The Roots of American Culture

By Constance Rourke

THE best review of this book is to be found in the admirable Preface by Van Wyck Brooks. Constance Rourke had planned a three-volume History of American Culture and had published several preliminary studies and prepared the chapters contained in this volume when her work was cut short by death. The loss of her completed and constructive scholarship should not, however, lessen one’s appreciation of the actual accomplishment represented in this book. Such chapters as “The Rise of Theatricals” are not merely a promise of more to come; they are valuable and understanding studies which every observer of the American scene can read with pleasure and profit. Miss Rourke’s work is marked with sympathy. Never a mere antiquarian or student, she feels with the people she describes, and lives in their period and in their thinking. Her imagination walks in step with her scholarship — a happy and, alas, uncommon combination. This volume is recommended for its content; our only regret is that the magnum opus was not completed. R. E. D.