Prairie Fire Research Articles

Wild Lily, Prairie Fire: China's Road to Democracy, Yan'an to Tian'anmen, 1942–1989. Edited by Gregor Benton and Alan Hunter. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995. xv, 362 pp. $49.50 (cloth); $19.95 (paper).

Wild Lily, Prairie Fire: China's Road to Democracy, Yan'an to Tian'anmen, 1942–1989. Edited by Gregor Benton and Alan Hunter. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995. xv, 362 pp. 19.95 (paper). - Volume 55 Issue 3

Wild Lily, Prairie Fire: China's Road to Democracy, Yan'an to Tian'anmen, 1972-1989.Gregor Benton , Alan Hunter

Previous articleNext article No AccessReviewsWild Lily, Prairie Fire: China's Road to Democracy, Yan'an to Tian'anmen, 1972-1989. Gregor Benton , Alan Hunter James D. SeymourJames D. Seymour Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The China Journal Volume 36Jul., 1996 Published on behalf of the Australian Centre on China in the World at the Australian National University Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/2950391 Views: 3Total views on this site Copyright The China JournalPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Guarding China's Domestic Front Line: The People's Armed Police and China's Stability

A single spark can light a prairie fire, Mao Zedong once proclaimed, and China today is as dry as a tinder-box. Rapid economic and social change is undermining the country′s stability. The authorities are struggling to cope with soaring crime, mass rural migration, rising urban unemployment, simmering ethnic discontent and numerous other problems. At the same time, the Communist Party′s legitimacy and organization is crumbling and the ruling elite waits nervously for ailing paramount leader Deng Xiaoping′s death.

Wild Lily, Prairie Fire: China's Road to Democracy, Yan'an to Tian'anmen, 1942–1989

"Wild Lily, Prairie Fire: China's Road to Democracy, Yan'an to Tian'anmen, 1942–1989." History: Reviews of New Books, 24(3), pp. 132–133

Wild lily, prairie fire: China's road to democracy, Yan'an to Tian'anmen, 1942-1989

This is a sourcebook of documents of democratic dissent under Chinese communism. The essays range from eye-witness accounts of a massacre to theoretical critiques of Chinese Marxist thought. The introduction maintains that the documents reveal a tradition of democratic thought and practice that traces its descent to the New Culture Movement of the 1910s and the founding generation of the Chinese Communist Party. Far from being a late 20th-century import (along with capitalist economics) from Europe, Japan and the United States, this tradition of dissent is deeply embedded in the experience of China's revolutionary movements. This book calls into question many of the usual beliefs about the relation between democracy and communism, at least in the Chinese case, which may now be seen to depart from the Soviet model in yet another crucial respect.

Remodeling Collective Violence: James Tong's Rational Choice Model and the Great Strikes of 1877

James Tong develops a rational choice model for collective violence by peasant outlaws in pre-modem Ming Dynasty China. I argue that Tong's model can, with some alterations, be used to explain sudden, widespread outbursts of unorganized, collective violence by workers-phenomena which are anomalous vis-à-vis the "expanded logic of collective action." I apply Tong's model to the Great Strikes of 1877. The spark that lighted this prairie fire was a spontane ous nationwide strike by railroad workers. Consistent with Tong's model, rail road workers struck when their wages were reduced below subsistence levels. Because this subsistence crisis coincided with coercive crises at the local and state level and the slow mobilization by the United States Army-which reduced the likelihood of arrest, injury or death in action-these strikes quickly deep ened. They ignited an explosion of concurrent disturbances; sympathy strikes, protest marches and rallies, riots, and general strikes.

