Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/912

 902 Revieivs of Books It is strange that the birth and growth of the modern metropoHtan press in New York city finds no place in this chronicle. Amid so many summaries of editorials how could the development of an institutional press be overlooked ! The period with which this volume deals saw the culmination of the influence of the great party organs in Albany, Wash- ington, and Richmond, and the inception of the cheap dailies that grad- ually overtopped all others and revolutionized the journalistic profes- sion. Of the three cheap dailies that succeeded in these first attempts to bring news to the multitude, and the multitude to the news, the Sun was started in 1833 as a paper for working people, the Herald, in 1835, as the first real newspaper in the country, but with only one principle, " We have never been in a minority and we never shall be " ; and the Tribune, in 1841, as a mouthpiece for advanced ideals of righteousness upheld by one of the most remarkable personalities in our history. A few typographical errors have been noted, as Newhurnc for Neva- hern (p. 74), canipagn (p. 115), Greeley for Greely (p. 513). In the account of the imbroglio with France on page 236, the reference to King Charles obviously should be changed to King Louis Philippe. The volume contains three maps, one of the independent Republic of Texas, one of the United States in 1838, and one showing the distri- bution, east of the looth meridian, of the population of the United States in 1840. C. H. Levermore. The American Nation: A History. Edited by Albert Bushnell Hart. Volume XVI. ShvzTry and Abolition, 1SJI-1S41. By Albert Bushnell Hart, LL.D., Professor of History in Har- vard University. With Maps. ( New York and London : Harper and Brothers. 1906. Pp. xv, 360.) Although so much has been written on the difficult topic of Amer- ican slavery both before and since the Civil War, conditions that might seem ideal for the historian of the general subject of slavery in America are unfortunately not yet present. An accurate and full knowledge of its local history in all the Arnerican political communities that supported the institution is still so far from complete that safe and final generaliza- tions on slavery as a whole and the vital questions to which it gave rise are not readily made. The controversial nature of these questions only enhances the historical task, so that the appearance of a work that appreciates and attempts fairly to present both sides of the discussion is refreshing and stimulating. Professor Hart has approached his subject in a catholic spirit and has written in a clear and interesting style a book which will be recognized as a valuable contribution to the literature of the anti-slavery movement. The slavery controversy is the central theme in the author's mind, rather than the details of the institution, though the latter are described at some length because of their causal character. His expressed intention is