier.” It was not some topics would be a welcome until Madison was threatened addition. with defeat in the election for

lin’s accomplishments: this is Edwin S. Gaustad, Ben- Gordon S. Wood, who have writ- not an account, primarily, of jamin Franklin ten monographs on the son of Franklin the scientist or Franklin Boston soap-maker who went the politician, but Franklin the Oxford; New on to become a printer, author, ambitious, inquisitive, civic- York: Oxford inventor, civic activist, politician minded polymath and his unpar- University and statesman. In recent years, alleled contribution to American Press, 2006 J. A. Leo Lemay has embarked politics and society in the eight- I S B N on the production of a seven- eenth century. Gaustad explores 0195305353 volume biography: Gaustad’s the various facets of his sub- slim offering is at the other end ject’s life and mind in surprising Reviewed by of the spectrum, in brevity if not detail, without losing sight of Kirsten in achievement. In 125 pages, Franklin’s famous wit and wis- Phimister this renowned scholar expertly dom. covers the breadth, and considers the significance, of Franklin’s This is an immensely en- The tercen- activities. Given the sheer vol- joyable read that will appeal to a tennial of ume of relevant material, it will wide audience. General readers Benjamin Franklin’s birth in 2006 not have been an easy task and seeking an accessible, engaging has prompted an outpouring of it a testament to Gaustad’s ex- introduction to the life of Benja- new scholarship on this, argua- perience and skill as a historian min Franklin would do well to bly the most famous and most that he succeeds so effortlessly. begin here. The inclusion of ex- remarkable, Founding Father. He deftly weaves Franklin’s per- tracts from Franklin’s writings at Edwin S. Gaustad is one of a sonal, professional and political the conclusion of each chapter growing list of eminent histori- life into a seamless narrative effectively illuminates the theme ans, including Edmund S. Mor- that acknowledges and carefully of each section and thereby gan, Walter Isaacson and balances the diversity of Frank- makes the volume a good choice for undergraduate teachers.

American Studies Resources Centre at John Moores University, National Museums Liverpool and North West BAAS

Issues in American History and Politics: Civil Rights, Black Nationalism and the Response of the Presidency and Supreme Court

A one day conference for teachers and students of A2 and Access American History, Politics and Media Studies Merseyside Maritime Museum, Albert Dock, Liverpool. Wednesday, November 14th 2007

Conference organised with the support of the British Association for American Studies and the Embassy of the United States of America, London. See enclosed flyer for details

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