Book Reviews

 

CHANGING GREENLAND. By Geoffrey Williamson. Sidgwich and Jackson Ltd., London, 1953. 280 pages. 18S.

NORTH OF 55°. Edited by Clifford Wilson. The Ryerson Press, Toronto, 1954. 201 pages. $5.00.

Reviewed by William C. Wonders

(Dr. Wonders is Assistant Professor of Geography at ¹ ie University of Alberta. He has worked in Greenland and Ike Canadian Arctic for the Defence Research Board of Canada and for the Geographical Branch of the Canadian Government.)

Good books on “the North” are compara­tively rare, particularly if they are aimed at the general reader. They usually degenerate ^lnto pallid, wishy-washy travelogues, or become gaudily painted, exaggerated tales °f personal adventure and daring. There are times when a well-written travelogue can provide pleasant relaxation, and there are many true tales of adventure in northern regions, of course, but the reader seeking tactual, general reading material on those areas is rather limited in choice. Fortunately two books have recently been added to this latter supply: Changing Greenland by G. Williamson, and North of 55° edited by C. Wilson.

The two books are at once similar yet dif­ferent. Both are intended for the general reader, but Mr. Williamson’s book as the name indicates, is concerned only -with

Greenland, while Mr. Wilson’s deals only with Canada. Both men are or have been associated with journalism though of a dif­ferent nature, Mr. Williamson having been editor of two national weeklies in Britain and Mr. Wilson being editor of the Hudson Bay Company’s excellent quarterly The Beaver, published in Winnipeg. Mr. Williamson has written his book as a journalist though sup­ported by much research into his topic. Mr. Wilson points out in the introduction that his “is a book for laymen, written by spe­cialists” stating that he is the only non­expert in the list of sixteen contributors.

Changing Greenland is presented in two parts—Part One: Old Orders, and Part Two: New Deals. In the first part Mr. Williamson gives in ten chapters the general background of the world’s largest island. Following an introductory chapter dealing with his first impressions of Greenland upon arrival, the background is mainly a historical one, from the hazy beginnings of settlement by Eskimos and the early Vikings down to the close of the Second World War. This includes not only the famous explorers such as Eric the Red, Nansen, Peary, Rasmussen, and others whose names at least are usually familiar, but also men such as Hans Egede and Dr. Hendrik Rink who devoted their lives to the development of the island, and whose work is too often passed over lightly in English language literature. The “for­gotten” Greenland of the east coast also is described, along with the timeless fascina­tion of the ice cap for man, the significance of aircraft in Greenland and of Greenland to the aircraft. Finally the role of the strategic island during World War II is outlined, at which time Americans for the first time began to find that Greenland was more than just a romantic and remote name.

Part two concerns the far-reaching post­war developments in Greenland, in terms of administration (since publication of the book Greenland has ceased to be a non­self-governing territory, and has at its own request become integrated within the King­dom of Denmark on an equal fooling with the rest of Denmark), economy, and world strategy. In the latter regard he discusses the huge multimillion dollar American base at Thule as well as the broader signifi­cance of what he terms Strategic Island No. 1.

The book is well-illustrated and includes maps, though the latter could have been improved considerably. Mr. Williamson visited Greenland for six weeks as one of the correspondents covering the Royal Visit of 1952 by the King and Queen. He includes a description of the latter event—a significant omen of subsequent political changes—in Part Two. His account is crammed with information. Were it based solely upon his short visit it would seem almost too glib, but he has done considerable research into his subject as evidenced by the bibliography, and produced a very good book on Green­land for the reader desiring a general back­ground to this strategic island. As the Danish Minister for Foreign Affairs points out in the introduction, “He has made a comprehensive Survey of a rather complex subject, and has written a fine book about Greenland. . .

North of 55° concerns itself with that part of Canada which is often imagined by the non-Canadian to characterize the country as a whole—a land of forests and tundra, of Indians and Eskimos, of prospectors and Mounties. The average Canadian living in southern Canada is quick to deride such a concept as untrue, and correctly so, though his own concepts of conditions “up North” are often as exaggerated and unrealistic as those of the outsider. This book should help both to. gain a better perspective on the

realities of the Canadian North.

