Page:The Cambridge History of American Literature, v3.djvu/214

This page needs to be proofread.

196 Later Historians and New Mexico (vol. 17, 1889), History of California (vols. 18-24, 1884-90), History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming (vol. 25, 1890), History of Utah (vol. 26, 1889), History of the North-West Coast (vols. 27-28, 1884), History of Oregon (vols. 29-30, 1886-88), History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana (vol. 31, 1890), History of British Columbia (vol. 32, 1887), History of Alaska (vol. 33, 1886), California Pastorals (vol.34, 1888), California inter Pocula (vol. 35, 1888), Popular Tribunals (vols. 36-37, 1887), Essays and Miscellany (vol. 38, 1890), and Literary Industries (vol. 39, 1890). Neither Bancroft nor his assistants had the preliminary- training to save thenx from the ordinary pitfalls along the path of the scholar. They carried to their tasks uncritical enthus- iasms and made good books which, nevertheless, had some serious defects. In a period when the reviewer generally ap- praised a book for its style Bancroft's early volumes generally received approbation. Francis Parkman himself gave The Native Races high credit in The North American Review. But the work did not escape the eyes of Lewis H. Morgan, whose revolutionary theory of Indian culture was then new to the world. In an article called "Montezuma's Dinner" Morgan completely reversed Parkman's verdict and implanted a doubt in the minds of the intelligent public which extended to other volumes of the series. Bancroft's comments on Morgan's criticism suggest that he did not understand Morgan's theory, now generally accepted by scholars. Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840-1914) graduated at the Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1859, served the usual course at sea, and was ordered to duty at the Naval War College shortly after it was established in 1885. A course of lectures prepared for that service was the basis of a book. The Influence of Sea Power in History, i66o-iy8j (1890), which established his reputation as an historian. Following the same idea he pub- lished Influence of Sea Power on the French Revolution (1892), Life of Farragut (1892), The Life of Nelson, the Embodiment of the Sea Power of Great Britain (2 vols., 1897), •S'ea Power in its Re- lation to the War of 1812 (1905), and From Sail to Steam (1907), the last a book relating to his own career. In his later years he wrote, also, many articles for the magazines, and out of them were formed several volumes of essays.