The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 106, July 2002 - April, 2003 Page: 501

Book Reviews

reinforced the mythic and historical knowledge held by both allies and adver-
saries of U.S. foreign policy (p. 1 o).
During his presidency, Rothman stated, the ranch worked as a magnet for
Johnson. The home place served as the Texas White House, a place of celebra-
tion, a site for consolation, and a headquarters for resolving domestic and for-
eign policy problems. Johnson always felt more comfortable in his native Hill
Country than in Washington. The author provided several examples of pivotal
decisions-settling a steel strike and the decision not to seek office in January
1968. The ranch provided the setting for these retirement discussions that be-
gan as early as 1967 (p. 226).
This is not an exhaustive study of Johnson's entire career or a laborious trea-
tise on the inner workings of the Senate or presidential administrations. Roth-
man provided an innovative look at both Johnson and the role of place and
symbols in modern American history. Texas and the South followed a slower,
more cumbersome route than the rest of the nation in this progression. In this
transition, Johnson's ranch represented both the past and the future both sym-
bolically and in reality. To Johnson, the image remained as important as its con-
tributions, and Rothman cleverly captured the multiple meanings of the site.
Center for American Hzstory, Universzty of Texas at Austin PATRICK L. Cox
Dzfferent Travellers, Dzfferent Eyes: Artists' Narratzves of the American West, 1820-1920.
Edited by Peter Wild, Donald A. Barclay, and James H. Maguire. (Fort
Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 2001ool. Pp. vii+270. Illustrations, in-
troduction, bibliography, index. ISBN 0-87565-242-5. $18.95, paper.)
This book represents an interesting idea. By using prose (and sometimes poet-
ry) selections by artists in the West the editors attempt to show what the artists
were thinking about the West that they were picturing and what difficulties and
adventures they had. The selections are grouped somewhat arbitrarily under
such historical rubrics as "Virgin Land," 1820-1848; "The Gold Rush and After-
math," 1849-1869; "After the Railroad," 1870-1890o; and "After the Closing of
the Frontier," 1891-1920. These categories give some idea of changed views due
to historical situations, i.e., the economic and social changes in the West. Fortu-
nately, in these introductions the editors do not preach the foreign-inspired
cliches about imperialism, colonialism, genocide, and the '"juggernaut of civiliza-
tion." Instead they provide straightforward information about the artists, which
is helpful and sometimes interesting despite the fact that the short "suggestions
for further reading" often leave out the best books, the standard biographies
(e.g., Brian Dippie's Catlzn and the Politzcs of Patronage) and such important works
as Nancy Anderson's massive definitive catalogue of Thomas Moran's works and
Thurman Wilkins' updated biography of Clarence King.
Among the twenty writers and Kicking Bear's picture-writing of Little Big
Horn, two women are included, Mary Halleck Foote and the Canadian mod-
ernist Emily Carr. By far the best writers are J. J. Audubon, Samuel Chamberlain,
Heinrich Baldwin Mollhausen, Frederic Remington, Thomas Moran, Maynard

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