The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 82, July 1978 - April, 1979 Page: 337
496 p. : ill. (some col.), ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Book Reviews
Pancho Villa: Intimate Recollections by People Who Knew Him. Edited
by Jessie Peterson and Thelma Cox Knoles. (New York: Hastings
House, 1977. Pp. vii+279. Introduction, bibliography, index.
$12.95.)
The book under review is composed of interviews with thirty-one
men and women of widely disparate backgrounds, ranging from cow-
boys to a Mormon bishop, whose lives touched the career of Francisco
"Pancho" Villa. Editors Peterson and Knoles have collected "firsthand
accounts of some of those who had experience with and were affected
by the actions of Pancho Villa" [p. ix]. They also point out appropriately
enough that a portion of history would otherwise be irretrievably lost
were the recollections of those who knew Villa not recorded.
Unfortunately, the editors fail to reveal the manner in which infor-
mation from respondents was collected or the attitudes of interviewees
toward Villa, nor do they provide adequate data on the informants
themselves. Louis Fischbein, for example, is identified only as a success-
ful tailor in Parral who once fitted Villa for a suit that was never de-
livered. Peterson and Knoles should also have been at pains to present
a better and more accurate summary of the Mexican Revolution, espe-
cially for readers unfamiliar with Mexican history. Significantly lacking
also is a coherent statement of Villa's role in the Revolution. Misiden-
tified portraits of Venustiano Carranza and Victoriano Huerta (inset
between pp. 48 and 49) are additional evidence of careless editing. While
comments about Villa by the respondents are occasionally interesting
and amusing, their anecdotal nature fails to add insights into the char-
acter of the man. A more painstaking job of editing would have pro-
duced a book of greater value to both lay and professional historians.
North Texas State University DONALD CHIPMAN
Reform and Regulation: American Politics, 90oo-0-1916. By Lewis L.
Gould. (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1978. Pp. ix+ 197. Preface,
foreword, suggestions for additional reading, tables, index. $10.95.)
This slim book, also available in paper, is the second in a series of
eight volumes on "Critical Episodes in American Politics" being pub-
lished by John Wiley &c Sons under the editorship of Robert A. Divine.
The author, Lewis L. Gould, is a colleague of Divine at the University
of Texas, Austin, and has written several works on the progressive era,
including a history of Texas Democrats during the Wilson Administra-337
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 82, July 1978 - April, 1979, periodical, 1978/1979; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101206/m1/389/?rotate=180: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.