Proposal of the State Education Commission Concerning the Organization and Implementation of the Prairie Fire Plan (Abridged) (1988)

Proposal of the State Education Commission Concerning the Organization and Implementation of the Prairie Fire Plan (Abridged) (1988)

Chapter 6: The Unprecedented Demonstration of the Peking Residents

All circles in Peking have paid attention to the Peking-Hankou Railway strike since it occurred. Student Associations and the other organisations considered it in a more sympathetic light because it was a fight for freedom. The Chinese Labour Secretariat, the Union of the Democratic Rights Movement, the Peking Student Association, the Student Association of Peking University, the Preparatory Committee for the All-China Railway Federation of Trade Unions, the Socialist Youth League, the Peking Federation of All Organisations etc. convened an informal meeting in a school in the East City. Mr. Chen, the vice chair of the Labour Secretariat, recounted how the incident had unfolded and the whole audience was moved and inspired. After a lengthy debate, they decided to organise a support association for the railway workers. It issued a manifesto to call the attention of all and sought to collect donations to support the workers. The office of this organisation was located in the Student Association of Peking University. Day after day, they campaigned for support. On the same day, they decided on several measures: (1) to send a circular telegram to all circles in the country to ask for ordinary support; (2) to issue a manifesto to warn all compatriots; (3) to dispatch delegates to comfort the workers on the Peking-Hankou Railway; (4) to hold a big demonstration to get the attention of all compatriots; (5) to raise funds for the financial support of the railway workers. On the spot, seven committee members were chosen to prepare the decisions, but the demonstration was not yet held as the conditions were not ripe. As soon as the news of the 7 February massacre arrived, it became the a topic for discussion among all circles; it seemed as though heaven and earth had changed colour. All the people were filled with indignation. Soon, the student association sent a letter to the Peking Government bitterly attacking the authorities. The conference of teaching and administrative staff issued a manifesto in the same vein. The sympathetic attitude towards the workers became so strong that no force could stop it. Let me copy part of the manifesto: Circular telegram of the joint delegate conference of the teaching and administrative staff of Peking Colleges: Peking: President, the State Council, ministries, government offices, the Senate and the House of Representatives, trade unions, education associations, chambers of commerce, peasant associations, legal organisations, Shanghai Slrenbno, Xinwen boo, Shishi xinbao, Minguo ribao, Shi bao and Zhonghua xinbao: On 1 February, workers on the Peking-Hankou Railway held the inaugural meeting of the Federation of Trade Unions. It was disbanded forcibly by the troops stationed there. On 4 February, the workers held a general strike to win the freedom of assembly. O n 7 February, troops and police forced the workers at Changxindian to return to work. They fired on them and three died at once and over forty were seriously wounded. This was seen by thousands ofpeople. Being well informed and more cautious, we find that the government is at a loss a t what to do and we are grieved that the people are living in an abyss of suffering. We are afraid that a single spark could start a prairie fire. We think there are four inadequacies with the government's handling of the strike.

