The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 74, July 1970 - April, 1971 Page: 583
616 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Book Notes
he recalls such topics dear to Aggie memories as "The Twelfth Man,"
"Meal Hounds," "The Corps Trip," "Uncle Ed's," "Silver Taps," "Fish
Day," and "Final Review." To Rollins, the institution before World
War II was far different from the contemporary Texas A&M University,
but he clearly does not imply that the student life-style of his era is
necessarily appropriate for the present. Instead, he forcefully records his
admiration for the current students at College Station and their progress.
Almost any Texan can identify with this candid, often humorous, nar-
rative. This Aggie's life was spartan, a product of the Depression; and
the camaraderie of a Corps "Outfit," cadet discipline and hazing, dining
hall slang, and dormitory conspiracies was far more comprehensible than
some of today's student customs and fashions. This spirited life produced
intense institutional loyalty and fond memories-but memories tempered
with the understanding that the standards of that era need not be imposed
artificially upon today's Aggie civilians and cadets, coeds and married
students. In summarizing the purpose behind this enjoyable work the au-
thor declared: "It is with pride in the old A&M that these sketches are
presented. It is hoped that they may in some way enable the non-Aggie
to grasp the meaning of that camaraderie that went to make up The
Spirit of Aggieland. To my contemporaries at A&M I hope this book may
revive pleasant memories of those days. . . . To the College . . . au-
thorities, I hasten to point out that the Statute of Limitations has run
out many times on all I have related here, and on behalf of my friends
and myself it is hereby invoked."
Texas A&M University HASKELL MONROE
The Lost Trappers. By David H. Coyner. Edited by David J. Weber.
(Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1970o. Pp. xxviii +
188. Map, index. $8.50.)
In 1847 Presbyterian minister David Holmes Coyner published a book
on Ezekiel Williams, a mountain man who trapped and roamed the trans-
Missouri country early in the nineteenth century. Coyner borrowed heavily
from Washington Irving, Lansford W. Hastings, and John Fremont, and
used his imagination, plus stories told by his Missouri frontier neighbors,
to invigorate his narrative. Although the book made few ripples in
American "literature" and has been condemned by most historians as
more fiction than "history," it reflected popular opinion about the West
and was reprinted seven times before igoo.
David Weber, of San Diego State College, prepared a "truly new edi-
tion" of Williams' travels because copies of the early editions are unedited
and almost unobtainable. The new edition includes the complete text
of the original edition supplemented by relevant documents. Weber's
twenty-page introduction is valuable, but his footnotes are less precious
metal in this small lode of western Americana.University of Texas, Austin
583
JOHN E. SUNDER
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 74, July 1970 - April, 1971, periodical, 1971; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101200/m1/595/?rotate=90: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.