Book Reviews and Notices : Small Town Renaissance: A Story of the Montana Study. By RICHARD W. POSTON. (New York: Harper and Brothers. 1950. Pp. x, 231. $3.00.)

• Author: John C. Bollens
• Published date: 01 March 1951
• Date: 01 March 1951
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295100400157
• Subject Matter: Articles

179

Since

great

organizational,

financial,

and

publicity

resources

are

needed

to

inform

the

four

million

people

who

pass

upon

the

initiative

and

refer-

endum

measures

in

California,

successful

use

of

these

instruments

of

popular

government

is

limited

to

&dquo;substantial

interest

groups.&dquo;

According

to

Dr.

Crouch,

the

initiative

serves

its

best

function

as

a

balance

wheel

to

correct

shortcomings

of

the

legislature,

when

the

pressure

of

several

powerful

lobbies

is

sufficient

to

block

important

social

and

economic

legislation

from

passage

in

a

two-house

legislature.

This

study

is

an

important

contribution

to

an

understanding

of

the

role of

popular

government

in

one

of

our

most

vigorous

states.

University

of

Oregon.

VINCENT

OSTROM.

Small

Town

Renaissance:

A

Story

of

the

Montana

Study.

By

RICHARD

W.

POSTON.

(New

York:

Harper

and

Brothers.

1950.

Pp.

x,

231.

$3.00.)

This

is

an

interestingly

written

narrative

of

a

three-year

program

aimed

at

bringing

about

a

resurgence

of

the

predominately

rural

communi-

ties

in

Montana.

It

is

also

a

frank

commentary

upon

the

institutional

misunderstandings

and

external

conflicts

which

developed

around

the

project.

Started

at

the

University

of

Montana

in

1944

through

a

grant

from

the

Rockefeller

Foundation,

the

Montana

Study

had

as

its

under-

lying

assumption

the

belief

that

small

communities

should

be

strengthened

because

of

their

basic

importance

to

American

democracy.

Its

three

major

objectives,

therefore,

were

to

get

the

university

into

the

local

areas,

to

find

ways

of

stabilizing

the

family

and

the

small

community,

and

to

study

means

of

raising

the

appreciative

and

spiritual

standard

of

living.

A

major

method

used

for

accomplishing

the

purposes

was

the

creation

of

local

self-study

groups,

mostly

in

towns

of

less

than

2,500

inhabitants.

Much

space

is

devoted

in

the

book

to

dramatic

accounts

of

the

technique

used

in

six

localities.

Many

examples

of

successful

results

are

given,

such

as

Darby’s

tremendous

business

expansion

and

Stevensville’s

demand

for

adult

education,

and

accounts

of

Lewistown’s

arts

and

crafts

program

and

Conrad’s

recreation

center.

Numerous

direct

quotations

from

study

group

members

are

cited.

The

Montana

Study

attained

its

greatest

success

through

this

local

analysis

device.

The

two

complementary

processes

of

special

research

projects

and

teacher

training

were

developed

to

a

much

smaller

extent

because

the

anticipated

co-ordination

of

effort

by

the

six

units

of

the

state’s

higher

educational

system

was

not

realized.

There

was

an

accumulation

of

unfavorable

factors

working

against

the

Montana

Study

by

the

time

its

continuance

came

up

for

legislative

consideration

in

1947.

The

small

staff,

great

traveling

distances,

and

little

concerted

publicity

had

left

large

sectors

of

the

state

still

untouched.

There