Marbled Murrelet Chick and Eggshell Fragments from Inland Washington

A marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) chick and three small eggshell fragments (UWBM 43053) were found on the ground in the Helena Creek drainage 9.5 km south and 2.5 km east of Darrington in Snohomish County, Washington. The chick was found partially decomposed on 27 June 1989; the eggshell fragments were found on 14 July 1989, 1.5 m from where the chick was found. The site is 2.7 km up Helena Creek from its confluence with Clear Creek, or 6.3 km from its confluence with the River. The specimens were found 18 m north of a dry stream bed (about 4 m wide), and 240 m east of Helena Creek; elevation is 594 m. The mouth of the Snohomish River, 45-50 km to the southwest, is the closest salt water. The chick was identified by comparison with a color photograph and descriptions of chicks by Simons (1980) and Binford et al. (1975). The bird was maggoty when found; judging from the size of the larvae, it had been dead for perhaps 4 days. The chick nevertheless retained most of its plumage upon preparation. It was entirely downy, with a wing length (wrist to the end of the down) of less than 25 mm, suggesting that it was less than 3 days old (Simons 1980; Hirsch et al. 1981). Subtracting 30 days for the incubation period (Sealy 1974), we estimate a hatching date of 22-23 June and a laying date of 23-24 May. The three eggshell fragments, the largest of which is 6 mm across, were identified based on their similarity to Kiff's (1981) description of marbled murrelet egg specimens and a comparison with an egg (UWBM 43031) found on Long Island in Pacific County, Washington, in July 1989 (J. Atkinson, pers. comm.). Using Munsell color notation (Anon. 1976), the fragments had a ground color between 5GY 8/4 and 2.5GY 7/4; one had a 7.5Y 7/6 spot, and two were marked with blackish scrawls. These colors closely resemble those of UWBM 43031 and Kiff's descriptions. The chick and eggshell were found in unmanaged forest dominated by western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) and western red cedar (Thuja plicata) on a west-facing 30% slope. The overstory was western hemlock and western red cedar with some pacific silver fir (Abies amabilis). The hemlocks were primarily 40-45 cm dbh (diameter breast-height), with an understory of 10-20 cm dbh hemlocks. Canopy closure was 60-65%. The forest understory was comprised of sword fern (Polystichum munitum), devil's club (Oplopanax horridum), Oregon grape (Mahoma oregona), bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), deer fern (Blechnum spicant), huckleberry (Vaccinium sp.), western hemlock and vine maple (Acer circinatum). Tree size in the stand and the presence of scattered large remnant Douglasfirs support the assertion that the area was burned in the large Sauk Prairie fire which occurred around 1825 (Henderson and Peter 1984). The chick and eggshell fragments were found at the base of a western hemlock 23 m high and 41 cm dbh. There was no depression, scrape, droppings or other evidence of a ground nest; furthermore, ground vegetation would make access to a ground nest difficult. The hemlock was heavily infected with dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium tsugense), which results in multiple branches at infected sites along the tree limbs (known as witches' brooms). Witches' brooms collect organic material and are often covered with thick blankets of moss. The hemlocks in this part of the drainage were heavily infected with dwarf mistletoe, making witches' brooms common. The hemlock was 3 m from a large remnant Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) about 38 m high and 152 cm dbh. This tree had many large lateral branches covered with moss. The top of the Douglas-fir extended above most of the canopy and projected over the hemlock under which the chick was found. The proximity of the chick and eggshells to the trunk of the hemlock and to each other suggests that they fell from a nest in either the hemlock or the Douglas-fir. This habitat is consistent with that of other marbled murrelet tree nests (Marshall 1988), although the nest may possibly have been in a smaller tree than usual. The western hemlock with witches' brooms could have provided sheltered horizontal moss-covered nest sites like the large limbs on which other nests have been found.

Qaddafi, terrorism, and the origins of the U.S. attack on Libya

Preface Introduction Muammar Al-Qaddafi, Leader of the Revolution The United States and Libya, 1969-1983 The United States and Libya on a Collision Course Operation Prairie Fire The La Belle Discotheque Bombing and its Aftermath Operation El Dorado Canyon and its Aftermath Appendix: The Qaddafi Regime on Terrorism: A Sampling Bibliographic Essay Index

Reform Corruption: A Discussion on China's Current Development

CONCOMITANT WITH CHINA'S RAPID AND RADICAL REFORM there has been rampant corruption among its bureaucrats. Chinese authorities have exhorted cadres to get rich last in the wake of the coming Communist prosperity. Deng Xiaoping favours a pattern in which people will become prosperous first, and others later.' But many government officials, wanted to be first and last on the road towards common prosperity, have turned a deaf ear to the Party's advice and so the nation's leaders have resorted to various means of intimidationexecuting one as a warning to a hundred. Yet just as a Chinese saying proclaims that not even a prairie fire can destroy the grass, it grows again when the spring breeze blows, corruption remains chronic and contagious and does seem to be tapering off. Addressing this perennial problem, this paper argues that reform corruption in China has much to do with ideological confusion, lack of incentive, lack of deterrence and deficiencies in management,2 all of which have been either created or exacerbated in the course of reform. The paper suggests that ideological indoctrination alone does tackle the issue adequately and that structural changes may assist in reducing corruption. As early as December 1951 when the Three-Anti campaign was launched against corruption, waste and bureaucratism, bourgeois ideas were already selected as a favourite scapegoat, as a major cause of corruption. This approach is adopted by some foreign observers as well. John Gardner, for example, writes that corruption of veteran and new party cadres results from environment in which the bourgeoisie retained a dominant position.3 The authorities have repeatedly employed this kind of attack in political movements since 1950, but seeing the bourgeoisie as an easy target has blinded Chinese leaders to other causes of bureaucratic corruption.

