BookReviews and Notices 427 CHARIAITJ. BanNEs,Life Narratiues of AfricanAntericans in Iowa,by Katrrna Sanders 428 SarrvA. I(rrr Crnrpsn, Cahokia:Mirror of theCosmos, by Terry A. Bamhart 429 lowa-Portraitof theLand,by Lori Vermaas 430 PAULA.JoHruscaxp, Tle Natureof Nebraska:Ecology and Biodiuersity,by John The Riseand Fall of the BoosterEthos Pearson 431 SrrpHsNIR. GRausARo,no., Minnesota, ReaI and Inugined: Essays on theState in Dubuque/1850-1861 andlts Culture, by KristinElmquist 432 PATryLopw, Indian Nations of Wisconsin:Histories of Enduranceand Renewal, by PatrickJ. Jung 434 MARKDIEDRICH, Ho-Chunk Chiefs: Winnebago Leadership in an Eraof Cisis, TnaornyR. MaHomsy bv Edward I. Pluth Brons WnrrINGYouNG, ObscrLre Belieoers: The Mormon Schism of Alpfuus Ctiler,by BarbaraHands Bemauer ON THE AFTERNOON of July 18, 1855, the citizens of Du- 436 Frovn, Writing thePioneer Woman, by JaneSimonsen ]eNul buque, Iowa, and "distinguished" railroad 438 EnasrusF. Braort, Ham,Eggs, and Corn Cake: ANebraska Tbrritory Diary,by Ryan excursionists from Roenfeld across the region gathered at a "barbeque picnic" on a hill 439 BIonNGuNNan Ostceno, ro., America-Americ a Let ter s : A N onu e gian- Ameican above town to celebrate the completion of the Illinois Central FamilyCorrespondence, byJames S. Hamre Railroad to Dunleith, Illinois, the town just across the river from Srs\,TNE. WoopwonrH, WhileGod ls MarchingOn: Tlu ReligiottsWorld of Ciail Dubuque. The picnic was the culminating event of a "railroad WarSoldiers, by Gardiner H. ShattuckJr. festival" to mark the "new birthday" of their "beloved city of Damsr D. Rrw, Housesftom Books:Treatises, Pattern Books, and Catalogs in AmeicanArchitecture, 1738-1950, A History anda Guide,by Fred W. Peterson the mines." Boosters proclaimed that Dubuque, having become Kttr,rngnrvD. ScHutor ETAL., EDS., Strangers at Home:Amish and Mennonite the western terminus of the system, stood at a critical moment Womenin History,by RachelWaltner Goossen in its history. Now was the time for all citizens to put aside their 445 FnaNGnacr, CarryA. Nation:Retelling the Lrfe, by KathleenM. Green differences to implement a booster policy that would make Du- 447 METANTESUsAN GusrersoNl, Women and the Repttblican Party, 1854-1920,by buque the great emporium and metropolis of the Northwest.' MichaelLewis Goldberg Like boosters across the urban West in the mid-1850s, Du- M9 MARvLtrrHERr WrNcsRD, Claiming the City: Politics,Faith, and thePower of Place in St.PauI, by Bill Silag buque's leaders understood that the approach of the railroad al- 450 RrnsccaCoN ARD,Benjamin Shnmbaugh and tle IntellectualFoundations of Ptfulic tered the dynamics of regional development and thus raised the History,by PagePubram Miller stakes in the competition among towns for reg"ional hegemony. 453 MARKNEUZIL, Vieuts on theMississippi: The Photographs of Henry PeterBosse,by As a result, boosters intensified their efforts to exhort towns- PatrickNunnally people to support a booster system of improvement and rail- 454JormE. Hnt-lwas,Keokuk and the Great Dam,by Joln O. Anfinson road companies working together with city government to pro- 455 Droucto NoplN VamEs,Barrios Notefios: St. Paul and Midwestern Mexican Communitiesin theTzuentieth Century, by EverardMeade mote town development. As the cost of these efforts outstripped 457 Jorn C. SKrppER,MeredithWillson: The Unsinkable Music Mnn, by fohn E. Miller 458 Maxrwr, Saaingthe Heartland: Catholic Missionaies in RuralAmerica, by frrrnw 7. DtLbuqueExpress and Herald,13, 14, 17,18,19,20,22, and27 July 1855;Robert Philip I. Nelson F Klern, ed., Dubttque:Frontier Riaer City (Dubuque, I9U), 130-34;George 461 LyNwooDE. Ovos, Tfu FamilyFarmers' Aduocate: South Dakota Farmers Union, Nightingale to GeorgeWallace Jones, L5 May 1856,George Wallace Jones Pi- 1,91+-2000,by Kimberly K. Porter pers, StateHistorical Societyof Iowa, Des Moines 462 DoUGLASFlnnrs& ChangtngWorks: Visions of a LostAgiculture, by Douglas Hurt THE ANNALS OF IOWA 61 (Fall 2002).O The StateHistorical Societv of Iowa.2002. 380 Tns ANruars oF IowA The BoosterEthos in Dubuque 381 tantly. He stood firm in his belief in a political economy of autonomous actors, unfettered by government policies or re- straints of any kind, investing their own capital without incur- ring debt, securing contracts with a shake of the hand, and ex- changing goods and services for cash or short-term notes among acquaintances. To Bonson, patronage, nepotism, and personal arrangements, rather than creating potential conflicts of interest, insured economic actions by friendship, mutual trust, and self-interest. FOR BONSON, and to a lesser extent the Langworthys, the path into the booster ethos lay through the realm of local poli- tics and the adjacent culture of the