Robert Erwin Johnson

Pilgrims on the Ice: Robert Falcon Scott's First Antarctic Expedition: Baughman, T. H.: Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 334 pp., Publication Date: November 1999

This book originated as a group of papers presented at a University of Michigan conference on globalization, which featured essays on the importance of food in global history. An impressive list of scholars wrote the essays, which draw on their professional training and personal knowledge of world cultures. To be sure, the essays were written for a professional audience and frequently become overburdened with social science jargon and conformist standards of analysis, but they nonetheless furnish rare information and perspective on a subject that is not commonly written about. For anyone interested in studying globalization as far back as 1600, this volume, which admittedly contains some esoteric information, should be used for gaining both a historical perspective and a fresh insight on the impact of food in history. The essays are grouped into four parts: “The History of Food in Global Perspectives”; “Public Policy and Global Science”; “Global Systems and Human Diet”; and “Eating Together Globally.” Topics within those groups include the impact of New World foods on the diet and economy of China and India, nutrition policies, the “Mad Cow Crisis,” and food and the counterculture. Nearly all of the essays have a bibliography and a few include endnotes. It would have helped if all the essays had been referenced uniformly for students and interested scholars conducting further research. The depth of research and analysis of the essays, however, instills confidence that the authors are well versed in their fields and write with authority. Probably the greatest value of the work is its assertion and perception that food is a factor in globalization. Globalization is usually associated with economics, and even though culture is recognized as a component of globalization, food rarely is included in studies of the subject. These richly researched essays establish the contributions of food in the exchange of habits, outlook, and behavior in the globalization of the world. This book will appeal primarily to students of world history and culture. Researchers examining the new forces of global capitalism will not find economic explanations, although they will benefit from the explanations of the role of food as a factor in the growth of multinational economies.

Most Secret and Confidential: Intelligence in the Age of Nelson: Maffeo, Steven E.: Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 355 pp., Publication Date: June 2000

Cashdollar’s own analysis of nineteenth-century religious and scientific thought) is that now Cashdollar focuses “from the ground up” on the archival records of 150 Congregational and Preshyterian churches in the United States, England, and Scotland. He has shifted his focus from elites to masses-a recent trend in church history-and expanded his scope to include reformed churches in three countries. Cashdollar has organized his material into church governance, music, membership, discipline, finances, socializing, and buildings, He sees a gradual shift from “piety to fellowship.’’ Other trends include increasing privacy, efficiency, professionalism, female participation. luxury, and recreation. None of that is new to church historians, for whom the volume is primarily intended. The book’s major contnhutitrn lies in the details. Church historians and (ithers will learn much about specific practices and innovations. For instance, I was especially interested in the evolution of church mwic from simple psalmody to choirs with profcssional directors and organists. Overwhelnied by the optimistic new sounds, Calvinism and Puritanism faded in the glow of stained glass windows. Cashdollar has done a magnificent job of sifting ihrough a veritable mountain of detail, formulating logical categories, consulting secondary sources, and making illuminating generalizaiions. He acknowledges some limitations, wch as neglecting rural churches, the American South, and the Scottish Highlands. But it would be pedantic to quibble with that, given the tremendous depth and scope of the study a s it stands. The writing is lucid and graceful, and Cashdollar makes no annoying value judgments. The tone is positive, with only a bit of mild irony here and there. I would like 10 see a similar work on the twentieth century. Would it reveal a trend from late-ninetecnth-century virtuous fellowship to late-twen tieth-century casual indifference?