Washington Post Book Reviews
For You
Tuesday September 21, 2010
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AT THE EDGE OF THE PRECIPICE: Henry Clay and the Compromise that Saved the Union
AT THE EDGE OF THE PRECIPICE: Henry Clay and the Compromise that Saved the UnionRobert V
Remini
ISBN 978-0465012886
184 pages
$24
HENRY CLAY: The Essential AmericanDavid S
Heidler and Jeanne T
ISBN 978-1-4000-6726-8
595 pages
$30
Reviewed by Heather Cox Richardson
Henry Clay was one of America's greatest statesmen, the nation's pilot through the first half of the 19th century. Two new histories of the man and his era reveal that his skills have special relevance today. In a time of rapid change, economic instability and cultural divisions, Clay "understood that politics is not about ideological purity or moral self-righteousness," writes historian of the House of Representatives Robert V. Remini. In his elegant little volume called "At the Edge of the Precipice," Remini notes that politics should be about governing, and politicians who cannot compromise cannot govern effectively.
Clay was born in Virginia during the American Revolution and grew with the country. In the late 1790s, he moved west to Kentucky, a vibrant state on the edge of the frontier, where he practiced law and began his rise to wealth, the owner of a stately plantation called Ashland, along with dozens of slaves and prize racehorses. It was in Kentucky, with its booming economy and popular enthusiasm for the new nation, that Clay learned to see himself not as a Kentuckian but as an American. He envisioned a strong, economically diverse nation, leading the world.
In "Henry Clay," David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler paint an enormously engaging picture of this man and his era. Clay and his kin mingle and marry and migrate, cherishing each other even as they mourn their many dead. Kentucky comes to life, with its impoverished migrants and rising gentry, mountains and bluegrass. The young Clay was a rake and a gambler, but also a brilliant orator and dedicated lawyer who could make friends with almost anyone. Those skills served him well when he entered politics. In 1811, in his first term in the House of Representatives, he was elected speaker.
Clay turned the position of speaker into a seat of power. He stacked committees, stifled dissent and directed floor debate. Under Clay, Congress worked to codify his brainchild and legacy: the "American System," a series of policies to develop American industry, advance national infrastructure and maintain a stable national financial system.
Clay's meteoric rise to prominence seemed to promise him the presidency of a strong, economically secure nation. But the development of the modern political party in the 1820s left no place in the White House for a moderate. New political partisanship tore Americans apart. Eventually, it pitched them into the Civil War, taking more than half a million lives.
The replacement of America's original political system by a new, hyper-partisan extremism dominates the Heidlers' biography of Clay. It is also the subject of "At the Edge of the Precipice." Like the Heidlers, Remini explores how politicians turned from the art of governing to the machinations of winning. He reminds us that the essence of Americanism since the nation's founding had been the willingness to compromise. And no one could bring two sides together better than Henry Clay, as he did, repeatedly, to strengthen the fledgling nation.
But while Clay believed that governing was about enacting policies that were good for the whole country, rising Democrats in the 1820s wanted power for its own sake. The Heidlers trace the rise of early Democrats who reviled their political opponents as elitist while they championed Andrew Jackson -- an unstable, vindictive tyrant -- as a man of the people. Pro-Jackson newspapers gleefully published outright lies about rival candidates, including Clay.
Clay insisted that voters would recognize gross falsehoods and preferred an honest discussion of issues. He was wrong. The party enthusiasm of the 1820s and '30s continued, and by 1840 it had produced political extremism.
While the Heidlers trace these developments across the sweep of Clay's life, Remini distills the essence of the ongoing political struggle by examining the dramatic events of 1849-50. By then, Southern Democrats insisted that the nation recognize the rectitude of human slavery, Northern abolitionists appealed to a "higher power" than the Constitution to demand slavery's end, and media from each side distorted the actions of the other. By 1849, the nation was on the brink of a civil war.
Into this breach stepped the elderly Clay, a slave owner who nonetheless believed that slavery was holding back national development and must die. Now a senator, and an open advocate of gradual emancipation, he guided a final compromise through Congress. Remini's careful reconstruction of the old man's efforts reminds readers that Congressional debates are long and Congressional maneuvering seemingly endless. But in 1850, the result was a popular national compromise that offered concessions to each side, calmed the sectional storm and, critically, bought time for the North to gain population and industrial strength for the growing conflict. Two years later, "The Great Compromiser" was dead, so greatly mourned that he was the first American to lie in state at the Capitol Rotunda.
