Review of Varnum, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca American Trailblazer

Reviews of Books

Processes of economic development and class formation are investigated throughout the text. The first half of the book focuses on an era preceding the dominance of industrial capitalism in Southern California. The kin-communal model of native communities, ‘‘plunder economy’’ of Spanish settlements, and the complex credit system of Mexican ranch societies served as dominant modes of production prior to the annexation of Mexico’s northern holdings to the United States following the Mexican-American War (p. 234). Much would change in Southern California following the discovery of gold and the conferral of California statehood. Although experiencing an initial boom in the cattle industry, few Mexican ranches survived market competition, natural disasters, and changes in property taxes as lenders foreclosed on these properties. Processes of capitalist development initiated by the agrarian capitalism of the 1870s comprise the second half of the work. The rise of an impressive export citrus economy, militarization and real estate development, and warehousing growth comprise the prevailing forms of industrial capitalism over the subsequent century. Tracing capitalist logic, the author uncovers the processes by which circulation replaced production as government institutions, property owners, and a segmented labor force struggled to respond to regional and national restructuring. The great strength of this work is its breadth. Drawing on a wide range of secondary sources, including academic texts, local newspapers, museum publications, and policy reports, the book synthesizes a long-spanning history of the region’s development. Here also lies its limitation. Adopting a Marxian framework to examine 12,000 years of time, there is little room for specificity, for primary analysis, or to unpack the theoretical underpinnings of class structure. What we gain, however, is a compelling work that uncovers how the political economy of a region changed over time in response to internal historical continuities and forces occurring beyond its boundaries. University of California, Los Angeles

GENEVIEVE CARPIO

A´lvar Nun ´ ˜ ez Cabeza de Vaca: American Trailblazer. By Robin Varnum. (Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 2014. xvi þ 368 pp. $26.95 cloth) The journey of A´lvar Nun ´ ˜ ez Cabeza de Vaca through the American Southwest, and the myriad first-contact encounters he described, are the stuff of myth and legend. Cabeza de Vaca wrote about virtual

285

286

Pacific Historical Review

enslavement by various indigenous peoples; he may have learned up to six different Indian tongues and observed twenty-three distinct ethnic groups. He also chronicled a transformation by which he and the other three survivors of the 1527 P´anfilo Narv´aez expedition became healers and de facto shamans, known as the hijos del sol. By 1535, they were revered, presented with considerable gifts at every stop, and at times felt ‘‘nearly overwhelmed . . . by their escorts’ demands for cures and blessings’’ (p. 164). At its best, this biography dramatically recreates a liminal, disorienting period as the Old and New Worlds merged into interconnected imperial states. But this is not a typical work of historical scholarship, written, as it was, by an English professor, Robin Varnum. There are no meandering discussions of historiographical debates, nor do arguments picked with other scholars appear in the footnotes, and little jargon is used. Thus, this book’s strength lies in its compelling prose and its ability to integrate material from numerous disciplines into a seamless narrative. Varnum, unlike other scholars who have published recently on the same subject, such as Andr´es Res´endez, examines the entirety of Cabeza de Vaca’s life and times, from his roots in southern Spain to his royal appointment in the R´ıo de la Plata. Some of the most insightful evidence brought to bear is drawn from archaeological records, the author’s own first-hand experiences, and exacting geographical analysis. Furthermore, the maps brilliantly piece together archaeological sites that overlap with contemporary states and cities to help readers orient themselves. For example, Varnum uses personal accounts of travel and occasionally switches to a first-person style to make key points. As Cabeza de Vaca’s 1528 voyage to Florida unfolds, the author notes that the Narv´aez/Anderson Site in present-day St. Petersburg purports to be the original landfall of the expedition, although other sites have been proposed as well. What follows is an ethnographic overview of the Safety Harbor culture, named for a contemporary town in Pinellas County, Florida. Resuming the storyline, Varnum then explains that ‘‘Narv´aez’s exact route is not known, but it corresponded roughly to the present U.S. Route 19’’ (p. 67). Bringing the travails of these three hundred men to life, she suggests the weighty chain mail they likely wore compares to suits of plate armor housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This kind of back-and-forth between the past and present makes for a great read but also offers in-depth, interdisciplinary knowledge to students and scholars alike. In addition, debates over the treatment of Indians take center stage as Varnum concludes with Cabeza de Vaca’s ill-fated governorship of the R´ıo de la Plata in the early 1540s. His prohibition against

Reviews of Books

Indian slavery and measures designed to undermine the practices of polygamy and cannibalism evoked the ire not only of his compatriots but of the Guaran´ı as well. Brought back to Spain as a prisoner, like Christopher Columbus several decades earlier, Cabeza de Vaca spent his remaining years in court fighting to restore his fortune and his tarnished reputation. In sum, this is an outstanding scholarly synthesis that is a perfect fit for the undergraduate classroom, whether a survey course or an upper division seminar. Creighton University

SCOTT EASTMAN

St. Louis Rising: The French Regime of Louis St. Ange de Bellerive. By Carl J. Ekberg and Sharon K. Person. (Champaign-Urbana, University of Illinois Press, 2015. xv þ 326 pp. $95 cloth, $29 paper, $14.09 digital) Carl Ekberg and Sharon Person challenge two centuries of historiographical consensus that Pierre Laclede founded St. Louis in February 1764. They denigrate his reputation by denouncing the famous manuscript written by Laclede’s stepson, Auguste Chouteau, arguing that recent documentary discoveries reveal the more important contributions of Louis St. Ange de Bellerive. Details of his governance from 1766 to 1770 come as no revelation, since two St. Louis books published in 2011—Patricia Cleary’s social history (barely cited in this book) and J. Frederick Fausz’s fur trade ethnohistory (not cited at all)—acknowledge that St. Ange’s shared leadership with Laclede. The true novelty of this book is due to its very negative tone and unabated character assassination of Laclede. Reveling in their ‘‘astringent critique of much that has been written about St. Louis’s early years’’ (p. xi), Ekberg and Person claim that Madame Chouteau, the ‘‘concubine’’ (p. 53) of Laclede, was ‘‘tougher—in mind, body, and soul—than her more famous consort’’ (p. 216j)! They portray Laclede as a pretentious ‘‘self-styled aristocrat’’ (p. 124) who was really ‘‘bourgeois’’ (p. 213), while ignoring his ancient and illustrious family lineage. The authors also claim that Laclede was an ‘‘abject failure’’ as a fur trader (p. 52)—even though they admit that ‘‘it is not always possible to sort out the various roles played by different participants in the complex fur-trading business’’ (p. 194), given the paucity of original documents about early St. Louis (p. 61, p. 188). But Ekberg and Person summarily dismiss convincing compliments of Laclede’s commercial success by Captain Harry Gordon, Sir William Johnson, and other British officers in the 1760s (p. 187; my italics).

287