Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/448

 438 Reviews of Books or fourteen years, the author should have made a distinct effort to write for (not necessarily write down to) children of that age. The error into which the author has fallen is in thinking that a book can be equally well handled by students of eighteen and fourteen. This is shown by his choice of material, by his method of presentation, and by the selec- tions for outside reading, most of which would stagger a college stu- dent and which to the pupil of fourteen are but words, words — a dry and compulsory task to which he applies himself by reading a page and then counting up to see how many more he must read. The fact that most college writers of texts for secondary schools fall into this error makes it none the less serious in any book. James Sulliv.x. Essentials of United States History. By William .. Mowrv and Bl. che S. Mowry. (Xew York: Silver, Burdett, and Com- pany. 1906. Pp. X, 378, 56.) The .Making of the American Xation: a History for Elementary Sehools. By J.cnui-;s 'akdlaw Redwav, F.R.G.S. ( Xew York: Silver, Burdett, and Company. 1905. Pp. xii. 420. 56.) Estimated by the number of text-books intended for pupils of the elementary schools which have been published recently, history is coming into a larger place in the curricula of these schools. Really worthy texts will do much to stimulate this interest. The declaration, by the authors of Essentials of United States His- tory, that particular stress is to be laid on the " personal element " sounds attractive. Short sketches of the careers of leading men are given either in the body of the text or as foot-notes. This feature would have been strengthened had the four and one-half pages which are devoted to Benedict Arnold (pp. 152-156) been given to the more notable and worthy characters. Conventional titles are given the forty-one chapters, each administra- tion being assigned a separate chapter. " It is well," the teacher is informed (p. vi), " in many cases, merely to read over the details of war and battles, dwelling rather on causes and effects . . . the pupils should see clearly that glory is not con- finc<l to the battlefield, nor patriotism to the career of the soldier." Such a viewpoint is not emphasized by assigning fifty-five pages to the purely military account of the American Revolution, and by devoting to the Civil War one-fourth of the material from the inauguration of President Washington to the present time. Sense of proportion is lacking, also, when eight lines are given on the same page to the dis- cussion of Hamilton's financial measures, and to the statement that Monroe came within one vote of a unanimous election (pp. igi-i2C The more outline of the Constitution and list of the presidents is of diiublfu! value (pp. 170-175).