“The North” is entirely a relative term, elusive and difficult to pin down. What is north for one person is south for someone still farther north. Even in the Arctic, personnel at remote stations delight in re­ferring to those to the south of them as being in the “banana belt” regardless of the lati­tude. To fix the boundary of “the North” arbitrarily at 55° may disturb some. Geo­graphically many of Canada’s major physical regions trend northwest-southeast rather than west-east. Tundra occurs at the Strait of Belle Isle as well as on Baffin Island, terrain and mining problems of much of Que­bec and Ontario south of 55° are physically akin to those of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. Yet there is much to be said for 55° as a dividing line between “developed” and “little or undeveloped Canada.” Some boundary had to be set and so long as the emphasis is upon the characteristics of “the North,” which it is, the location of the exact boundary should not detract from the main purpose of the book.

Mr. Wilson states that “In each chapter an effort has been made to stay away from dry statistics, and to present the facts about the North as interestingly and as readably as possible. The headings have also been chosen to get away from the usual ‘Geography’ ‘Minerals’, ‘Flora’ and so on; and chapters about natural resources have been inter­spersed with some about human activities.” The result has been successful on the whole. Sixteen chapters by individual writers cover a variety of subjects such as “The Face of the Land,” “Men of the Barrens,” “Food from the Soil,” “Wealth from the Rocks,” “Transport Today,” etc. Such experts as the anthropologist Douglas Leechman, the bota­nist A. E. Porsild, the geologist F. J. Alcock, and the geographer J. L. Robinson, to mention but a few, have contributed to the volume. Though he depreciates his own qualifications' as an expert, Mr. Wilson pro­vides an excellent chapter on “Furs for the White Men” for which he is well fitted by his long association with the Hudson’s Bay Company. The final chapter on “Defence of the Realm” by G. W. Rowley closes on the strategic importance of northern Canada.

Excellent illustrations and drawings add

to the book. Maps are also included though their effectiveness varies considerably, and incorrect binding has spoiled one. As is to be expected where sixteen different authors ^are concerned, the text lacks the uniformity that is possible where a single writer is concerned, but all in all, Mr. Wilson has succeeded in producing an excellent book on Canada North of 55°.

THE PEARL SEEKERS. By Norman

Bartlett. 57 illustrations and end paper

maps. Coward-McCann, New York, 1954.

312 pages. $5.00.

Rkviewed by Lieutenant Colonel H. S.

Mazet, U. S. Marine Corps Reserve

(Colonel Mazet is the author of a number of books and several score articles. His first Proceedings article was Published in 1934.)

This book is the result of numerous visits to the northern Australian coastal waters and shore stations, plus extensive research ^work in early Commonwealth history. It would be an exaggeration to claim that it is wholly devoted to pearls and pearl fishing, f°^r this most romantic activity is relegated largely to the last third of the book. Yet pearls are the chief raison d'etre, and are the string upon which the author has fashioned bis chronological presentation of the recent development of Australia’s northern ex­tremities.

No historical volume dealing with the small continent can omit a long roster of crime, violence, rough men, and rogues on which modern civilization has been built.

I he heritage of the lusty, brawling, lawless days is to be found in the spirit of Australian men, who live and fight as individualists Possessed of a monstrous esprit de corps to ^he glory of the Diggers. In the present book R is only natural to meet and observe the Australian male in his more naked moments, carving a vigorous young country from the dust, the desert, the droughts, and wild storms of a land populated by sub-standard aborigines. Here too one will recognize expatriates from most of the rest of so- called civilization, intent upon wresting a fortune from the sea, or from their fellow men. Some of the most colorful characters of the growing pearl and shell industry were from our own country, and they gave the same snap of fingers to law and order which characterized the contemporary Australian. Hence the brutality, fighting, treachery, and murder with which these pages are replete.

