erstand what the Negroes
have thought and felt and done, in other words, the failure to fathom
the Negro mind, constitutes a defect of the work.

Another neglected aspect of the book is the failure of the author to
treat adequately the anti-slavery movement. It was not necessary for
him to give an extensive treatment of abolition but it is impossible
to set forth exactly what the institution was without giving
sufficient space to this attitude of a militant minority toward it. It
was certainly proper for the author to say more about the northerners
and southerners who arrayed themselves in opposition to the
institution. In his chapter on the economic views of slavery this
aspect was mentioned but not properly amplified. Some references to it
elsewhere, of course, appear in parts of the book but, considering the
importance of this phase of the history of slavery in America, one can
say it has been decidedly neglected. The author, as he says in his
preface, avoided "polemic writings, for their fuel went so much to
heat that their light upon the living conditions is faint." It was not
necessary also to avoid the controversy in which these writers
participated. No one will gainsay the fact that persons who engage in
controversy cannot be depended upon to tell the truth, but if the
slavery dispute largely influenced the history of the country, it
should have adequate treatment in a history of this kind.

* * * * *

_John H. B. Latrobe and His Times._ By JOHN E. SEMMES. The Norman,
Remington Company, Baltimore, Maryland. Pp. 595. Price $6.00.

This is an extensive biography of a man born in Philadelphia and,
after some adventures elsewhere, transplanted to Baltimore, where he
became one of the first citizens of the land. His career as a cadet at
West Point, his study and practice of law, his business interests, his
travels and connections with learned and humanitarian societies all
bespeak the many-sidedness of a useful citizen. The work contains a
Latrobe genealogy and a topical index. It is well illustrated and
exhibits evidences of much effort on the part of the author.

The part of the book most interesting to students of Negro history,
however, is the chapter on African colonization, a subject which
engaged the attention of Latrobe for many years and for which he
became an influential promoter in serving as corresponding secretary
of the Maryland Colonization Society and as president o