TheFuture・
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ewedbyDavi
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A goodbiographyisneveraboutonlytheman orwomanwhoisitssubject.Itisalwaysaboutthe world through which its subject moves. Peter Hartshorn,authorofIHaveSeen theFuture:A LifeofLincoln Steffens,understandsthis,and is fortunatetohavetakenforhissubjectamannow largely forgotten who moved through a world almostbaroqueinitsrichness.Indeed,sopackedis Steffens・slifewithcharactersandincidentsthatto follow him through thelatenineteenth-andearly twentieth-centuryistoberemindedofanAmerican historythathasbeenallbutcroppedoutofthestory infavorofexcessiveattentiontothefoundingfathers and・thegreatestgeneration.・
Who now knowsthenamesEmma Goldman, Louise Bryant, John Reed, John and James McNamara,Robert La Follette:allmembers of Steffens・scircle? Ifoneofthosenamesdoescause a bellto tinkleoffin thedistance,it・sprobably only thanksto a slogan on a t-shirtsomething aboutdancingoraWarrenBeattyfilm from the 1980ssomethingaboutcommies.
ItmightbearguedthatfigureslikeGoldman (ananarchistwhowasborninRussiaanddiedin Canada)and Reed (born in Portland,Oregon,but interred in theKremlin WallNecropoliswhen,a Communist Party functionary,he succumbed to typhus)were too far outside the mainstream to play asignificantrolein American history.Since history iswritten by thewinners,andsincemost of the causes championed by Steffens and his comrades were far from entirely successful, it becomesclearthattheselosershavenoplaceinthe story Americansliketo tellabouttheircountry. La Follette may be emblematichere:he ran for presidentandlostnotoncebuttwice.Thebesthe ever did was as the candidate of the Federated Farmer-LaborPartyin1924whenhetookonlyhis home state,Wisconsin,and its thirteen electoral votes.
WhenSteffensenteredpubliclifeasacrusading journalisthewasoneofthoseforwhom theterm ・muckraker・wascoinedhehadalotincommon with La Follette, a respected friend.They both believedthattherewereproblemsplaguingAmerica, butalsothatthereweresolutionstotheseproblems shortofrevolution.LaFollette,whowasatdifferent times governor of,and senator from,Wisconsin, persisted in this oft-disappointed optimism throughouthislife.Steffens,on theother hand, cametobelievethat・democracycannotbeachieved bydemocraticmethods・(368).1
As wrongheaded,or even deplorable,as one mayfindthisattitude(it・shardtothinkofdictator whowouldn・twholeheartedly agree),onecomesto understand, reading Hartshorn・s chronicle, how Steffenscameto feelthisway.Firstwasallthe muck through which he・d dragged his rake.His investigative forays into a number of American
（ 72） Berkeley:
CounterpointPress,2011, 517pp.,$19.95(paper).
IHaveSeentheFuture:
A Li
feofLi
ncol
nSteffens
byPeterHartshorn
学苑 No.874（72）～（73）（20138）
BookRevi
ew
citiesgaverisetoaseriesofarticlesblowing the lidoffofAmericanmunicipalcorruption.Collected intoabook,TheShameoftheCities(1904),these piecesmadeSteffensajournalisticsuperstar.Major nationaland internationalmagazinesfoughtover hiswork,and ・even a cigar company joined the rush to praiseSteffensby naming a cigar after him andfeaturinghisfaceonthebox・(114).
Steffensgotfamous,butthatwasn・tall.He also gotdisillusioned with theAmerican system, beganto・unlearn,・ashewasfondofputtingit,an oldtruth:thenotionthattycoonswerethebadguys and theAmerican peoplethegood guys.Instead, gettingtoknowtheplutocratshewaswritingabout, hefound that・...bribery and corruption can be donebygoodmen...・(117).Hedidnotexcusethe tycoons・behavior,but he began to include the Americanpeopleamongthoseheblamedforthesorry stateinwhichhefoundthecountry.・Themi sgovern-mentofthe American people,・ he explained,・is misgovernmentbytheAmericanpeople・(118).
Aboutonemuck-filledcity,St.Louis,hewrote: Thestream ofpollution branchedoffin the mostunexpecteddirectionsandspreadoutina networkofveinsandarteriessocomplexthat hardlyanypartofthebodypoliticseemedclear ofit.Itflowedoutofthemajoritypartyinto theminority;outofpoliticsintoviceandcrime; outofbusinessinto politics,and back into business;from theboss,down through the policetotheprostitute,andupthrough the practiceoflaw intothecourts;andthebig throbbing arteries ran out through the country overtheStateto theNationand back.(116)
His disillusionment with American cities in the early partofthetwentieth century,asthefinal clausesuggests,hadspreadbeyondindividualcities toencompassthenation.
Disillusionmentwith theAmerican attemptat democracy,though,is only half of what made Steffens renounce democraticmethods.The other
pieceofthepuzzlewasthattherevolutioninRussia seemed to offera modelofhow a society might movequickly from inequality andcorruption even rankerthan thatfound in America to an almost utopian state,and do so withoutthelong delays and ineffectualstumbling thatSteffenshad come tofeelcharacterizedattemptsatdemocraticreform. ・Only an incurable romantic,・ Hartshorn writes, ・...couldhavesincerely believedthatademocratic order would evolve from the massive, crippled, dysfunctionalstatethatwasRussiain1917.Steffens believed・(270).
Havingwatchedtheriseandfallofcommunism initsLeninist,Stalinist,andMaoistvarieties,and havingseenthedestructionthesesystemswrought, onecanonlyconcludethatSteffenswasnotjustan ・incurableromantic,・butalsoafool,thoughperhaps thetermsaresynonymous.Americansinourtime, whohavelivedthroughtheReaganandGeorgeW. Bush years and now watch Obama endorse and fortifyseveralofBushtheYounger・smostappalling policies, are generally able to articulate quite convincingly what it is that has been appalling about the rightward shift ofthe United States. Theyweare generally unable, however, to articulatewhata brightalternativefuturemight look likeorto explain how wemightreach that unimaginableplace.Wenolongerhavea・future・ liketheoneSteffenssaw in revolutionary Russia, and believed in asfervently when hedied in 1936 ashehadin1917.
Even aswepatourselveson theback forour world-wearyskepticism,forbeingtoosmarttofall for solutions as simple and flawed as the one embraced by Steffens,wemustalso confessto a touch ofenvy.How nice itwould be to believe. Hartshorn reminds us in this superb biography that,onceuponatime,goodpeopledidbelieve.
（デイヴィッドコージー 英語コミュニケーション学科）
