stanley vestal: champion of the old west

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This article was downloaded by: [York University Libraries] On: 14 November 2014, At: 04:25 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK History: Reviews of New Books Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vhis20 Stanley Vestal: Champion of the Old West Thomas F. Andrews a a USA Published online: 13 Jul 2010. To cite this article: Thomas F. Andrews (1974) Stanley Vestal: Champion of the Old West, History: Reviews of New Books, 2:5, 127-127, DOI: 10.1080/03612759.1974.9947294 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03612759.1974.9947294 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http:// www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

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Page 1: Stanley Vestal: Champion of the Old West

This article was downloaded by: [York University Libraries]On: 14 November 2014, At: 04:25Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House,37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

History: Reviews of New BooksPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vhis20

Stanley Vestal: Champion of the Old WestThomas F. Andrews aa USAPublished online: 13 Jul 2010.

To cite this article: Thomas F. Andrews (1974) Stanley Vestal: Champion of the Old West, History: Reviews of New Books, 2:5,127-127, DOI: 10.1080/03612759.1974.9947294

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03612759.1974.9947294

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) containedin the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make norepresentations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of theContent. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, andare not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon andshould be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable forany losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoeveror howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use ofthe Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematicreproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in anyform to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: Stanley Vestal: Champion of the Old West

of 1850. Having campaigned for James Buchanan, and as “an old time Southern Unionist,” Cobb, appointed the Penn- sylvanian’s Secretary of the Treasury, bent his principles, Simpson contends, to fit political reality, to plot against Stephen A. Douglas and, as virtual premier of the Buchanan administration, to achieve the Democratic presidential nomination. For “selfish reasons” Cobb surrendered to “sinister personal forces” that led him to be “perhaps more than any other Southerner. . . responsible for the complex web of circumstances” that destroyed the antebellum Democratic party. He sponsored John C. Breckin- ridge, exploited the southern popular fear of Abraham Lincoln’s election, and created the emotional base for secession.

Although Simpson cites a four-page bibliography, neither footnotes nor index are included. The informed layman may enjoy the swift paced narrative, but the specialist will yearn for a detailed investi- gation of northern Georgia politics, Cobb’s relationship with his political colleagues, and a comprehensive coverage of Cobb’s cabinet years. The career of Howell Cobb remains to be treated in a definitive manner.

HENRY C. FERRELL, JR. East Carolina University

Tassin, Ray Stanley Vestal: Champion of the Old West Glendale, Calif.: The Arthur H. Clark Co.

Publication Date: November 2,1973

At times the subject of Tassin’s well- written biography appears. to be two men-Walter S. Campbell, the austere professor of English literature, and Stan- ley Vestal, the western history buff and Indian aficionado-instead of one indivi- dual with a dual personality and two distinct careers. Born in Oklahoma Terri- tory between the time of Little Big Horn and Wounded Knee, Walter Campbell (better known to his reading audience as Stanley Vestal) grew up with an apprecia- tion for the Old West and for the Ameri- can Indian in particular. This early aware- ness evolved into a lifetime adventure of research and writing on topics closely related to Indian history. Following his education at Oxford (as the new state of Oklahoma’s first Rhodes Scholar) and service in France during World War I, he returned to teach courses in literature at the University of Oklahoma. It was the teaching schedule and modest salary of Campbell that made it possible for Vestal to write professionally and publish the majority of his 24 books and 150 articles. Vestal’s major works included biographies of Sitting Bull, Jim Bridger, and Kit Carson, and such regional studies as The Missouri and Short Grass Country. By the same token it was the publishing success of Vestal the writer that enhanced the

March 1974

299 pp., $11.00, LC 72-97805

reputation (and salary) of Campbell the professor, thus making it possible for him in 1938 to establish a sequence of courses for professional writers at the university. There, in his highly successful writing classes, his dual personality and two distinct careers found a common meeting ground. Interestingly, the author himself gets caught in this dual personality as on the same page he refers first to “Campbell and Harris” and then to “Vestal and Harris” when discussing the professional writing courses. (p. 207) Vestal’s reputa- tion as a writer and as a master teacher of writers is assured, then, by both his own publishing record and that of his stu- dents.

