Affect and Power: Essays on Sex, Slavery, Race, and Religion in Appreciation of Winthrop D. Jordan.

Affect and Power: Essays on Sex, Slavery, Race, and Religion in Appreciation of Winthrop D. Jordan. Edited by David J. Libby, Paul Spickard, and Susan Ditto. Foreword by Charles Joyner. Introduction by Sheila L. Skemp. (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2005. Pp. xxii, 233. $45.00, ISBN 1-57806-769-3.)

This collection of essays, presented in appreciation (not honor) of Winthrop D. Jordan by his former graduate students, demonstrates the significant influence of Jordan on his students--in both their areas of study and their historical methodology. In terms of topics, the essays hover around Jordan's interests in slavery, race, and religion. In terms of methodology, they demonstrate a commitment to close examination of primary sources. The authors follow the lead of their mentor in listening "respectfully to the lessons his historical subjects can teach" (p. xvii).

The essays that stick closest to Jordan's realm deepen the reader's appreciation of Jordan's groundbreaking work and also advance the field beyond the foundation established by Jordan. In White Over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550-1812 (Chapel Hill, 1968), Jordan injected the influence of sexuality into his analysis of the emergence of racism in America. In similar fashion, Ronald G. Walters's essay, "The Erotic South: Civilization and Sexuality in American Abolition," suggests that the "disinterested benevolence" of the post-1831 abolitionists was not disinterested at all (p. 3). Rather the abolition movement gained momentum when it connected southern slave society and unbridled sexuality as primary examples of the corrupting effect of absolute power. To eradicate slavery was to place limits on a corruptible humanity, thus creating an environment conducive to the orderly advancement of human civilization.

In Tumult and Silence at Second Creek: An Inquiry into a Civil War Slave Conspiracy (Baton Rouge, 1993), Jordan dug into evidence that suggested the presence of an 1861 slave conspiracy. In "Relations Which Might Be Disastrous: Natchez Indians and African Slaves in French Louisiana," David J. Libby focuses on the same geographical area as his mentor--the Natchez area--only a century earlier. This essay is helpful in describing the emergence of French slaveholding in the midst of the Natchez and Choctaw Indians and the variety of interactions and struggles among the native populations, the French, and the African slaves. Even though the slaves were most often casualties of the conflict between the native populations and the French, their presence played a part in the disintegration of the French settlement in Mississippi. As Jordan demonstrated in his work, the historian who looks carefully at the historical evidence often finds the story to be more complicated and more interesting than could have even been imagined. This essay brilliantly illustrates that the story of slavery in America extends beyond the slaveholding English elite and that the story of the South is not one that can be divided simply into white and black. The native populations were and continue to be important to the region's history and identity.

Other essays in this collection stick close to the Jordan corpus, such as Daniel L. Fountain's examination of the negative influence of slavery on the conversion of African American slaves to Christianity and Paul Spickard's use of "white studies" as a lens through which to examine the experience of race and to affirm Jordan's own analysis of race.

Other essays range far and wide, showing that the influence of Jordan will continue to be felt through the work of his students. Notable among these are Patrick B. Miller's examination of extracurricular activities at historically black colleges and universities, which suggests the ways that African American students have placed their stamp upon collegiate activities. In "Max Weber in New England," Charles L. Cohen matches wits with the great sociologist, suggesting the ways that Weber's thesis does not accurately address North American Puritanism, which thus casts doubts on applying notions of the "Puritan ethic" on the North American experience.

This collection of essays is a worthy celebration of the influence of Winthrop Jordan. The essays broaden the reader's understanding of the topics that are near and dear to Jordan's heart, and they stand as excellent examples of a solid, source-based, historical methodology. The primary weakness of the collection is that several of the essays have been previously published, which of course is not a fatal weakness. Yet one of the essays was published initially in 1973, another in 1985. In addition, this "appreciation" of Jordan does not include an exhaustive bibliography of Jordan's work.

LARRY J. FRAZIER

Chowan University