Book Notes

Abstract

phone above all else.Realistic advice, inaddition to the complex discussion of analog vs. digital and audio vs. video, would have improved the book, as would a section on organizing volun teers and a sample budget and overview of the timean oral historyproject entails. This small book in some ways attempts to do toomuch. The authors raise important issues such as the limitations ofmemory, thevalue of oral history to disenfranchised groups, and its use incommunitybuilding, but theydo not have the space to addressmany of these themeswell. The cover, an image of threewhite women of different generations, presents a far too conven tional imageofwhat oral historycan do andmay not appeal to thebroad audience theauthors seek. The strengthof theOral HistoryManual lies in practical advice, organizational overviews, and compilation of the importantresourcesonwhich oral historians rely. The book was conceived "for generalpublic use,"but itboth hits andmisses its target (p. 82). For individualswho want todo a family history,thebook istoo complex. For small community or historical organizations, it would be a veryuseful resource, and thebibliography and appendices cannot be beat. Book Notes Compiled and written by Ken DuBois The Great Frontier,by Walter Prescott Webb, forewordby William D. Rowley (Univ. of Nevada Press, Reno and Las Vegas, 2003. Bibliography, index.464 pages. $21.95paper) Firstpublished in 1952, Webb's book is a dis cussion of theentireoccupation of the NewWorld by an expanding Europe. Central to Webb's the sis isthe idea thattheGreat Frontier included all of theunexploited, habitable regionsof theglobe opened up by fifteenth-,sixteenth-,and seven teenth-centuryexplorers and closed by the end of thenineteenth century. Fugitive Slave in theGold Rush: Life and Adventures offamesWilliams, by James Williams, introductionbyMalcolm J. Rohr bough (Univ. ofNebraska Press, Lincoln, 2002. Illustrations, index. 144pages. $16.95paper) Born a slave in 1825, Williams escaped on horseback at age thirteen from aMaryland farm. The author chronicles his work on theUnder ground Railroad, assistingother formerslaves in theirflighttofreedom, and his travels west inthe gold-rush era.Williams makes few comments about theCivilWar but offers many opinions on matters of race inSan Francisco and the mining communities. Plants of theLewis and Clark Expedition, byH. Wayne Phillips (Mountain Press Publishing, Missoula, Mont., 2003. Photographs, illustra tions, maps, glossary,appendix, bibliography, index. 278 pages. $20.00 paper) The author, a formerForest Service ecologist and forester, organized the material in thisfield guide as a journeyalong theLewis and Clark trail, plant by plant. Each section focuses on a part of the great expedition, and includes notes on the explorers' collection of plant specimens and cor responding journal citations. Phillips also pro vides basic plant descriptions, and over three hundred color photographs. RichesforAll: The California Gold Rush and the World, edited byKenneth N. Owens (Univ.of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 2002.Maps, index. 380 pages. $27.95 paper) The fourteen essays in thiscollection forma broad social history of theCalifornia gold-rush era, including analysis of theroleplayed by tech Reviews 169 nology, theeconomy, and the legal system.Essays cover the roles of women, Mexicans, African Americans, Chinese, and Chileans and consider the factors that led to a societalmovement to ward personal independence and away from the constraints of community. Notices Call forArticles on the Stevens Treaties The Oregon Historical Quarterly is interested in receivingmanuscripts and proposals fora spe cial issue on the Stevens-Palmer Treaties, to be published in thefallof 2005 incommemoration of the sesquicentennial. The journal isespecially interested inarticles (25pages plus documenta tion) or essays (15pages) that take an interpre tive, thematic approach to the large issues and questions that surround the treaties ? pre treaty, at thetimeof thesigning,and today. Manu scriptson the legalaspectsof thetreaties,theback ground to and the consequences of the treaties, tribal sovereignty,thehistorical development of the questions surrounding the treaties, and natu ral resource issueswill be considered, alongwith considerations of language, oral tradition, and examinations of the treatiesas primary and liter ary documents. Please send queries, proposals, and manuscripts byMay 1,2004, to:Marianne Keddington-Lang, Editor,OregonHistorical Quar terly, 1200 S.W. ParkAvenue, Portland,OR 97205; e-mail, mariannk@ohs.org. Oregon Heritage Conference The 2004 Oregon Heritage Conference will be heldMay 6-8 inAshland, Oregon. The confer ence theme is"Creating and Preserving the Many Faces of Heritage." For more information, see...