To this point the author, who teaches journalism at Central State University in Oklahoma, has captured successfully the “complexities of the man and his pur- suits.” But there is more to the story. Since Vestal posed as a serious student of the history of the Old West whose writing was based upon “exhaustive research,” it would seem that a critical evaluation of his works as history is in order. Although Tassin duly notes the extent of the popular reception of Vestal’s works-and while this indeed may qualify him as a “Champion of the Old West”-the author has said very little about the solidity of Vestal’s interpretations. Two questions in particular remain unanswered. What effect, if any, has the recent scholarship of Dale Morgan, Harvey L. Carter, and Robert Dykstra had upon some of Vestal’s conclusions about Bridger, Carson, and the Kansas cattle towns, for example? Where exactly does Vestal stand alongside Bernard DeVoto, Paul Horgan, J. Frank Dobie, David Lavender, etc., as an interpreter of the Old West? Answers to questions such as these are necessary to truly complete the author’s otherwise commendable portrait of Stanley Vestal.

THOMAS F. ANDREWS Azusa Pacific College

Miller, David E., ed. The Golden Spike Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press

Publication Date: December 31, 1973

This book contains ten papers presented at a Golden Spike Symposium held May 6th and 7th, 1969, as part of the centen- nial celebration of the completion of the first transcontinental railroad. Consider- ing that the sponsorship consisted of historians, the Utah business community, and the railroads, the potpourri that resulted is about what one would expect: two papers are outstanding, three or four are average, one is amusing, and the others consist of platitudes and generali- ties.

Yet rare is the book with every chap- ter full of merit, and in the balance The Golden Spike is worth owning. The first

153 pp., $8.00, LC 73-75916

outstanding paper is Wallace D. Farn- 127 ham’s “Shadows from the Gilded Age: Pacific Railwaymen and the Race to Promontory-or Ogden?” In it he reveals a complex story of intrigue and chicanery in which Collis P. Huntington completely checkmated the Union Pacific officials and brought about the decision for the Promontory Point location. No more revealing essay on Gilded Age ethics, to say nothing of the role of government of knaves and/or fools, has ever been written.

The second outstanding paper is David F. Myrick, “Refinancing and Rebuilding the Central Pacific: 1899-1910,” in which Huntington emerges as the genius behind the Central Pacific bringing about the repayment of government loans while simultaneously honoring the road’s obli- gations to its private investors.

Other papers are George Kraus’s amusing “Central Pacific Construction Vignettes”; Lawrence G. Lashbrook, “ T h e Utah Nor the rn Rai l road , 1 8 7 1 - 1 8 7 8 ”; Reed C. Richardson, “Trains, Workers, and Unions: The Begin- nings” (solid, part of a larger study); and Gerald Nash, “Government and Rail- roads: A Case Study in Cooperative Capitalism.”

Finally there are the short “creamed- chicken circuit” statements of railroad officials. Twice it is said that long- distance passenger railroading is ended; they complain of government regula- tions-“hobbling the iron horse”; they speak of great improvements in the dis- tant by-and-by. Not one mentions the auto train idea; not one in May of 1969 foresaw the energy crisis or emphasized the economy of railroad transportaion over its competitors. One historian speaks of greater efficiency through such mergers as Penn-Central. Sadly, we must conclude that historians and corporation executives, like everyone else, have been so busily engaged in the present that too little thought and research has been given to the future.

The book contains an excellent section of rare photographs of activities leading up to the pounding of the golden spike.

RICHARD A. BARTLETT Florida State University

Tallahassee

Henig, Gerald S. Henry Winter Davis: Antebellum and Civil War Congressman from Maryland Boston: Twayne Publishers

Publication Date: December 1, 1973

In general accounts of United States history Henry Winter Davis appears briefly as one of the most extreme of the Radical foes of President Lincoln, the one who took the lead in opposing Lincoln’s “ten percent” Reconstruction plan with the Wade-Davis Bill and in challenging Lincoln’s right to reelection with the

332 pp., $7.50, LC 73-1984

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