The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 63, July 1959 - April, 1960 Page: 359

Book Reviews

Indians, and many Indian stories of the area are here recorded
for posterity. Abundant use is made of old newspapers and family
records in picking up the thread of historical events such as the
mob story which began in 1869 with the organization of the
Honest Man's club which was opposed by the Trigger Mountain
mob. The methods employed to terrorize citizens during a mob
rule of fifteen years are recounted.
Collectors of pioneer stories will welcome this book for the
manner in which the editor has skilfully linked the stories of the
pioneers, some of which are presented in the dialect of the original
narrator. The stories illustrate every type of living and society
and are excellent commentaries on the mores and activities of
the original settlers and their descendants. Special emphasis is
made of the changing order-from cotton culture to diversifica-
tion with its accompanying economic and social achievement. A
sense of progress and an evidence of the growth of society are
related in detail in the description of the step by step advance of
institutions under the leadership of churches, schools, county
officials, women's movements, newspapers, and county-agent pro-
grams. Thus has been created the modern cultured and econom-
ically diversified Mills County of today.
The editor, Flora Gatlin Bowles, was qualified by background,
experience, and education, to produce a sound history of Mills
County. Mrs. Bowles's family pioneered in the area before the
formal organization of the county; thus she had the advantage
of living with those who had participated in the formative period.
She has also been an enthusiastic and successful teacher of history
for many years, having done a Master's thesis at the University
of Texas on the history of Trinity County, Texas. There are a
few typographical errors in the book and one minor inaccuracy
in the use of a name, but these do not detract seriously from the
readability and value of the work.
E. W. Jackson, a native son of the county, has appraised the
work as follows: "The history will be rated by future historians
as an authentic source material covering the story of a great and
sturdy people during some of the most dramatic periods in the
life of our country."
The book is unquestionably history produced at the grass roots.
LOVE GATLIN

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