SINCE THE CIVIL WAR

Third Edition. By Charles Ramsdell Lingley and Allen Richard Foley 'so. D. Appleton-Century Company, 1935. pp. x, 838.

The first edition of Professor Lingley's Since the Civil War appeared in 1920. Reflecting in its pages many of the qualities which made its author one of the most successful of all Dartmouth teachers, it scored a striking success. Almost at once it became one of the two or three most widely used textbooks for college classes in recent American history. In 1926 a second edition appeared, revised and brought down nearly to date by the inclusion of additional material. At the time of his death in 1934, Professor Lingley, in response to urgent demand, was just on the point of getting to work upon a third edition.

The extremely difficult task of preparing this new edition has been performed by one of Professor Lingley's favorite pupils, Professor Allen R. Foley '20, in a manner which can scarcely fail to evoke grateful appreciation on the part of many teachers long accustomed to the use of the earlier editions and who had begun to fear lest they might presently find themselves compelled to get along without the help of an aid to good teaching which had come to be almost indispensable.

The first twenty-five chapters, about fourfifths of the book, appear almost as Pro fessor Lingley prepared them for the earlier editions. About seventy-five changes have been made in them in the light of information and views which have appeared since the publication of the second edition. Many of these changes relate to matters of minor importance; none of them alter in a material way the emphasis or the point of view put forth by Professor Lingley. The final chapter of the second edition was called Reconstruction—Again. In the new edition it bears the title, The United States inWorld Affairs, and is revised and enlarged so as to cover all matters of American foreign policy from the end of the World War to nearly the close of 1935.

The wholly new portion, Professor Foley's distinctive contribution, consists of three chapters bearing the titles: The Return of Normalcy, Herbert Hoover and theCrash, Roosevelt and the Neiu Deal. Here in a little over a hundred pages is given an informing and illuminating narrative of the internal affairs of the United States from the election of 1920 down almost to the close of last year. This account may well be described as nearly a model of its kind. Few of the tasks which fall to the lot of the historian are more difficult than that of telling the story of the ten or fifteen years immediately before the date at which he is writing. A bald narrative of events without description of the leading personalities and some attempt at appraisement is an evasion of duty and a disappointment to the reader. It is, however, about all that is attempted in most books which try to bring history down to date. Professor Foley has chosen a bolder course. He has attempted to deal with the last fifteen years exactly as he would have dealt with any fifteen years further back. His effort has been amazingly successful. It is probable that most of Professor oley's readers will readily detect where his sympathies lie, but few of them will be disposed to charge him with any form of unfairness, whatever may be their own point of view. At a time when almost every discussion of current problems is tinctured, and often saturated, with passion growing out of conflicting views about the Great Depression and the New Deal such an illuminating account should serve as an invaluable aid to sound and temperate thinking.

Books of double authorship commonly lack uniformity of style. Where one writer has begun a book and another has finished it there is usually a manifest difference in their modes of expression. Professor Foley, however, has so well caught the spirit of the Lingley style that the new edition does not suffer from lack of unity. It is written in clear, easy flowing fashion which makes the reading of the book a genuine pleasure. While primarily a textbook for college classes, it is one which in form, style, and interest will appeal to the general reader and should arouse much interest among Dartmouth alumni. Former pupils of ProfesSor Lingley, in particular, will enjoy refreshing their memories of a delightful and stimulating mentor and will rejoice to learn that his work as embodied in a characteristic book is going to continue to carry on.