Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/904

 894 Reviews of Books M. Monod's able preface merits more than passing praise. He has succeeded in presenting briefly the argument of the book itself. But we regret that such an important work should have no index. How much longer will Continental scholars continue to deprive their readers of that indispensable adjunct? William Roscoe Thayer. Der Kriiiikricg und die dstcrrcichisclic Politik. Von Heinrich Friedjung. (Stuttgart and Berlin: J. G. Cotta. 1907. Pp. viii, 198.) Heinrich Friedjung is well known in Germany as the author of what is widely acknowledged to be the best general treatment of the political and military struggle in our day between Austria and Prussia, Der Kampf uni die Vorherrschaft in Deutschland, iS^g his 1866, (two volumes). This work has gone through six editions and owes its reputation to a remarkable combination of scientific method and popular presentation. The present publication is declared in the preface to be part of a study in preparation on the history of Austria, 1848-1859; hav- ing grown beyond its proper limits it is now published in advance, the remainder being promised in about a year. It is possibly this quality of an excerpt that explains (certainly without justifying) the entire absence of information as to sources or literature; we are given no statement whatever about the material at the disposition of the writer, though of course most of his published authorities are to be determined through the foot-note references. It is diflficult to understand how a serious student can make such an omission, can fail to remember that, especially with a study in recent diplomatic history, we need to be guided in our judgment by exact and full information as to the unpublished material used or available. The author has used documents of a most confidential kind, but apparently not under primary conditions ; the sec- ondary publications from which they are derived are however given no critical scrutiny, though in most cases they are manifestly more or less partizan and controversial. There is no hint at archival limita- tions, but only two or three archival references are given in the foot- notes; it may be that Herr Friedjung had practically no access to archival deposits and that he assumes that this will be understood. In that case however, apart from the question of the wisdom of entering on thorough research under such conditions, a strong protest must be entered against the absence either of any clear statement to this effect, or of any indication of it in the manner of presentation. Only one reference is given to private unpublished material, that being (.p. 161) to the " ungedruckten Tagebuche Kubecks ", concerning which or its place of deposit no further information is vouchsafed. For . Gortschakoff' s Vienna dispatches the author apparently relies wholly on two Russian works; one is Petrow's Der nissische Donaufcldsug, about which we are not given even enough information to locate it, the