Reviewed by:

• Bosom Friends: The Intimate World of James Buchanan and William Rufus King by Thomas J. Balcerski
• Gregory A. Peek

Thomas J. Balcerski's book Bosom Friends: The Intimate World of James Buchanan and William Rufus King is a wide-ranging and ambitious work, offering important contributions to three vital themes in nineteenth-century U.S. political history: male friendship, conservatism, and historical memory. The author explores these topics through the vehicle of a dual biography that outlines the long-running relationship between James Buchanan and William Rufus King, as well as members of their extended family.

As indicated in the book's subtitle, the main emphasis of Balcerski's research is an exploration of masculinity and intimate male friendship. Here the author contributes to a recent historiography that includes works by William Benemann, Richard Godbeer, and Peter Messent. Having had earlier failed attempts at courtship and marriage, Buchanan and King struck their friendship in 1834 upon their election to the U.S. Senate. In Washington, D.C., the pair were joined by other unmarried congressmen at Saunder's Boardinghouse, forming domestic arrangements Buchanan affectionately called "the Bachelor's [End Page 338] mess" (p. 67). Later, when King left for a diplomatic post in 1844, Buchanan expressed feelings of both emotional isolation and frustration at his failure to "woo" a surrogate (p. 16). The overflowing sentimentality expressed between these men during their separation has sparked speculation as to their sexual orientation, something the author claims surviving evidence cannot definitively answer. Balcerski does, however, provide excellent analysis of the gendered language and tropes pejoratively used by the political rivals of the duo. Labels such as "Aunt Nancy" and "Miss Fancy" were used to effeminize a relationship that some believed was more becoming of women than men (p. 9).

Bosom Friends also succeeds in taking seriously the importance of political conservatism and the need for bisectional alliances to maintain the integrity of the Union. Both ardent Jacksonian Democrats, Buchanan and King initially applied their conservative principles to questions of political economy such as banking and the tariff. As slavery gradually rose to prominence, King the Alabamian and Buchanan the Pennsylvanian labored to counter radicals agitating the issue. Both men supported gag rule procedures that silenced the reading of antislavery petitions in the Senate. Yet Buchanan and King also silenced efforts by South Carolinian John C. Calhoun to stop federal "intermeddling with slavery" in Washington (p. 82). Throughout the 1840s Buchanan proved himself to be a reliable defender of southern slave interests, including his pressure as secretary of state to extract enormous territorial concessions from Mexico during peace negotiations in 1848. In contrast, King feared that such a large indemnity would only heighten sectionalism. As Congress debated the aftermath of the war with Mexico, King, who had returned to the Senate in 1848, mostly supported the various bills that ultimately made up the Compromise of 1850, and he rejected calls by southern radicals to gather in Nashville that year to discuss secession. Still King articulated limits to his Unionism, something Buchanan doubtless remembered when he, as president, supported proslavery measures, including the Supreme Court's Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) decision and the Lecompton constitution in Kansas.

Finally, Balcerski is to be commended for tracing how surviving family members, notably Buchanan's niece Harriet Lane Johnston and King's niece Catherine Margaret Ellis, endeavored to preserve the men's legacy. Through their uncles these two women shared their own intimate friendship, often serving together as hostesses for the bachelors' numerous social events. Surviving post–Civil War commemorations of Buchanan and King are largely attributed to the work of these women, creating symbols of a robust unified American nationalism that emerged in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

Several helpful appendixes, including a calendar of correspondence between Buchanan and King, are included. Oxford University Press also allowed the full publication of the very extensive bibliography the author consulted while writing this book. These additions further serve to improve the...

审核人：

• 怀抱的朋友：詹姆斯·布坎南和威廉·鲁弗斯·金的私密世界，作者：托马斯·J·巴尔瑟尔斯基（Thomas J. Balcerski）
• 格雷戈里·A·皮克（Gregory A.Peek）

托马斯·J·巴尔瑟尔斯基（Thomas J. Balcerski）的著作《怀中的朋友：詹姆斯·布坎南（James Buchanan）和威廉·鲁弗斯·金（William Rufus King）的亲密世界》是一部内容广泛且雄心勃勃的著作，对19世纪美国政治历史中的三个重要主题做出了重要贡献：男性友谊，保守主义和历史记忆。作者通过双重传记的工具探讨了这些主题，该传记概述了詹姆斯·布坎南（James Buchanan）和威廉·鲁弗斯·金（William Rufus King）及其大家庭成员之间的长期合作关系。

