140 Michigan Historical Review and clich?s, which empty the family of true individuals and make of it a canister of hollow servants and callow ideologies" (p. 15). Amato invites all of us to explore the role of the personal in the historical. It is not only genealogists who are studying themselves in and through their work. Annette Atkins Saint John's University/College of Saint Benedict Collegeville, Minn. David Barber. A Hard Rain Fell: SDS and Why It Failed. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. Pp. 286. Bibliography. Index. Notes. Cloth, $50.00. Books about the New Left seem to portray radical movements of the sixties as either a success or a failure. David Barber's A Hard Rain Fell: SDS and Why It Failed obviously fits in the latter category. Barber argues that the New Left's adherence to established perceptions of race, gender, class, and nation ultimately led to its demise. He contends that the perspective of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) on race, more than any other factor, was the reason for its downfall. As a result of internal racism, the organization failed to acknowledge blacks' crucial involvement in the movement, Black Power's ability to lead the revolution, and the connections between imperialism abroad and capitalism at home. The organization's refusal to eliminate "white supremacy" within its ranks prevented any substantial social or political improvements. Referencing this conservatism, Barber writes, "The New Left failed not because itwas too radical in its support of the black nationalist movement but because itwas not radical enough" (p. 15). To demonstrate the racist undertones that prevented the organization from supporting the Black Power Movement, Barber examines SDS speeches, newsletters, and ideological developments from the organization's inception at the University of Michigan in 1960 to its demise at theWeatherman's last national council meeting in 1970 in Flint, Michigan. Barber shows how New Leftists refused to be political running mates with the Black Panthers, ignored requests to organize white communities, and discredited black intellectuals. There were moments of potential when the Panthers or Viet Cong emissaries inspired self-reflection within SDS. However, while leaders might Book Reviews 141 address white supremacy and acknowledge the power and privileges of whiteness, these introspections were too painful and too radical to last. Barber argues SDS's refusal to address the underlying problem of organizational racism splintered the students into three groups: the Weatherman, the Revolutionary Youth Movement II, and the Progressive Labor Party. The great irony in this rupture is that during the unprecedented student rebellion that took place after the Kent State shootings in 1970, the SDS was so fractured it could not respond to the uprising. Barber makes no effort to disguise his disappointment as he depicts SDS's initial promise, convincingly documents its racism, stresses its ultimate failure to address the organization's internal acceptance of white supremacy, and illustrates how he feels these mistakes currendy affect America. Although Barber's analysis of the organization's shortcomings does not suffer from his condemnatory perspective, one slight drawback is his overly idealistic portrayal of the Black Panthers and the Viet Cong, whom he touts as "real activists." However, this subjectivity does not discredit Barber's important study of the New Left's internal racism and how this shortcoming ultimately destroyed SDS. Elise Wagner Michigan State University David Blanke. Hell onWheels: The Promise and Peril of America's Car Culture, 1900-1940. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2007. Pp. 266. Bibliography. Illustrations. Index. Notes. Cloth, $34.95. Automobiles killed about a half-million Americans before 1940. Until recendy, though, historians have found few signs of social distress. They were looking in the wrong places, however. In Down the Asphalt Path (1994) Clay McShane, examining local sources in New York, found outrage and even minor riots in the wake of motorized mayhem. Since then, attention to early automobile accidents has been growing slowly. A recent contribution is David Blanke's Hell on Wheels. Blanke finds an "odd early response to auto safety" (p. 185), in which Americans accepted high collective risks because of a tendency to measure safety individually. Because of their "automotive love affair" ...