The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 78, July 1974 - April, 1975 Page: 354

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

urably" (p. i51 ). Something like this model has been used by students of
contemporary urban politics, but historians have apparently not employed
it heretofore. Holli's hypothesis, which provides one quantitative means of
comparing dissimilar cities, could help resolve a methodological dilemma
of urban history, that of integrating data from many individual cities.
One reservation about The Progressive Era has to do with its central
thrust. Is the emphasis on "progressive" or on "era"? If progressivism is
the focus, then the essays, some of which do not revolve around that theme,
fail to resolve the question of whether the "Progressive Movement" is a
viable framework within which to evaluate American life in the early twen-
tieth century. If, on the other hand, the planners of the volume intended
to ignore that debate and describe whatever it was that happened within
certain chronological limits, then the omissions become more significant.
No essay deals in detail with changes in America's industrial and mana-
gerial institutions, nor is there a comprehensive study of race relations, a
subject which, in either case, should have received more attention than it
did.
Nevertheless, the collection does provide a convenient and reliable com-
pendium of current scholarly thinking in the areas covered. It is particularly
well suited for classroom use, either in introductory or twentieth-century
United States history courses.
Georgia Institute of Technology ROBERT M. MCMATH
Frontier Violence: (Another Look. By W. Eugene Hollon. (New York: Ox-
ford University Press, 1974. Pp. xi+279. Illustrations, bibliography,
index. $7.95.)
W. Eugene Hollon's addition to the numerous books on frontier violence
is a model of well-organized condensation. Although primarily interested
in violence on the Trans-Mississippi frontier, Hollon surveys colonial and
eastern happenings sufficiently to establish the fact that the American's
proclivity for violence predated the final westward movement.
Hollon organizes his study on both geographical and topical lines. Analy-
sis of regional violence in Texas, California, and elsewhere are interspersed
with essays on prejudice against Chinese, Indians, and a discussion of what
Hollon terms "Gun Culture and Cowboy Mentality." Individual chapters
vary considerably in value. "Not a Chinaman's Chance," an exceptionally
comprehensive and thoughtful examination of the Oriental's plight, is fol-
lowed by a rather rambling twenty-page survey of frontier Indian wars
that adds little to the usual textbook treatment.

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