Index to Volume XXI

Index to Volume XXI COMPILED BY NAN BAGLEY AND CHARLOTTE WRIGHT Number 1 (May 1986) Number 2 (August 1986) 1-96 97-192 Adams, Charles L., Frank Waters: A Retro· spective Anthology, reviewed, 147; re· viewed by, 231 Ahearn, Kerry, review by, 237 Alamo Images: Changing Perceptions of a Texas Experience, by Susan Prendergast Schoelwer, reviewed, 364 Alaskan Stories, by John Mitchell, review· ed, 60 Albertini, Virgif, "Annual Bibliography," 305 Alexander, Ruth, review by, 245 All's Normal Here: A Charles Bukowski Primer, ed. by Loss Pequeno Glazier, re· viewed, 243 Almon, Bert, review by, 82 Always Coming Home, by Ursula K. Le· Guin, reviewed, 235 Ambrose Bierce: The Making of a Misan· thrope, by Richard Saunders, reviewed, 77 American Indian and Alaskan Native Newspapers and Periodicals 1925-1970, ed. by Daniel F. Littlefield Jr. and James W. Parins, reviewed, 383 American Indian Novelists: An Annotated Bibliography, by Tom Colonnese, re· viewed, 263 American Indian Stories, by Zitkala·Sa, noticed, 187 American Poetry and Japanese Culture, by Sanehide Kodama, reviewed, 82 American Theories of the Novel: 17931903 , by Sergio Perosa, noticed, 283 The American West: The Modern Vision, by Patricia Janis Broder, reviewed, 136 Anaya, Rudolfo, ed., Cuentos Chicanos, 270 Anderson, Jay A., review by, 367 Number 3 (November 1986) Number 4 (February 1987) 193-288 289-400 Andrews, Clarence A., review by, 70 "Annual Bibliography of Studies in West· ern American Literature," edited by Virgil Albertini, 305 Arbuthnot, Nancy Prothro, review by, 361 Arrington, Leonard J., Brigham Young: An American Moses, reviewed, 137 Arthur, Anthony, review by, 168 Astonishment of Heart, by Edwin Moses, reviewed, 57 Astro, Richard, review by, 148,376 Aton, Jim, "An Interview with Barry Lo· pez," 3; review by, 162 Attebery, Louie W., Idaho Folklife: Home· steads to Headstones, reviewed, 367; re· view by, 75 Authentic Mark Twain, by Everett Emer· son, reviewed, 251 Austin, Mary, A Woman of Genius, no· ticed,284 Bailey, John W., review by, 150 Baines, Bill, review by, 59; notice by, 187 Baker, David, Haunts, reviewed, 273 Balk, Christianne, Bindweed, reviewed, 369 Baronets and Buffalo, by John I. Merritt, noticed, 187 Barth, Gunther, review by, 88 Bartlett, Lee, William Everson, reviewed, 182; review by, 250 Bartlett, Mary Dougherty, The New Na· tive American Novel, revie"";ed, 261 Basic Texas Books: An Annotated Bibliog. raphy of Selected Works for a Research Library, by John H. Jenkins, reviewed, 147 Bass, Rick, The Deer Pasture, reviewed, 72 388 Western American Literature Bassett, John E., "Life on the Mississippi: Being Shifty in a New Country," 39 Beal, Bob and Rod Macleod, Prairie Fire: The 1885 Rebellion, reviewed, 89 Behm, Richard, review by, 181,275 Bellman, Samuel!., review by, 83 Berner, Robert L., "Old Gunfighters, New Cops," note, 131 The Best Western Stories of Steve Frazee, ed. by Bill Pronzini and Martin H. Greenberg, reviewed, 141 The Best Western Stories of Wayne D. Overholser, ed. by Bill Pronzini and Martin H. Greenberg, reviewed, 141 Beyers, Coralie, review by, 238 Beyond Manzanar: Views of Asian-American Womanhood, by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, reviewed, 184 Beyond the Mountain, by William Dieter, reviewed,237 A Bibliography of Native American Writers 1772-1924: A Supplement, by Daniel F. Littlefield Jr., reviewed, 267 A Bibliography of the Osage, by Terry P. Wilson, reviewed, 267 Bierds, Linda, Flights of the H arvest-Mare, reviewed, 170 Bindweed, by Christianna Balk, reviewed, 369 Bird, Roy K., Wright Morris: Memory and Imagination, reviewed, 374 Black Wolf: The Life of Ernest Thompson Seton, by Betty Keller, reviewed, 152 Blanchard, Smoke, Walking Up and Down in the World: Memories of a Mountain Rambler, reviewed, 14·3 Blew, Mary Clearman, review by, 163 Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West, by Cormac McCarthy, reviewed ,59 Bodner, Richard, review by, 276 Bones, Jim, Rio Grande, reviewed, 261 "A Book of Resolutions: Ruth Suckow's Some Others and Myself," by Fritz Oehlschlaeger , 111 Bouterse, Jane, review by, 74 Bowden, Charles, review by, 254 Brady, Steven, review by, 186,273 Brief Cherishing, by Hildegarde Flanner, 280 Brigham Young: American lvfoses, by Leonard J. Arrington, reviewed, 137 Broder, Patricia Janis, The American West: The Modern Vision, reviewed, 136 Broome, Harvey, Faces of the Wilderness, reviewed, 92 Brown, David E., The...

