746 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
survey of the whole field." The author says : " There is no great claim to originality in the book except in the presentation in logical and orderly arrangement of the different phases of progress covering the entire field of human activity."
The book is divided into five parts, entitled : The Nature of Civili- zation ; The First Steps of Progress ; The Dawn of Civilization ; West- ern Civilization ; Modern Progress. Under these heads a succinct account is given of the important changes in human conditions and relations which are the substance behind the shadow frequently pro- jected as " history."
It requires no little courage in our day of specialization for a uni- versity professor to do a piece of work of this sort, for beginners rather than for scholars. The results in this case justify the attempt. The book might well be made the basis of historical teaching in secondary schools or colleges. Like any other book it would be a comparative failure unless used by a teacher who knows, or knows the necessity of knowing, more than the book contains. An instructor familiar with elementary sociological conceptions, and intelligent about historical method, might make Professor Blackmar's book do for pupils better than was done for college students a generation ago, when Guizot's more pretentious History of Civilization set the standard for some of our best college instruction. This modest " story " directs the reader's attention to the things of real moment in the experience of the race. From this point of view it is possible to present the incidents and accidents of history in a truer perspective than that in which they are ordinarily placed even by the most studious historians.
It may be taking some risk, in the present state of the public mind, to assert that any good thing can come out of Kansas. I shall neverthe- less venture to say that Professor Blackmar has made a book worthy of general use. It should be secured by an enterprising publishing house and brought to the attention of teachers throughout the country.
ALBION W. SMALL.
The Present Distribution of Wealth in the United States. By CHARLES B. SPAHR, PH.D. New York : T. Y. Crowell & Co. Pp. 184. Price $1.50. IT has long been one of the great merits of statistical science, so
far as many of its devotees are concerned, that its method could be
