The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 92, July 1988 - April, 1989 Page: 490

                                
Southwestern Historical Quarterly

The admirable goal of trying to present a variety of viewpoints leads
to extensive coverage of the roles of Indians, Hispanics, blacks, immi-
grants, and women in shaping the history of the state, but unresolved
contradictions arise as well. Perhaps the most glaring example involves
the Texas Rangers. In two consecutive articles, "Texas Rangers and
Outlaws" and "'Rinche, Pinche,"' these lawmen emerge both as larger-
than-life heroes and as brutal abusers, even murderers, of innocent
Hispanic residents of South Texas. The contradictory images derive
from accurate accounts of Ranger actions, but some effort at historical
synthesis is needed.
Any collection of topical essays invariably invites suggestions for ad-
ditional subjects. Perhaps the most obvious oversight in this work is the
failure to explore the growth of the corporate power of the oil industry
and its domination of the economy and politics of Texas. Coverage of
the oil industry is limited to articles on "Spindletop" and "The Hot Oil
War" during the depression of the 193os, as well as a passing reference
to the rise of the petrochemical industry around Houston during and
after World War II. Another topic that deserves expanded study is
Protestant fundamentalism. The persistence of the conservative char-
acter of Texas politics in the face of far-reaching social and economic
change is inexplicable without careful analysis of the influence of oil
and religion.
The University of Texas at Arlington             EVAN ANDERS
Clmzne: Remembering Louisiana, x850-187z. By Cl1ine Fremaux Garcia.
Edited by Patrick J. Geary. Foreword by Bertram Wyatt-Brown.
(Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1987. Pp. xxxix+277. Fore-
word, acknowledgments, introduction, illustrations, afterword,
notes, index. $25.)
Among the diverse elements that composed the population of ante-
bellum Louisiana was a shrinking but still substantial proportion of
Frenchmen. Some had dwelt there since colonial days and owned vast
plantations; others, recent immigrants, belonged to a cultured mid-
dling class. In 1850 Cl1ine Fr6maux was born into a household of the
latter sort. Her father Leon, a bookseller's son, worked as a civil engi-
neer; her mother Caroline was descended from an aristocratic family
of dwindling means. Knowing the importance of schooling and the
ability to support oneself, the authoritarian Caroline gave C6line and
her siblings a superior education that included keeping diaries.
During the early years of the twentieth century, C61line, drawing on
her diaries and her remarkable memory, chronicled the first twenty-

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