Posts com a Tag ‘GILLIS Michael J (Res)’
Rum and Axes: The Rise of a Connecticut Merchant Family, 1795-1850 – SISKIND (CSS)
SISKIND, Janet. Rum and Axes: The Rise of a Connecticut Merchant Family, 1795-1850. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2002. 191p. Resenha de: GILLIS, Michael J.. Canadian Social Studies, v.38, n.2, p., 2004.
Siskind’s Rum and Axes is an examination of the rise of industrial capitalism in Connecticut after the American Revolution. The author uses the Watkinson-Collins family as her vehicle to reveal the social tensions and economic motivations that permeated the rise of capitalism during this era. Relying on three generations of primary materials Siskind recreates and explains the changing world of the Watkinsons. As members of a religious ‘dissenting society’ while living in East Anglia England, the Watkinsons subscribed to the practice of maintaining social distinctions based on class. However, as middle class dissenters the family found itself being squeezed between an aristocratic land owning class above them and a tradesman and shop-owning class below them. As religious and economic conflicts continued to grow in England, they sought safe harbor for themselves and their capital in America.
In America the families discovered that labour was too expensive to go into farming or wool production so they entered the West Indies import business, focusing mostly on rum and dry goods. As importers and merchants they were able to become a member of New England’s elite without severing their personal relationships with their workers. Eventually, however, the Watkinsons and Collins moved beyond the simple importation of goods when they established their own axe factory and by doing so they firmly established themselves as part of New England’s emerging industrial capitalist class.
Siskind does a good job of examining the inner workings of the Collins Axe Company and its labour force. Initially the company sought to employ skilled workers by providing long-term contracts, company housing and schools. With the introduction of new machinery, however, there was a gradual transition in the factory from skilled to unskilled labour. As skilled Yankee artisans were replaced by Irish labourers so too did the Watkinsons and Collins move from being paternalistic employers to distant supervisors with little interest in their employee’s welfare. Remarkably, when it became apparent that many of their axe company employees were dying from lung diseases brought on by the airborne particles created in the axe grinding process, the owners simply wrote it off as the price of doing business. Here we can see how removed from their employees the company owners had become. The transition from Christian ‘dissenters’ on the run to crass company owners who see the deaths of their employees as the price of progress makes for interesting reading. Siskind explores this transition by examining the family’s letters, their religious ideology, and emerging capitalist society in New England.
This book ably examines the early rise of capitalism in New England as well as exploring numerous familial and business relationships associated with it. The author’s close reading and interpretation of Samuel Watkinson Collins’ memoir is also valuable. Here she traces how quickly the relationship between worker and company owner had changed and how the ideology of the capitalist class was changing as well.
Rum and Axes is suitable for use in high schools with the understanding that this is more than just a simple straightforward colonial history. Siskind, an anthropologist, places strong emphasis on the means of production and how its attendant labour systems create culture. For younger students, this approach will perhaps be difficult to understand and for teachers difficult to demonstrate. However, there is plenty here to create lively classroom discussions. In addition, the author’s extensive use of primary materials offers the readers an intimate look at a remarkable yet troubled family in post-revolution America.
Michael J. Gillis – Department of History. California State University, Chico
USA. Acessar publicação original
Wild West Shows – REDDIN (CSS)
REDDIN, Paul. Wild West Shows. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1999. 314p. Resenha de: GILLIS, Michael J. Canadian Social Studies, v.35, n.1, 2000.
In this book Paul Reddin examines the evolution of Wild West Shows over a one hundred-year period. The author reviews four different shows beginning with George Catlin’s Wild West show in the 1830s and ending with Tom Mix’s movie career in the 1930s.
The first Wild West show was organized in the 1830s by George Catlin, the world-renowned painter of the Plains Indians. Catlin’s show set the model for all of the following shows by using authentic clothing and objects while recreating life on the Great Plains on a vast scale. The show’s entourage included hundreds of colorfully costumed Indians on horseback and a herd of buffalo. Action scenes included Indian ceremonial dances, a buffalo hunt, warfare, scalping and remarkable feats of horsemanship. Catlin’s purpose in putting together his Wild West show was twofold. First, it was a terrific opportunity for him to make money. Second, and more importantly, he hoped to “rally support for the Great Plains and the Indians and animals who lived there.” Catlin regarded the Plains Indians as noble savages who were victims of Euro-American expansion. His show, whether it was presented to the cheering crowds of New York City or London, was designed to educate the public on the plight of the Indians and “their noble natures and do them justice.”
Fifty years later, Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show, unlike Catlin’s, glorified the frontiersmen rather than the Indians. Cody’s shows depicted the courageous and virtuous Americans withstanding repeated Indian attacks until finally the Americans were the clear winners of the west. Indians were portrayed as savages and obstacles to progress. The rattle of gunfire, galloping horses and elaborately staged Indian battles marked Buffalo Bill’s show. Cody often starred in the shows, arriving in just the nick of time to save stagecoaches, settlers and wagon trains from annihilation by ‘bloodthirsty’ Indians. His shows included all manner of horsemanship including racing, roping and riding, and eventually incorporated rodeo-style acts which became the centerpiece of the show. It was Cody, perhaps more than anyone else, who helped popularize the notion of the cowboy. The audiences loved the image of the gun-slinging desperados who rode horses and settled arguments with six-shooters. Like Catlin, Cody brought his show to Europe where crowds cheered the rustic westerners. Even the Pope was swept up in the enthusiasm and offered a papal blessing to mud-splattered cowboys and Indians in full war paint.
In the early 19th Century the Miller brothers, owners of the 101 Ranch in the Oklahoma Territory, formed their own wild west show. Unlike the others, this one was not a traveling road show. Instead, people came to the 101 Ranch to see the show. The Miller’s sought to recreate, on their vast ranch, a working replica of what they perceived to be the American West. The 101 Ranch employed hundreds of cowboys and a thousand Indians. Their acts included horsemanship, men and women in marksmanship competitions, buffalo hunts, Indian camp life, Indian attacks on a wagon train, and rodeo events. Unlike Catlin’s show where the Indians were the heroes, or Cody’s show where the cowboy was king, the Millers sought to elevate the ranch owners as the real founders and heroes of the American West.
The last of the four shows discussed by Reddin starred Tom Mix. Mix bridged the gap between live Wild West shows and silent movies. Employed by the 101 Ranch for a time, the athletic and hard-working Mix became the first true motion picture hero to adopt the cowboy persona. Mix’s show celebrated the victory of white America over the Plains Indians but in a muted fashion. World War I had left America and most of the world in a cynical mood and sick of bloodshed. His shows reflected this attitude by eliminating much of the violence long associated with Wild West shows.
Overall, this is a valuable book on several levels. It offers a succinct review of four Wild West shows by providing insight into important historical figures such as William Cody, Geronimo and Sitting Bull. In addition, it presents a valuable interpretation of how changes in American popular culture were reflected in the Wild West Shows. For teachers and students this book is a wonderful departure point for research and discussion on popular culture and the American West.
Michael J. Gillis – California State University, Chico. Chico, California.
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