Truths . . . Audacious and Flawed

Abstract This AHR Roundtable features four short essays on Jill Lepore’s widely read synthesis of American history, These Truths: A History of the United States (2018). Lepore’s framework insists that the “self-evident” truths of the nation’s founding were anything but. The driving force of her narrative is the struggle of those excluded from this magic circle—really, the majority of the country’s population—to extend those truths beyond their narrow core of elite white men. The four reviewers—Ned Blackhawk, Matt Garcia, Mary Beth Norton, and Paul Ortiz—appreciate the “shared sense of national destiny” that clearly informs Lepore book. At the same time, they chide her for what they regard as significant omissions. These critical essays invite further consideration of how best to write a fully inclusive (and therefore dramatically reconfigured) national narrative

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Lepore’s America, “Our America”?

The American Historical Review ◽

10.1093/ahr/rhaa517 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 125 (5) ◽

pp. 1768-1772

Author(s):

Matt Garcia

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

American History ◽

Driving Force ◽

White Men ◽

The United States ◽

The Self ◽

National Narrative ◽

History Of ◽

Magic Circle ◽

Short Essays

Abstract This AHR Roundtable features four short essays on Jill Lepore’s widely read synthesis of American history, These Truths: A History of the United States (2018). Lepore’s framework insists that the “self-evident” truths of the nation’s founding were anything but. The driving force of her narrative is the struggle of those excluded from this magic circle—really, the majority of the country’s population—to extend those truths beyond their narrow core of elite white men. The four reviewers—Ned Blackhawk, Matt Garcia, Mary Beth Norton, and Paul Ortiz—appreciate the “shared sense of national destiny” that clearly informs Lepore book. At the same time, they chide her for what they regard as significant omissions. These critical essays invite further consideration of how best to write a fully inclusive (and therefore dramatically reconfigured) national narrative

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The Iron Cage of Erasure: American Indian Sovereignty in Jill Lepore’s These Truths

The American Historical Review ◽

10.1093/ahr/rhaa515 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 125 (5) ◽

pp. 1752-1763

Author(s):

Ned Blackhawk

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

American Indian ◽

American History ◽

Driving Force ◽

White Men ◽

The United States ◽

The Self ◽

National Narrative ◽

Iron Cage ◽

History Of

Abstract This AHR Roundtable features four short essays on Jill Lepore’s widely read synthesis of American history, These Truths: A History of the United States (2018). Lepore’s framework insists that the “self-evident” truths of the nation’s founding were anything but. The driving force of her narrative is the struggle of those excluded from this magic circle—really, the majority of the country’s population—to extend those truths beyond their narrow core of elite white men. The four reviewers—Ned Blackhawk, Matt Garcia, Mary Beth Norton, and Paul Ortiz—appreciate the “shared sense of national destiny” that clearly informs Lepore book. At the same time, they chide her for what they regard as significant omissions. These critical essays invite further consideration of how best to write a fully inclusive (and therefore dramatically reconfigured) national narrative

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Book Review: History of African Americans: Exploring Diverse Roots

Reference & User Services Quarterly ◽

10.5860/rusq.58.4.7164 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 58 (4) ◽

pp. 265

Author(s):

Trent Shotwell

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

African American ◽

African Americans ◽

American History ◽

Social Life ◽

African American History ◽

The United States ◽

History Of ◽

The Rich

History of African Americans: Exploring Diverse Roots by Thomas J. Davis chronicles the remarkable past of African Americans from the earliest arrival of their ancestors to the election of President Barack Obama. This work was produced to recognize every triumph and tragedy that separates African Americans as a group from others in America. By distinguishing the rich and unique history of African Americans, History of African Americans: Exploring Diverse Roots provides an account of inspiration, courage, and progress. Each chapter details a significant piece of African American history, and the book includes numerous concise portraits of prominent African Americans and their contributions to progressing social life in the United States.

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Development and Demise of Rosewood

The Rosewood Massacre ◽

10.5744/florida/9780813056784.003.0002 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Edward González-Tennant

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Eighteenth Century ◽

American History ◽

The United States ◽

State Legislature ◽

Media Attention ◽

Social Trends ◽

History Of ◽

The Town ◽

Hollywood Movie

Chapter 2 presents a history of Rosewood beginning with a brief overview of previous research into the town’s past. Most of the research takes place in response to a statewide conversation in the early and mid-1990s. Growing media attention encouraged Floridians to grapple with the meaning of Rosewood’s destruction in the past and present. The attention encouraged the state legislature to compensate the survivors and descendants of the massacre; that compensation represents the primary example of reparations granted to African Americans in the United States. To better understand the events of 1923, Florida’s state legislature commissioned a group of historians to investigate and write a concise history of the town and its destruction. The resulting report, based on four months of research, remains the authoritative treatment of the 1923 riot. The report, a few articles, a popular book, and a Hollywood movie all contribute to public knowledge and representations of Rosewood. González-Tennant’s overview of Rosewood’s history adds to previous research by offering a comprehensive look at similar events in American history. González-Tennant contextualizes Rosewood within broader social trends beginning in the eighteenth century and continuing until today.

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The Treatment of the Negro in American History School Textbooks: A Comparison of Changing Textbook Content, 1826 to 1939, with Developing Scholarship in the History of the Negro in the United States. By Marie Elizabeth Carpenter. (Jersey City: the author, 114 Storms Avenue. 1941. Pp. 137. $1.50.)

The American Historical Review ◽

10.1086/ahr/47.4.896 ◽

1942 ◽

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

American History ◽

The United States ◽

Jersey City ◽

History Of

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The Winning of the Far West: a History of the Regaining of Texas, of the Mexican War, and the Oregon Question; and of the Successive Additions to the Territory of the United States, within the Continent of America, 1829–1867. By Robert McNutt McElroy, Ph.D., Edwards Professor of American History, Princeton University. (New York and London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons. 1914. Pp. x, 384.)

The American Historical Review ◽

10.1086/ahr/20.4.865 ◽

1915 ◽

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

New York ◽

American History ◽

The United States ◽

Mexican War ◽

Princeton University ◽

History Of

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SEMINARIES AND WRITING THE HISTORY OF NEW SPAIN: An Interview with Stafford Poole, C.M.

The Americas A Quarterly Review of Latin American History ◽

10.1353/tam.2012.0072 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 69 (2) ◽

pp. 237-254

Author(s):

Susan Schroeder

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Latin American ◽

American History ◽

New Spain ◽

The United States ◽

Latin American History ◽

The Past ◽

Past Half Century ◽

History Of ◽

Past Half

Over the course of the past half century, the field of colonial Latin American history has been greatly enriched by the contributions of Father Stafford Poole. He has written 14 books and 84 articles and book chapters and has readily shared his knowledge at coundess symposia and other scholarly forums. Renowned as a historian, he was also a seminary administrator and professor of history in Missouri and California. Moreover, his background and formation are surely unique among priests in the United States and his story is certainly worth the telling.

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