The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 78, July 1974 - April, 1975 Page: 496
562 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
dismantle the wartime governmental structure, and reconstruct the socio-
economic system for peacetime. Various plans for a genuine postwar recon-
struction emerged, but none became translated into national policy. Lacking
such a policy, and lacking direction from a president, Woodrow Wilson,
who was obsessed with his League of Nations to the exclusion of most every-
thing else, affairs of state fell into disarray. "The result was often chaos,"
writes Noggle, "with agencies working in isolation from one another but
for this very reason often implementing programs at cross-purposes with
one another" (p. 52).
In this climate of fear and uncertainty, the intolerance of wartime re-
mained virulent. Americans continued to ferret out "Un-Americans" of
the left, and the notorious "Red Scare" flared up, leaving a residue of
nativism which tainted the following decade. Progressives and internation-
alists, like Amos Pinchot or Ray Stannard Baker, saw the tide turn against
them, and many became cynical and defeatest in attitude. Rather than re-
counting once again the tragedy of Woodrow Wilson, Noggle discusses
foreign affairs in terms of historiographic trends. Reflecting the work of
Carl Parrini and others, he notes the concern of United States policy makers
to stabilize the world economy and to open it for American trade. The
author, in general agreement with Robert K. Murray and other revisionists,
views the triumph of Harding in I920 less as a calamity and more as the
natural result of accommodation politics and the breakup of the Wilson
coalition.
The book is, in sum, what it purports to be, a synthesis. One finds here
few startlingly new facts or explanations of history, rather an interpretive
overview which places the turbulent developments of 1919-1920 into a
unified, chronological perspective. The author fails, perhaps, to capture the
drama and tensions of those times. But he writes well and bases his conclu-
sions upon a sound grasp of the sources. It is a solid book, one which will
become a standard work in its field.
Montana State University MICHAEL P. MALONE
A Boundless Privilege. By Oren Arnold. (Austin: Madrona Press, 1974-
Pp. xvi+159. Illustrations. $8.50.)
While many youths of today would be horrified at the idea of growing
up in the horse-and-buggy era, without radio, television, plumbing, or elec-
tric lights, Oren Arnold found homespun happiness in his early years. His
first two decades, the first two in this century, were spent mainly in an
East Texas farm home at the edge of Henderson. Borrowing a phrase from496
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 78, July 1974 - April, 1975, periodical, 1974/1975; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117149/m1/556/: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.