History of Forest and Prairie Fire Control Policy in Alberta. By Peter J. Murphy. (Edmonton: Alberta Energy and Natural Resources, 1985. xiii + 408 pp. Illustrations, maps, bibliography, appendix, index. Paper $15.00 Canadian.)

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsHistory of Forest and Prairie Fire Control Policy in Alberta. By Peter J. Murphy. (Edmonton: Alberta Energy and Natural Resources, 1985. xiii + 408 pp. Illustrations, maps, bibliography, appendix, index. Paper $15.00 Canadian.)George R. FahnestockGeorge R. Fahnestock Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Volume 30, Number 3July 1986 Published for the American Society for Environmental History and the Forest History Society Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/4004885 Views: 2Total views on this site Views: 2Total views on this site Journal History This article was published in the Journal of Forest History (1974-1989), which was continued by Forest & Conservation History (1990-1995). © 1986 Forest History Society, Inc. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Prairie Fire: the 1885 Rebellion by Bob Beal and Rod Macleod, and: The Riel Rebellion: A Biographical Approach by Charles and Cynthia Hou

Reviews 89 People of the Moonshell. By Nancy M. Peterson. (Frederick, Colorado: Renaissance House, 1984. 166 pages, $14.95.) The Moonshell is an early Indian name for the river we know as the Platte. It was through the valley of the Platte and along its two branches that most of the explorers, trappers, gold-seekers and settlers moved to the Rocky Mountains and beyond during much of the nineteenth century. And many miles of the Overland Trail, the Pony Express and the first transcontinental railroad followed this wide, sluggish river across the Great Plains. The present book adds nothing to what we already know of western history and it does not pretend to. It is more a contribution to western litera­ ture, in that it concentrates on character more than events. What it gives us is a beautifully written account of the adventures and hardships of some of the more colorful people who moved or settled along the Platte. Some of these people are as well known as Francis Parkman and Robert Louis Stevenson; others as obscure as the couple homesteading in Nebraska in 1880. A number of them are women;some are Indians. What theyhave in common iscourage and endurance of a sort rarely seen in America today. The forty chapters encompass 160years—from the firstview of the Platte by Spanish explorers in 1720 until the end of the pioneer period in 1880. Perhaps the most interesting of the people of the Moonshell is the Scottish gentlewoman Isabella Bird, who reached the sources of the river in the high Rockies in 1873, travelling by horseback and often alone. Each chapter is illustrated by one or more appropriate sketches by Asa Battles, which add much to the book’s flavor. A very ample bibliography includes journals and memoirs of the subjects aswell asearly newspaperitems. ROBERT D. HARPER Estes Park, Colorado Prairie Fire: the 1885 Rebellion. ByBob Beal and Rod Macleod. (Edmonton: Hurtig, 1985. 384 pages.) The Riel Rebellion: A Biographical Approach. ByCharles and Cynthia Hou. (Vancouver: Tantalus Research, 1984. 162 pages.) It is the frequent boast of Canadians that the exploration and settlement of the western plains in their country constitute a tranquil and ordered chronicle, in contrast to the violent saga of the American frontier past. There is, however, at least one prominent exception to this generalization: the Northwest or “Riel” Rebellion of 1885, when the French-speaking half-breeds, or “Metis,” and the Cree and Blood Indians of Saskatchewan took up arms against the Canadian government. The rebellion was small, localized, and relatively brief by comparison to the Indian wars of the United States, yet it has come to be seen as one of the most important events in Canadian history. The questions of federal-provincial relations and aboriginal rights which pro­ 90 Western American Literature voked the outbreak have continued to vex Canadian social and political life to the present day. In the last ten or fifteen years, a number of works of history and fiction have been inspired by the rebellion, many of them focusing on the charismatic Metis leader, Louis Riel. Two new books, obviously released by their Canadian authors and publishers to mark the rebellion’scen­ tennial in 1985, attempt to review and analyze the people, events, and conse­ quences of the nation’s most dramatic example of western frontier violence. Thanks largely to the improvisations of Cecil B. DeMille in his 1940 Hollywood epic North-West Mounted Police, a generation of North American school children were led to believe that the 1885 uprising was caused by halfbreed outlaws, and suppressed by a small but heroic contingent of Mounties. Historians have been trying for years to set the record straight, and Charles and Cynthia Hou’s The Riel Rebellion: A Biographical Approach isthe latest effort to clarify the subject for young readers. This soft-cover, slick-paper handbook might even make suitable reading for adults who are completely unfamiliar with the subject, or who dimly remember DeMille’s movie. Pro­ fusely illustrated with maps, drawings, and rare archival photographs, it is a comprehensive record, but its biographical structure—each chapter centers on one of the principal rebels, military leaders, and politicians involved—■ makes for...

