Reckoning with history : unfinished stories of American freedom / edited by Jim Downs [and three others].

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Downs, Jim, 1973- editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

History--Political aspects.

History.

Liberty--History.

Liberty.

Liberty--United States--History.

United States--Historiography.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 223 pages)

Place of Publication:

New York, New York : Columbia University Press, [2021]

Summary:

Reckoning with History brings together original essays from a diverse group of historians who consider how writing about the past can engage with the urgent issues of the present. The contributors—all former students of the distinguished Columbia University historian Eric Foner—explore the uses and politics of history through key episodes across a wide range of struggles for freedom. They shed new light on how different groups have defined and fought for freedom throughout American history, as well as the ways in which the ideal of freedom remains unrealized today. Covering a broad range of topics, these essays offer insight into how historians practice their craft in different ways and illuminate what it means to be a socially and politically engaged historian.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

PART I: ARCHIVES

1. LOOKING FOR ONA JUDGE: AN UNFINISHED STORY OF FREEDOM

2. “LIKE PEOPLE IN HISTORY”: WHY SOCIAL HISTORY MATTERS TO THE LGBT COMMUNITY

PART II: REVISIONS

3. AMERICAN FOUNDERS RECONSIDERED: THE CASE OF THOMAS JEFFERSON AND HENRY CHRISTOPHE

4 THE CIVIL WAR, SLAVERY, AND THE PROBLEM OF NEUTRALITY

5 HISTORIANS, LINCOLN, AND “THE RUINING OF AMERICA”

6 IN SEARCH OF THE COSTS OF SEGREGATION

PART III: HISTORY MATTERS

7 WHY HISTORICAL FILM MATTERS

8 A MOB MUSEUM MATTERS

9 ON LIVING HISTORY AND STORIES UNFINISHED

10 IN THE MATTER OF WORTH

EPILOGUE

CONTRIBUTORS

INDEX

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-231-54987-3

OCLC:

1228911045