A white pearl-opener sailed aboard every lugger out of Broome, Perth, and Thursday Island. Yet the crews were a polyglot rabble composed of Chinese, Malays, Koepangers, Manilamen, aborigines, and the ubiquitous Jap. Back of them all were the sturdy Torres Strait Islanders, some of them re­cently cannibals, who understood pearling and were peerless divers until Jap boats in­troduced suit diving with which to collect shell from the continental waters. It was hardly surprising that such diverse crews, sailing into port for a holiday or to celebrate a great find like the pearl “Star of the West” of 100 grammes, or the “Southern Cross,” a group of nine pearls naturally joined to­gether to form a cross 1^ inches long, raised unclassified hell while they spent their pay for women and liquor, or flung it away with lavish hands. The reader goes on some of the more notable liberty parties of those bygone days.

But even Broome, center of the pearling industry, has long since fallen upon hard times. Gone are the gruff captains and their riffraff crews. Luggers built when fortunes were made from the sea have gone out of commission, and they are not being replaced. The shrinkage of pearling year by year has resulted from variations in the price of shell, exhaustion of close and easily-exploited pearling grounds, and mounting costs. Broome is almost a ghost town, as is La Paz, former pearling center of Baja Cali­fornia.

Yet, while there is shell, someone to buy it, and the chance of a real windfall in the shape of a big pearl, there will always be men who will brave death below to carry on. Recently designed diving gear may lend the necessary impetus for off-shore exploration in the depths where huge pearls may lie waiting. Some day the trade may revive along Australia’s northwest coastline and come back from the almost fatal blow struck by World War II. Already the wily Japanese is plying the disputed waters of the Arafura Sea in his pearling luggers, resuming his search for the treasures of the sea which Australian coastwise sailors claim are right­fully theirs. There is bad feeling rampant today along the old sea tracks of Torres Strait, and Australia is fighting through the International Courts for a ruling to uphold her claims to contiguous waters. But old- timers say sarcastically that Japan never did and never will live up to her agreements in pearling waters.

There is a vast unrest occasioned by the reappearance of Japan’s pearling fleet, and it isn’t limited to pearling men. Perhaps the old days of violence, bloodshed, and piracy over pearls and shell are not gone forever.

NEWPORT NEWS SHIPS: THEIR HIS­TORY IN TWO WORLD WARS. By

Howard J. Ballison. Mariners Museum,

Newport News, Va. 372 pages, illustrated.

Reviewed by Rear Admiral George A.

Holderness, U. S. Navy

(A graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy in 1923, Ad­miral Ilolderness has served in numerous Newport News ships and is currently Chief of Industrial Relations in the Executive Office of the Secretary of the Navy.)

As the title implies, this book is primarily a compilation of ship biographies. It is based largely upon wartime releases of the Navy Department plus the records of the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company and is well illustrated with photographs of the ships. The biographies are of varying length and interest, more complete informa­tion being recorded for vessels under direct control of some branch of the armed forces. While information may be missing on some of the merchant vessels built at the yard, the coverage is almost complete, beginning with the first hull, the 90-foot tug, Dorothy, delivered on April 30, 1891, and ending with two LSD’s, Colonial (Hull 450) and Com­stock (Hull 451) which were delivered prior to the end of the war—but too late to see any combat action.

Mr. Ballison has written in an easy-to- read, narrative style. While there is no par­ticular order, relating to the time of delivery of the ships, carried out in presenting the rec­ords of those ships, the book seems to divide naturally into three segments. In the early chapters are covered the exploits of Newport News ships in the Atlantic during both

World Wars through the Normandy invasion and in the Pacific from Pearl Harbor through the early actions in that theatre. The ships involved were those delivered or started prior to Pearl Harbor. The middle chapters cover primarily the history of Newport News combatant ships, which were de­livered after Pearl Harbor. The final chap­ters cover the non-combatant ships.

It is believed that this book will be of interest primarily to two special groups:

The first group is composed of the men and women whose combined efforts created these complex but efficient tools of national power. This group consists primarily of the workers at Newport News Shipbuilding Company and to a lesser degree of employees of the many industries which furnished the raw materials and components which went into these ships. In such complicated prod­ucts, the pride of individual workmanship tends to be submerged. The exploits of these ships should bring to the individual satisfac­tion of a job “well done” through the under­standing that he has been a part of an organization which has produced ships— tested in battle and not found wanting.