Use of an Improved Statistical Method for Group Comparisons to Study Effects of Prairie Fire

This paper describes an improved method for performing statistical comparisons among experimental groups. This technique, termed multi—response permutation procedures (MRPP), is similar in purpose to the t test and one—way analysis of variance F test. However, in contrast to these, the new method features very relaxed requirements on the data structure, is easily applied to multivariate problems, and makes it possible to relate the analysis visually to the perceived data space. The MRPP test statistic is based on the within—group average of pairwise distance measures between object response values in a euclidian data space. The null distribution of the test statistic is based on the collection of all possible permutations of the objects into groups having specified sizes. For large group sizes, this distribution is approximated by a continuous distribution satisfying three exact moments. The advantages and applications of MRPP are illustrated using both artificial examples and empirical data on total August standing crop in mixed prairie following an October wildfire. The MRPP analyses of the empirical data revealed that there were no differences in standing crop between burned an unburned areas after the first postfire growing seasons, standing crop was significantly greater in the previously burned areas.

The Lone Prairie

The Lone Prairie

Structure and composition of a post-fire ascomycete community: role of abiotic and biotic factors

The role of certain abiotic and biotic factors in determining the structure of a post-fire ascomycete community was studied by the laboratory simulation of soil conditions occurring during and following a prairie fire. Aerated steam treatment of prairie soil (35, 40, 55, 70, or 85 °C for 60 s) was used to simulate the elevated soil temperatures generated during a grassland fire. Further manipulations included: (1) addition of ashed remains of prairie grasses to steamed soil surfaces, (2) the incubation of steam-treated soil samples layered over untreated prairie soil, and (3) addition of ash to steamed soil underlain with a layer of untreated soil to create a simulated burn.Across all treatments, species diversity and total number of species were significantly higher in soils steamed at 35, 55, or 70 °C than soils steamed at 40 or 85 °C. The greatest number of species per sample for steaming alone occurred in samples treated at 55 °C. The addition of ash to steamed samples or layering with untreated prairie soil significantly reduced species diversity and total number of species as compared with steamed soil alone. When ash and a subsurface layer of untreated soil were applied together, species diversity, total number of species, and mean number of species for samples steamed at 55 or 70 °C, were significantly greater than when either treatment was added separately. It was found that a simulated burn at 55 or 70 °C promoted the development of a community which most closely resembled a naturally occurring post-fire ascomycete community. This suggested that the structure of the post-fire ascomycete community was in part determined by (1) species responses to elevated soil temperatures, (2) ash deposition, and (3) biotic factors associated with the subsurface soil layers.

