Toward a Patriarchal Republic: The Secession of Georgia [Book Review]

Abstract

This is a dangerous time for quantitative history. On the one hand, sophisticated computer software packages and cookbook statistics texts are widely available, easy to use, and relatively cheap. On the other hand, the low level of statistical expertise of most historians and shallowness of methodological training in even the best graduate history departments guarantees that there will be no stringent controls on the quality of data analysis. Scholars who arc deft in their interpretation of "literary" documents and unmoved by logical legerdemain performed on "impressionistic" materials too easily cast aside their skepticism and common sense when confronted with a mass of numbers. This mixture of powerful yet easily accessible techniques, an elementary level of training, and a statistically semiliterate audience is a recipe for toxic "social scientific" history.

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