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PARTISAN REVIEW
In expounding an isolationism which never existed, the Beards have
overlooked the truly significant change in American attitudes at theJ end
of the nineteenth century. Interest in foreign affairs was not new; it was
different. The< earlier liberal humanitarian alliance with the forces seek–
ing democracy and economic amelioration for the European masses gave
way to a tacit alliance with the British empire; the aspirations of mani–
fest destiny for the extension of American citizenship and American
liberties were edged out by those of imperialism for the rule over sub–
ject and inferior races. There is an excellent picture, properly bitter, of
the American empire builders, of the elder Roosevelt's power-lusty
demagoguery, of the bloodthirsty refinement of Henry Cabot Lodge,
and of the stupid complacency of Josiah Strong, the Goebbels of Protes–
tantism. But by dismissing these as extraneous, the Beards obscure the
most fundamental problems of how such forces flourished in American
soil.
More generally, the nationalistic tenolj of this work lends a curious–
ly causeless aspect to parts of the narrative. The theme of the Beards'
writing until now has been the conflict of interests betweeq the agrarian
and capitalist elements in American life. Their interpretations in terms
of this leading idea have been sometimes penetrating, sometimes over–
simple, but always consistent. In t_his book stress upon unity of national
character overshadows the diversity of class and interest. The very chap–
ter headings illustrate the difference between the earlier
Rise of Amer–
ican, Civilization
and this work: "Independence and Civil Conflict" be–
comes "Independence Completed by Revolution;" "Populism and Reac–
tion" becomes "Constitutional Government in the United States;"
"Agricultural Imperialism and the Balance of Power" becomes "The
Revolutionary Generation in Charge of the Federal Government;" and
"The Second American Revolution," the conflict of agrarian planters
against industrial capitalists, becomes "National Unity Sealed in an Ar–
med Contest." In some place the change is an improvement. But too
often the old interpretation drops out, nothing replaces it, and the ac–
count acquires a biblical "it came to pass" flavor.
Few historians can display the urbanity, the scope of interest and
the human insight the Beards show on page after page of this book. Such
chapters as those on the progressive movement and on the spirit of early
republicanism are classics of close writing and clear thinking. The need
for compression forces an excision of incidentals that brings the essen–
tials into clear and unambiguous focus, while an enviable grasp of the
proportions of the whole provides perspective and. balance. But we must
count it among the additional tragedies of a world at war that the Beards
did not escape the isolationist pitfall which, to too many liberals, seems
the only alternative to contemporary foreign policy.
OSCAR HANDLIN