Shadow of Thunder by Max Evan

Reviews 235 hurricanes,” and close by, at night, you could see the sharks. During the day, the sharks stayed away, but “if they did come in you could see their shadows a long way away.” The islands of the title are profane—a home that is temporal though built with love and care, a summer vacation with your three sons, a time in the past in Paris remembered now as an act of devotion— but the stream of the title is primordial; and the stream is alive with sharks and with an evil that casts no warning shadow. The story emphasizes this threat, this powerful evil that may spring at any moment into the idylic peace of a good time, a good marriage, a welldisciplined combat crew. The natural dangers of the sea are stressed, especially in “Bimini,” the first section of the book (which, by the way, was reprinted in part and inadequately in Esquire); and natural dangers bear a haunting kinship with the natural evil that is in all good men. Two of Thomas Hudson’s boys are described in terms of animals; Thomas Hudson, Roger Davis, and others discuss the evil they carry inside themselves. That much of this discussion is poorly written should not obscure the fact that Hemingway was concerned (most successfully in the dramatic passages) with a malaise more profound than the malaise of Jake Barnes. Thomas Hud­ son has endured the wounds of his youth, and he has kept the values. He knows now, like Santiago, the essential value of politeness, modern man’s selfconscious ritual against an unconscious evil. That Hemingway did not bring it off is granted, but that he was trying once more to go out where he had not gone before should be recognized. Studies more thorough than book reviews will show, I feel, that Islands in the Stream—whatever its merits as a book—calls for a reconsideration of the importance of the archetypel in Hemingway’s vision. Accidental death—like good luck or love gone sour or that first and best time—may have for Heming­ way a base that is less sociological and psychological and more primordial than we have realized. Max W estbrook, University of Texas at Austin Shadow of Thunder. By Max Evans. (Chicago, The Swallow Press Inc., 1969. 78 pages, illus., $5.00.) Shadow of Thunder is about a confidence artist who bewitches a town’s gullible nesters and a rancher’s discontented wife. The itinerant trickster plays his game in New Mexico in the summer of 1937. To hypnotic drumbeats Duvall wields his “outsized” hands, dispenses aphrodisiacs, and promotes communal debauchery. His payment: “love gifts.” But by summer’s end the protagonist, a preoccupied rancher, discerns his duty; his cowboy skills make him the natural hero who revenges his friends, saves his marriage, and destroys Evil. 236 Western American Literature As a novella Shadow of Thunder tries to combine novelistic intricacy and short-story compression. Evans’ yarn is as compelling as any of the Holly­ wood New Morality Westerns. It offers the pleasure of sharp scenes flicking by in a spare, athletic style. In fact, the story’s rushing surface nearly over­ whelms one’s sense of severe disunities of character and event just before the operatic ending. Tidbits of Western sensationalism stampede the narrative in the form of a penis operation on a steer, sundry public and private orgies, a prairie fire, a jaw-breaking, a fatal knifing, a diest-crunching, and a classic decapitation. This pop Naturalism, however, is relieved by normative scenes of domestic life, rural chores, neighborly visits, and trips into town. Max Evans limits his omniscient point of view to the industrious rancher, Rick Ames, and his sensuous wife, Marta, suggestive of the ranch wife in Steinbeck’s “Chrysanthemums.” The result is an intensifying of their marital problem and their differing views of the honey-tongued stranger. Demonstrations of Duvall’s white-and-black magic and its immoral effects on the nesters give to his characterization a dimension so sinister as to symbolize the Devil, Hitler, Tyranny. Unfortunately, much of the dialogue—Western Range, Mexican American, Old World Elegant—seems to me to be trite, leaving unscathed...

