Description
Book SynopsisPopularizing the Past tells the stories of five postwar historians who changed the way ordinary Americans thought about their nation's history. What's the matter with history? For decades, critics of the discipline have argued that the historical profession is dominated by scholars unable, or perhaps even unwilling, to write for the public. In Popularizing the Past, Nick Witham challenges this interpretation by telling the stories of five historiansRichard Hofstadter, Daniel Boorstin, John Hope Franklin, Howard Zinn, and Gerda Lernerwho, in the decades after World War II, published widely read books of national history. Witham compellingly argues that we should understand historians' efforts to engage with the reading public as a vital part of their postwar identity and mission. He shows how the lives and writings of these five authors were fundamentally shaped by their desire to write histories that captivated both scholars and the elusive general reader. He also reveals how t
Trade Review"Astute, informative, and skillfully researched, Witham’s thought-provoking analysis will appeal to historians (and aspiring historians) who want a better grasp on the challenges and opportunities of history as a profession and the business of popular-history books." * Library Journal *
"In his new book
Popularizing the Past, historian Nick Witham sheds light on five particularly interesting historians’ writing and publishing strategies during the mid-to-late twentieth century . . . Witham’s readings of these five figures offer sensitive analysis and point to the key questions about politics and publishing." * Boston Review *
"I am very taken with Nick Witham’s illuminating book and hope that all practicing and aspiring US historians read it. Drawing on careful research and writing in sparkling prose that rivals his subjects', Witham examines how five prominent postwar historians navigated the challenges and rewards of scripting national narratives for audiences beyond the academy. For anyone interested in crafting intellectually robust, readable, and relevant scholarship,
Popularizing the Past is essential reading."
-- Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen, author of American Nietzsche
"A fascinating exploration of American historians searching for their publics and seeking to balance empirical depth and literary flair, scholarship and fame, objectivity and activism. Nick Witham's book is the most probing examination of these matters that I have read. Essential for understanding the importance and perils of writing popular history." -- Gary Gerstle, author of The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order
"Those dispirited by today's skirmishes over the American past should seek out Nick Witham’s wonderful book on postwar history writing. His portrait of prominent scholars who wrote for the public offers a fresh take on popularization, presentism, and politicization—even as it underscores the essential work of histories that educate
and engross readers."
-- Sarah E. Igo, author of The Known Citizen: A History of Privacy in Modern America
"The argument of Witham’s book is that the audience for popular historical nonfiction that explains America to itself has always been a diverse one, made up of various types of readers. The imagined past, when an idealised American reader relaxed by the fireside with a sturdy tome written by a credentialed academic, is, largely speaking, a fiction…The best parts of
Popularizing the Past are the archival discoveries of letters from readers, and between editors and writers, showing the nitty-gritty of how this sausage got made – and eaten." * History Today *
"[An] engaging, instructive account of the efforts by five postwar American academic historians – and, importantly, their editors and publishers – to reach a broader, non-scholarly audience with their work . . . . If historians wish to produce work that resonates with ordinary readers while being taken seriously by fellow specialists, it can be done. And for guidance on how to do it they could do worse than look to those who, three-quarters of a century ago, set about ‘popularizing the past.'"
-- Fredrik Logevall * Times Literary Supplement *
Table of ContentsIntroduction What’s the Matter with History? The Problem of Popularity in Postwar American Historical Writing
Part I Popular History and General Readers
1 Richard Hofstadter: Popular History and the Contradictions of Consensus
2 Daniel Boorstin: Popular History between Liberalism and Conservatism
Part II: Popular History and Activist Readers
3 John Hope Franklin: The Racial Politics of Popular History
4 Howard Zinn: Popular History as Controversy
5 Gerda Lerner: The Struggle for a Popular Women’s History
Conclusion The Legacies of Postwar Popular History
Acknowledgments
Archival Abbreviations
Notes
Index
