Hawkeyes: A Biography of the State of Iowa

THIS first in the proposed series of forty-eight ‘biographies’ of the States sets a very high mark for the authors of the remaining forty-seven volumes to shoot tor, however distinguished they may be. With all the vigor, cynicism, affection, and understanding which marked State Fair, Phil Stong has told the story of his native land in a way to make totalitarian rulers blench and anæmic builders of Utopias-on-paper lay down their quill pens. For here is a man who loves his state so passionately that he can laugh at it; who need form no ideal colony because he knows one already. Perhaps Iowa will not like all the book. Was there ever a family who agreed that Grandma’s portrait did her justice? This is worth ten ‘regional novels’ — and is not only factual, but thought-provoking. On page 234, for example, is some very neat ammunition for use in the electrical utilities controversy. The absence of an index is stupid and a real detriment to the volume, which should be capable of being used as reference, both anecdotal and statistical.