The Popular Western Novel: An Essay Review

Reviews The Popular Western Novel: An Essay Review. Last spring, when J. Golden Taylor and James K. Folsom were presenting a panel on Western American literature in Bemidji, Minnesota, Professor Taylor suggested that I write an article on the output of Double D Westerns published by Doubleday and Company. It sounded like a good idea at the time. Six months and eighteen novels later, the idea didn’t seem so good. I had, and still have, some grave reservations about the series. However, an essay-review of the series may provide an opportunity to place the popular Western novel somewhat in perspective in its relationship to serious Western American literature. First it might be a good idea to present a list of the novels I read while conducting this study. Ernest Hemingway once said something to the effect that there was no order for listing good books. Since there probably shouldn’t be any order at the other end of the scale either, I’ll arrange the novels alphabetically by author: Bickham, Jack M. Target: Charity Ross Brown, Dee. Action at Beecher Island Cheshire, Giff. Ambush at Bedrock Farrell, Cliff. Treachery Trail, and Death Trap on the Platte Grove, Fred. The Buffalo Runners Gulick, Bill. Liveliest Town in the West Hanlon, Edward S. The Lives that Die Hoffman, Lee. The Valdez Horses, and West of Cheyenne Huffman, Laurie. A House Behind the Mint Meade, Richard. Big Bend Olsen, Theodore V. Arrow in the Sun Patten, Lewis B. Posse from Poison Creek, The Youngerman Guns, and The Red Sabbath 300 Western American Literature Turner, William O. Maberly’s Kill Vernam, Glenn R. The Indian Hater There is little sense in describing the plot outlines for each one of these novels, but within that list may be found every stereotype of the popular Western, from the psychological examination of a disintegrating hired gun who has killed too many people to the shoot-out at somebody or other’s corral. There is a Shane-like novel, an Ox-Bow Incident-like novel, and even one that reads like a script for T.V.’s “F-Troop.” The most unsuccessful of the lot is Laurie Huffman’s A House Behind the Mint, which reads like a Life With Father in San Francisco, with a bit of the mysterious Black Bart thrown in for suspense. It is, perhaps, the only one of the eighteen that is not wellexecuted at the “action” level; at the same time, it must be admitted, Miss Huffman’s novel is perhaps the only novel that presumes to be anything more than an action story. One of the most important points about these novels, I think, is that they are not presumptuous. Each one (with the exception of Miss Huffman’s) is an “action-packed thriller,” to invent a phrase, and most of the writers are highly skilled in the development of plot. The novels carry one along despite the fact that they say nothing significant, that the characterization is about as deep as a New Mexican arroyo in the middle of a dry August, and that — as with some serious Western writers —the effort to achieve authenticity is often so obvious that it now and again strains the reader’s patience. In the middle of an ambush, with Indians howling around by the dozen and the embattled soldiers running out of ammunition plus being over-run by a prairie fire plus dying of hunger and thirst plus a heroine alone up in the rocks about to be discovered by a wicked Indian chief, the reader is not too con­ cerned, say, that some of the men are using Vickers-Webley 45-70’s or Purdey 36-80’s or Sophia Loren 36-24-32’s or whatever. Nor is he concerned about the history of the gun; he is concerned with the action. T o use a Western literature analogy, what the reader wants to know is whether Barney Tullus is going to get the hell up on that horse or sit back down in whatever it was he was sitting in. And pity the poor Indian with his war lance raised in the air and who must remain poised...

The Second Great Awakening as an Organizing Process, 1780-1830: An Hypothesis

eralizations which American historians use every now and again to describe a movement whose complexity eludes precision. The term usually includes monumental changes such as the break-up of Calvinism, an event which, like the thawing of northern rivers in the spring, heralded a new burst of creativity, energy and warmth. The Awakening is also understood as a conservative assertion of a new mode of religious authority by ministers who, fearful of losing their traditional role in New England society, tried to tame the rising democracy. It provided new channels not only for social control, but also for social service which some scholars have said was but a manifestation of the former. It burned in white-hot emotionalism in Kentucky, spreading along the frontier like a prairie fire, sweeping even beyond the backfires set by cautious seaboard ecclesiastics who had hoped to control it. It was an expansion of religious feeling unknown in American history. To be able to say so much about the Awakening might be taken as evidence that it is not such a vague term after all. Yet there are too many unsettling things about the literature relating to it to conclude that present interpretations are sufficiently comprehensive. The difficulties are a mixture of too much emphasis upon the truly intricate and challenging intellectual problems of the New England theology, and a certain awesome impressionability in regard to the non-rational phenomena of revivalism in the burned-over districts of New York and Vermont, and the campmeeting grounds of the South and West. In fact, it is emotionalism and devout piety, heart over reason, commitment as opposed to disinterestedness which characterizes the revival for many scholars. And it is its impact upon Congregationalist-Presbyterian dogmas of inability which invites the scrutiny of intellectual historians who quite rightly