Review by Choice Review
Adams, self-described as "the world's leading scholar on the history of taxation," has combined into one volume lengthy selections from 31 British and Continental periodicals and newspapers (along with the North American Review) that commented on the sectional crisis and the US Civil War. This compilation may be useful to readers interested in European opinions about the war, although Adams does not describe his methodology for selecting the material or demonstrate its typicality or quirkiness. Further, he claims--without offering proof--that the British and European presses operated in an atmosphere of "journalistic detachment," unlike the muzzled US press. The excerpts appear to show that journalistic opinion in Europe was divided about the US Civil War, and that some writers believed that causes other than slavery had brought it about. Adams also asserts that the history of the Civil War has been dominated by what he terms "New England historians." It is one of his many impeachable claims. Bruce Catton, for example, hailed from Michigan and graduated from Oberlin. D. S. Freeman was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, and took his PhD at Johns Hopkins. Summing Up: Optional. Upper-division undergraduates and above. E. R. Crowther Adams State College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
