Trump’s Democrats. By Stephanie Muravchik and John A. Shields. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2020. 224p. $27.99 cloth. - 
Trumpism: Race, Class, Populism and Public Policy. By Carter A. Wilson. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2021. 244p. $100.00 cloth.

tion, that trained most American engineers in the early nineteenth century. These army engineers designed the roads, canals, and harbors that spurred economic expansion in the East and facilitated settlement in the West. Some of these engineers later left the military for private industry and became key figures in the design and construction of railroads. Adler details how three army bureaucracies, which became redoubts of technical expertise, were largely responsible for this essential infrastructure: the Corps of Engineers, the Topographical Bureau, and the Ordnance Department. The Corps of Engineers managed the construction of canals and bridges, while the Topographical Bureau surveyed vast lands in the West. Its maps plotted the locations for future settlements and identified the mineral resources to be exploited by these new arrivals. Some of the so-called topogs even became famous for their efforts to open new lands for settlement. For example, John C. Frémont’s detailed surveys inspired Brigham Young to bring his followers to Utah. Others followed Frémont’s maps to the Pacific Northwest along a popular route that became known as the Oregon Trail. It wasn’t only in the periphery that the army contributed to economic development. Army experts also stimulated early American industry. As Adler shows, the leaders of the Ordnance Department began to exercise tight control over arms manufacturing after supply problems during the War of 1812. Their innovations included the use of interchangeable parts in armories, an idea that later contributed to the development of the Colt revolver. This book also investigates the political control of these highly capable engineering agencies. In doing so, Adler offers a critique of Daniel Carpenter’s (The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy, 2001) characterization of early American bureaucracy as a “clerical state.” By contrast, Adler argues that the army showed evidence of “conditional autonomy,” which he describes “as existing when the principal is either ignorant of or chooses not to become involved in agent actions” (p. 114). Political control of the army was often tenuous, particularly in the periphery. To be sure, this was mainly due to communication difficulties that required army officers to make decisions without authorization from Washington. But in some cases, officers simply took advantage of this situation to further their own agendas, such as when Andrew Jackson seized Florida in 1818, forcing the Monroe administration to negotiate its transfer to the United States. Jackson’s actions notwithstanding, the army’s autonomy was rarely due to officers going rogue. Rather, Adler argues, it came from the expertise, reputation, and the long tenure of key figures, especially the engineers and topographers. Chief among them was John J. Abert, who served as the chief topographical engineer from 1829 to 1861. During his time in office, Abert fought for greater independence from the Corps of Engineers, and he convinced the Secretary ofWar to give the bureau independent status in theWarDepartment in 1831. Yet this autonomy, Adler shows, was conditional on the topographical bureau’s ability to remain studiously apolitical. After Abert backed a southern route for the transpacific railroad, the topographical corps was drawn into a sectional battle that cost it the support of key members of Congress. Any scholar of APD, institutional development, or military history will benefit from a close reading of Engineering Expansion. Students, in particular, will find Adler’s book to be an excellent guide to current scholarly debates in APD. Although many questions remain about the army’s role in early America, Adler’s concise volume should inspire further studies of this long-neglected institution of American state building. As Adler demonstrates so persuasively in this fine book, it is time for APD to bring the military back in.