bench and bar. In Dubuque, the power broker at the intersection of these two realms was George Wallace Jones. From his arrival in 1836, two years after GeorgeWallace lones. From the State HistoricalSociety of lowa,Iowa City. Bonson and the Langworthys, Jones had been a core member of the "fathers of the bar" elite that shaped the structure of the lo- cal bench and bar and dominated Dubuque's Democratic Party. leagues' achievements. Such events cultivated impartial profes- Although he did not practice much law, as a Democratic Jones, sional behavior as well as solidarity and civility among men one Party member, was part of a powerful group that also included knew personally but against whom one competed intensely. Stephen Hempstead, Wamer Lewis, Thomas S. Wilson, and Pe- Through such close interactions, members of the core group ter Engle. That group controlled most of the town's litigation of town lawyers and judges forged deep friendships and, as and regularly received appointments to judicial or public office. "brethren of the bar," became a "sort of a family to itself."tn Jones was also an influential member of the "old guard" who For Jones,of course, such involvement was also politics. Be- controlled entrance to the local bar by selectively sponsoring cause members of the bar formed a pool of skill and knowledge newcomers, distributing cases, and strucfuring partnerships." that provided Dubuque and northeastem Iowa with its political Known as "the General," was skilled in cultivating cama- Jones leadership for a generation, understood that in predomi- raderie and fraternity. \Mhen he was home during court terms Jones nantly Democratic Dubuque, the course of town politics-and or recessesfrom Congress, he participated in "mock debates" the cliques and factions within the party-was shaped by inter- and "moot tribunals," and threw "awfully fashionable parties," actions among members of the local bar. appointments "levees," and "dances" where lively conversation, singing, Jones's as territorial judge in 1833 and then as territorial delegate to roustabouting, "indulg[ing] . freely" in the "flowing bowL," Congress in 1835 enabled him to build a power base by giving and even "frolics" were often the order of the evening. Like him access to patronage in territorial offices, which he distrib- other bar members, he also gave and attended "blow-outs," uted to "friends" and associateswho supported him. He almost "oyster suppers/" banquets, and excursions to celebrate his col- ended his public career in L838 by serving as a second in the 13.A. T. Andreas,Illustrated Histoical Atlas of theState of lowa (Chicago,1875), 14.Lincoln Clark to Julia Clark, 21,February 1855, Lincoln Clark Papers,Hunt- 424,365-46,368;Edward H. Stiles,Recollections and Sketches of NotableLawyers ington Library SanMarino, CA; Stiles,Recollections and Sl<etches,255,17; History andPublic Men of Earlylouta (Des Moines, 191,6), 92-97 , 56ffi7 , 81G17, 819. ofAdams County, Illinois (Chicago,1879),416; Mahoney, ProaincialLiues,20T-11. 382 THEANNALS oF IowA TheBooster Ethos in Dubuque 383 infamous duel between William J. Graves and Jonathan Cilley in Washington, D.C., but patronage saved him: in 1841 his "friends" repaid his efforts on their behalf by getting him an appointment as clerk of the territorial court. jones used this po- sition to reenter politics and, through his efforts to keep the General Land Office in Dubuque, acquired sufficient claim to the office to be appointed surveyor general in 1845, from which he acquired the title "General" Jones.Fearing a Whig victory in 1848 would end his tenure as surveyor general, Jones ran for and was elected U.S. Senator, defeating fellow Dubuque bar member and former Iowa Supreme Court Justice Thomas S. Wilson by a single vote in the state legislature.'u For twelve years, Dubuque politics was shaped by Jones's efforts to control local patronage. He reinforced his use of pa- tronage with an aggressive social agenda and the sheer force GeorgeWallace lones hostedregular socialeaerfis of his personality. The "Chesterfield gentleman" of the Senate for his friends and supportersat his "princely and Washington society, established himself in Dubuque Jones residence"on ltilien Aaenue.From the Stqte His- as the "the mark and model" of local society by building a torical Societyof lowa, Iowa City. "princely residence" along Julien Avenue on the hill above the town in L84T.Invitations to dinners and soireesat Jones'shouse were much sought after. Attendance at his levees or open nents charged,"Jones' tool[s]" or "sycophants."At leastone of houses-where Jones, "full of flattery, buncombe, and stori-es," his supporters went so far as to name a son after him. It is fair to "facile courtesy," and excessive "bowing and scraping"