The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 20, July 1916 - April, 1917 Page: 96

The Southwestern Historical Quarterly

BOOK REVIEWS AND NOTICES
Texas in the Middle Eighteenth Century. Studies in Spanish
Colonial History and Administration. By Herbert Eugene
Bolton, Professor of American History in the University
of California. (University of California Press, Berkeley,
1915. Pp. 501.)
This book, as its title indicates, treats of the history of the
Spanish province of Texas during the middle eighteenth century,
after the conquest and occupation of that region had been defi-
nitely effected. No attempt is made to deal with the early period
from 1689 to 1730. As the author states in his preface, the book
is not intended to be a complete history of the period which it
covers. It is, instead, a reprint of four monographs published
by the author at various times in the Texas State Historical
Association QUARTERLY and its successor, the SOUTHWESTERN
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY, preceded by a general introduction cov-
ering the period within which the special studies fall. Each of
the articles has been revised and amplified by the incorporation
of new sections and additional details. The most important con-
tribution of Professor Bolton, however, consists of the extended
introductory sketch, which occupies one hundred and thirty-three
of the five hundred and one pages of the book. For this intro-
duction he has taken the cream of his special studies, supple-
mented by summaries of other printed books and monographs on
the period, and of manuscript material hitherto unused, thus giv-
ing for the first time an authoritative and connected account of
the chief events in the history of Texas during the years from
1730 to 1789.
Although these studies have previously appeared in print, it
seems necessary to recall their contents, and give a general sum-
mary of the subject-matter of the volume as a whole. The topics
treated are the following: "The San Xavier Missions, 1745-
1758"; "The Reorganization of the Lower Gulf Coast, 1746-
1768"; "Spanish Activities on the Lower Trinity River, 1746-
1771"; and "The Removal from and the Reoccupation of Eastern