His compromise died shortly after he did. Party politicians who had cut their teeth under Jackson rammed through Congress an execrated bill that tore apart the Compromise of 1850, the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the nation. Their plan was to extend slavery westward, but they failed because Clay had inspired a younger politician, Abraham Lincoln. Like Clay before him, Lincoln held the line against the extremism that called for making the backward institution of slavery national. And thanks to the 10 years that Clay's compromise had bought the Union, Lincoln led a nation that was strong enough to survive.
In the end, politicians determined only to win destroyed Clay's vision of uniting a strong and growing nation. They cheered their victory, as they would cheer their armies marching to war a few years later. These two remarkably engaging books about the man who tried to prevent that conflict and find a peaceful end to slavery make one wonder if there wasn't a better way to construct a strong and secure nation than embracing the extreme partisanship that led to slaughter.
Heather Cox Richardson is a professor of history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the author, most recently, of "Wounded Knee: Party Politics and the Road to an American Massacre."
Copyright 2010 Washington Post Writers Group
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THREE BOOKS ABOUT FOOD
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ISBN NA
NA pages
$NA
Reviewed by Christopher Schoppa
Foodies have it pretty good these days. Farmers' markets abound. Reality TV shows serve up every conceivable kitchen- related scenario. A bounty of new culinary books comes out each year, from gloriously illustrated cookbooks to engaging reads on where food really comes from, how it's processed and why you really shouldn't be eating so much of it. Here are three that caught our eye.
1. "Eating for Beginners: An Education in the Pleasures of Food from Chefs, Farmers, and One Picky Kid," by Melanie Rehak (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $25)
After reading Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation" and Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma," Melanie Rehak, an avid cook, began to think differently about food and her relation to it. But those books' tenets could be confusing and often downright inconvenient, if not impossible to follow. Organic? Local? What do those labels actually mean? And then it hit her -- in an amusing Cheerios moment -- that her son was just reaching that stage when he would start on solid foods, a hefty responsibility for any parent. For Rehak, armed with her new food savvy, it was frighteningly intimidating. Her solution, and the book's delightful premise, is to don a chef's apron in the kitchen at applewood, a Brooklyn restaurant dedicated to sustainable agriculture and locally grown produce. She lent a hand at local farms and a fishing trawler that supply the restaurant with food. And she came to her own conclusions about food and doing the right thing for both her son and the planet. Ironically, it turned out he didn't want to eat anything at all, whether organic or packed with artificial sweeteners, which gives the journey a charming twist. The recipes at each chapter's end are a bonus for readers: Don't miss the Easy Flip Raisin French Toast.
2. "Immortal Milk: Adventures in Cheese, by Eric LeMay" (Free Press, $22)
What's that smell? If you're referring to a particularly pungent cheese, chances are Eric LeMay will know exactly what it is. After all, he has crisscrossed the globe, accompanied by his female friend Chuck, in search of unique and exceptional cheeses, unraveling the classifications of curd, texture, rind and age, and meeting passionate cheesemakers who revel in their craft. LeMay aims to encourage readers to delve into the world of cheese without trepidation, even supplying a helpful gazetteer of cheese sources and a chart for pairing food and cheese fearlessly. Try that Limburger, chevre, Rocamadour or Gouda, and remember LeMay's contention that all cheese really means to please. Just don't dwell on the fact that it's essentially rotting milk.
3. "The I Hate to Cook Book: 50th Anniversary Edition," by Peg Bracken (Grand Central, $22.99)
First published in those "Mad Men" days when women were often consigned to cleaning the house and arranging their husbands' business dinners, this book's strident title belies both its usefulness and its popularity. Peg Bracken faced the burden of being a full-time writer, a full-time mother and a full-time housewife. To buy herself a bit more time for other pursuits, she and her friends collected a host of easy, stress-free recipes. What's truly wonderful is Bracken's droll delivery and the over 200 recipes that run the gamut from appetizer to dessert. With millions of copies sold, it clearly found a ready and willing audience, and it's about to be tested all over again. This edition has a foreword from the author's daughter, Jo Bracken (her mother died in 2007) as well as whimsical illustrations by Hilary Knight. The opening of the book's original introduction is priceless: "Some women, it is said, like to cook. This book is not for them."
Christopher Schoppa can be reached at schoppac(at symbol)washpost.com.
Copyright 2010 Washington Post Writers Group
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