DEMOCRACY IN THE CONNECTICUT FRONTIER TOWN OF KENT.

ByCharles S. Grant '39. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961. 227 pp. $5.00.

Two problems are dealt with here of concern to those interested in local history anywhere or in New England history. In this age of centennials and bicentennials, of a plethora of books and historical addresses, that means a lot of people. For most the problem is what kind of local history to write. All too often the result is either folklore or antiquarian detail, neither very useful.

Mr. Grant writes good local history based on careful research into genealogies, land records, tax lists, court records, records of town and church - everything he could find about eighteenth century Kent, Connecticut. Out of this sort of thing have come books of enormous dullness, but Mr. Grant used what he found, for a purpose - to show how much democracy and individual opportunity there really was in this early. Kent; and so his book is interesting and valuable, and Kent emerges as a real town. The thing to do is to use material, not just to include everything.

The second problem, and the bigger one for the historian, is the one for which the material is used. How much democracy, how much opportunity was there on the New England frontier in the eighteenth century?

Mr. Grant answers only for Kent, and for Kent he shows quite clearly that the traditional picture is far from correct. He shows that economic democracy was fairly complete; there was very little exploitation by absentee proprietors or by the older, wealthier towns. He shows, too, that political democracy existed to a high degree; very few who wanted to vote could not, and most did, at least in local affairs; nor was there "oppression" of Kent by the older settlements. He feels strongly that social democracy was at a high level also, although here the evidence is less clear and more work needs to be done even if not for Kent.

Kent is, however, just one town. Many more towns need studies like this one. Mr. Grant feels that what he found in Kent can be found, through the same kind of local history, in many other New England towns. He is probably right, and his book, therefore, is one to be taken very seriously by those concerned about a true picture of eighteenth century New England.