Although most of the book is naturally concerned with the revolutionary period, the author brings his account up to date by giving a very brief resume of the history of Haiti from 1804 to the present time.  This history is marked by the frequent occurrence of assassinations and revolutions, but the reader will not allow himself to be affected by disgust or prejudice at these facts particularly when he is reminded, as Mr. Steward says, “that the political history of Haiti does not differ greatly from that of the majority of South American Republics, nor does it differ widely even from that of France.”

The book lacks a topical index, somewhat to its own disadvantage, but it contains a map of Haiti, a rather confusing appendix, a list of the Presidents of Haiti from 1804 to 1906 and a list of the names and works of the more noted Haitian authors.  The author does not give a complete bibliography.  He simply mentions in the beginning the names of a few authorities consulted.

J. R. Fauset.

The Negro in American History.  By John W. Cromwell.  The American Negro Academy, Washington, D.C., 1914. 284 pages. $1.25 net.

In John W. Cromwell’s book, “The Negro in American History,” we have what is a very important work.  The book is mainly biographical and topical.  Some of the topics discussed are:  “The Slave Code”; “Slave Insurrections”; “The Abolition of the Slave Trade”; “The Early Convention Movement”; “The Failure of Reconstruction”; “The Negro as a Soldier”; and “The Negro Church.”  These topics are independent of the chapters which are more particularly chronological in treatment.

In the appendices we have several topics succinctly treated.  Among these are:  “The Underground Railroad,” “The Freedmen’s Bureau,” and, most important and wholly new, a list of soldiers of color who have received Congressional Medals of Honor, and the reasons for the bestowal.

The biographical sketches cover some twenty persons.  Much of the information in these sketches is not new, as would be expected regarding such well-known persons as Frederick Douglass, John M. Langston, and Paul Laurence Dunbar.  On the other hand, Mr. Cromwell has given us very valuable sketches of other important persons of whom much less is generally known.  Among these are Sojourner Truth, Edward Wilmot Blyden, and Henry O. Tanner.

The book does not pretend to be the last word concerning the various topics and persons discussed.  Indeed, some of the topics have had fuller treatment by the author in pamphlets and lectures.  It is to be regretted that the author did not feel justified in giving a more extensive treatment, as the great store of his information would easily have permitted him to do.

The book is exceptionally well illustrated, but it lacks information regarding some of the illustrations.  Not only are the readers of a book entitled to know the source of the illustrations but in the case of copies of paintings, and other works of art, the original artist is as much entitled to credit as an author whose work is quoted or appropriated to one’s use.