The records of these ships confirm the philosophy of the founder of the company, Collis Potter Huntington:

“We shall build good ships here. At a profit if we can—at a loss if we must—but always good ships.”

The second group is composed of the men who have sailed these ships. As Admiral E. L. Cochrane, USN (Ret.), states in the Foreword:

“A ship is more than a set of blueprints, some thousands of man days of labor and tons of ma­terials. A worthy ship is all those things plus the inspiration of her designers, the careful accuracy of her builders and the faithfulness to duty of the dedicated officers and men who sail her.”

These men—well trained and disciplined— turn an inanimate but well-built ship into an efficient weapon. One of the best examples of the quality of workmanship put into a vessel, of the seamanship and dogged de­termination of her officers and crew, and of the ability of her damage control parties, is shown in the account of the torpedoing of the U.S.S. Houston (2) off Okinawa.

The book is well written but unfortunately may not receive the wide attention it de­serves.

STORMY BEN BUTLER. By Robert S.

Holzman. The Macmillan Company. New

York, xiii+297 pp.; illustrated. $5.00.

Reviewed by Bruce Catton

(Mr. Catton, the Editor of American Heritage, is au­thor of many books on the American Civil War including the Pulitzer Prize Winner, A Stillness at Appomattox.)

It is still possible to work up quite a head °f steam about Ben Butler, even though the extremes of feeling which prevailed during and after the Civil War have died down. Some of Butler’s contemporaries thought that he was a great man who ought to be elected President, and others thought him an unmitigated rascal who ought to be hanged, but none of them were ever indifferent. Even now, Butler remains at least fascinating— fascinating, and to a large extent a mocking enigma.

He is an enigma because no one has ever quite been able to be certain just what he was up to or how far the odor of rascality that clung about him was in fact justified. He was certainly at all times devoted to ad­vancing the career of Ben Butler; but was he, actually, lining his own pocket corruptly, the while? Crooked deals swirled and eddied around him; but was he actively in on them, or did he simply let them go on? It is never possible to be really certain.

This new biography does not clear up the mystery. After reviewing all of the man’s career, Dr. Holzman comes up against the question—Was Butler personally dishonest?

'—and confesses that he does not know. There are abundant reasons for suspicion; yet Butler was opposed by some of the most energetic and vindictive men of his day, and they were never able to prove a thing. You cannot even, Mr. Holzman suggests, go so far as to return the Scotch verdict of “not proven.”

A few things are clear. Butler was an emi­nently practical man. He could “get things done,” he was a doer—the kind who asks no questions about the means, and for that mat­ter answers none, either—and he had pro­digious driving force. He was a first-rate lawyer, a gifted administrator, a skilled politician with an uncanny acquaintance with the seamier side of that perplexing calling; and, last but not least, he was an uncommonly bad military man.

His failings as a soldier, indeed, point up one of the deepest mysteries of the Civil War —why U. S. Grant continued to put up with him, after Butler’s abysmal failure to take Petersburg in the spring of 1864. Grant was a tough operator, never slow to remove an incompetent!—yet he hemmed and hawed and vacillated where Butler was concerned, leaving him in an important command for months after his unfitness was obvious. Grant, in short, just found Butler too much to handle, and the explanations usually ad­vanced for this are not adequate. Why? There is no really satisfactory answer.

And it is the fact that these final answers are not to be found in Stormy Ben Butler that keeps this book from being the definitive biography of Butler which is so badly needed. Mr. Holzman writes engagingly, and he has done well at reducing the extraordinarily complicated story of Butler’s career to a brief compass, but he has not quite done what might have been expected. The picture of Butler is still fuzzy. The final verdict has not been returned. Butler remains a puzzle—• grotesque, often ominous, sardonic, now and then rather appalling. Some day, let us hope, a biographer will manage to get the man in focus.