Yankees in Michigan by Brian C. Wilson

Abstract

Book Reviews137 understanding the roots of the conservative political posturing that has achieved a dramatic rollback inwelfare benefits at the state and federal levels since the 1980s. C. Dianne Creagh The Pennsylvania State University atYork Paul Trap and LarryWagenaar, eds.Michigan History Directory of Historical Societies, Museums, Archives, Historic Sites,Agencies and Commissions. 12th ed. East Lansing: Historical Society ofMichigan, 2008. Pp. 127. Index. Paper, $14.95, HSM members; $19.95, nonmembers. This updated guide toMichigan's historical resources includes many organizations not listed in previous editions. Approximately seven hundred separate entries, arranged by place name, include copious information. An index also allows one to search by the name of the institution or organization. Most entries include the address and multiple ways of contacting the organization described. Readers can find the highlights of archival and museum collections and exhibits, hours during which sites are open, admission fees if any, the dates of annual special events, and meeting times of many organizations. This publication supplements themore compact HistoricMichigan TravelGuide, which is also published by theHistorical Society ofMichigan. But even users of thatguide may want to consult this directory to discover the rich variety of historical organizations operating in the places they live and vacation. Individuals seeking to join other historically minded enthusiasts and to work as volunteers should also find this directory a goldmine of suggestions. This book can also be ordered online from theHistorical Society ofMichigan. David I.Macleod Central Michigan University Brian C. Wilson. Yankees inMichigan. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2008. Pp. 140. Appendices. Bibliography. Illustrations. Index. Notes. Paper, $12.95. At one time in the nineteenth century,Michigan was considered part of greater New England. New Englanders made up nearly half the state's population, led in politics (Lewis Cass and Zachariah Chandler), in 138 MichiganHistoricalReview business (the Kellogg family and C. W. Post), and in education, and thereby set their imprinton Michigan's cultural life.Brian Wilson tells this many-faceted story,drawing from a rich trove of scholarship that begins with Frederick Jackson Turner and includes an impressive list of manuscript collections and museums. Wilson organizes thiswork around puritan New England's sense of identity and purpose in history?that is, the story of a chosen people coming into the frontier, bringing order and civilization, and grappling with the temptations that accompany material success. This is theway the Yankees of New England remembered their pioneer ancestors and thought of themselves as they set out for theMichigan frontier.As a professor of religious studies atWestern Michigan University, Wilson understands the significance of this puritan heritage and concisely outlines its elements, tensions, contradictions, and transformations, organizing Yankees in Michigan around them. This approach works well, enabling him to explore puritan traditions that turned on community and individualism and on reform and responsibility as they translated into behavior in frontier Michigan. Wilson succinctly explores the transplantation of family and community habits, legal and political organizations, missionary endeavors, and educational institutions. If Michigan's New Englanders came with a sense of mission, they also carried their ancestors' worries that theywould be seduced by prosperity and success. Those fears become real in Wilson's story as he recounts the emergence of prosperous towns, a market economy, agricultural diversification, and the development of industry. While skillfullydeveloping this theme,Wilson does not allow it to obscure the complexity and variety ofNew Englanders. Not allwere alike: with Congregationalists came Baptists andMethodists aswell asQuakers. IfYankee culture inspired success, it also exhibited intolerance toward Native Peoples, the French, and migrants from the South. Wilson's discussion of politics, from the emergence of theRepublican Party to the Social Gospel movement, is a sensitive and, equally important, critical retelling of this complex history. Finally, ingrained puritan obsessions with decline and failure?that the "city on a hill" would fail?became reality. The arrival of new immigrants challenged Yankee hegemony and provoked anxious defenders of New England culture into aggressive attacks on parochial schools aswell as a temperance crusade. In the end, asWilson concludes, the idea of a greaterNew England disappeared andMichigan became part of theAmerican Midwest. Book Reviews 139 Yankees inMichigan is a well-crafted synthesis that provides an excellent window on part of theMichigan social...