正如该书的副标题所示，Balcerski的研究重点是探索男性气质和亲密的男性友谊。在这里，作者为最近的史学做出了贡献，其中包括威廉·贝内曼（William Benemann），理查德·戈德比（Richard Godbeer）和彼得·梅森（Peter Messent）的作品。在求爱和婚姻的尝试早期，Buchanan和King于1834年在选举到美国参议院时遇到了友谊。在华盛顿特区，两人与其他未婚国会议员一起在桑德的寄宿房中组成了布坎南的家庭安排，亲切地称其为“单身汉[End Page 338] 混乱”（第67页）。后来，金在1844年离开外交职位时，布坎南对未能“代人”代理人表达了情感上的孤立和沮丧（第16页）。男性分离期间引发了关于其性取向的猜测，作者声称尚存的证据无法给出确切答案，但Balcerski确实提供了对两人政治对手贬义使用的性别语言和比喻的出色分析。 “南希姨妈”和“花式小姐”被用来说明一种关系，一些人认为这种关系是女人比男人变得更多（第9页）。

怀里的朋友它还成功地认真考虑了政治保守主义的重要性以及建立两分联盟以维持联盟完整性的必要性。热情的杰克逊主义民主党人，布坎南和金最初都将他们的保守原则应用于银行和关税等政治经济学问题。随着奴隶制逐渐兴起，阿拉巴马国王和宾夕法尼亚州的布坎南开始努力制止激进的激进分子。两人都支持插科打rule的规则程序，该程序使参议院对反奴隶请愿书的阅读保持沉默。然而布坎南和金也压制了南卡罗来纳州约翰·卡尔霍恩在华盛顿制止联邦“与奴隶制打交道”的努力（第82页）。在整个1840年代，布坎南证明自己是南部奴隶利益的可靠捍卫者，包括他作为国务卿施加的压力，要求其在1848年的和平谈判中从墨西哥获得巨大的领土让步。相反，金敬畏地担心，如此大规模的赔偿只会加剧分权制。当国会辩论与墨西哥战争的后果时，金在1848年重返参议院，主要支持最终构成1850年妥协的各种法案，并且他拒绝了南方激进分子在那一年聚集纳什维尔的呼吁。讨论分裂。国王仍然对自己的联邦制进行了明确的限制，布坎南在担任总统期间支持包括最高法院在内的奴隶制措施，这一点无疑令人记忆犹新。金担心如此大规模的赔偿只会加剧分权制。当国会辩论与墨西哥战争的后果时，金在1848年重返参议院，主要支持最终构成1850年妥协的各种法案，并且他拒绝了南方激进分子在那一年聚集纳什维尔的呼吁。讨论分裂。国王仍然对自己的联邦制进行了明确的限制，布坎南在担任总统期间支持包括最高法院在内的奴隶制措施，这一点无疑令人记忆犹新。金担心如此大规模的赔偿只会加剧分权制。当国会辩论与墨西哥战争的后果时，金在1848年重返参议院，主要支持最终构成1850年妥协的各种法案，并且他拒绝了南方激进分子在那一年聚集纳什维尔的呼吁。讨论分裂。国王仍然对自己的联邦制进行了明确的限制，布坎南在担任总统期间支持包括最高法院在内的奴隶制措施，这一点无疑令人记忆犹新。Dred Scott诉Sandford案（1857年）和堪萨斯州的Lecompton宪法。

最后，巴尔切尔斯基追查幸存的家庭成员，尤其是布坎南的侄女哈里特·莱恩·约翰斯顿和国王的侄女凯瑟琳·玛格丽特·埃利斯，是如何努力保存男人的遗产而受到赞扬的。这两个女人通过叔叔分享了自己的亲密友谊，经常一起作为单身汉的众多社交活动的礼仪小姐。内战后幸存下来的布坎南和金纪念活动很大程度上归功于这些妇女的工作，创造了强大的统一美国民族主义的象征，这种民族主义在19世纪下半叶出现。

包括几个有用的附录，包括布坎南和金之间的通信日历。牛津大学出版社还允许作者发表本书时所查阅的大量参考书目的完整出版。这些添加物进一步改善了...