This is the first study to provide a comprehensive picture of the revolt brought about by American radical historians in the 1960s and 1970s. With the turbulent sixties as a backdrop, the work of radical luminaries like Eugene Genovese, Herbert Gutman, Staughton Lynd, William Appleman Williams and Howard Zinn is discussed. These historians made a significant contribution to present-day notions about slavery, working-class history, the New Deal, the Cold War and a wealth of other subjects. Their main target was American liberalism. Radical criticism centered on the liberal concepts of the division of power and of the nature of man. The acrimonious debate which ensued tore the historical profession apart. Therefore most historians have stressed the disagreements between liberals and radicals. Yet, in this study it will be argued that in some respects the radicals were part and parcel of mainstream historiography, though they presented a radical version of it.
Table of contents:
Acknowledgments. INTRODUCTION. PART ONE: POWER IN AMERICA. Chapter 1. The origins of radical historiography. Chapter 2. The Spanish-American war and the Open Door Notes. Chapter 3. The Progressive Movement. Chapter 4. The New Deal. Chapter 5. The Cold War. Chapter 6. The Welfare State. PART TWO: THE RESISTANCE. THE SEARCH FOR A RADICAL PAST. Chapter 7. Staughton Lynd and the intellectual origins of American radicalism. Chapter 8. Norman Pollack: The Populists as proto-Marxists. Chapter 9. The hidden heritage: James Weinstein and American Socialism. Chapter 10. From reformists to radicals: the changing view on American communism. Chapter 11. From institutional history to 'history from the bottom up': the radicals and the American workers. Chapter 12. The rehabilitation of the radical abolitionists. I Howard Zinn and Aileen Kraditor: the vindication of William Lloyd Garrison. II Staughton Lynd: a neo-abolitionist interpretation of the constitution. PART THREE: EUGENE GENOVESE AND AMERICAN SLAVERY. Chapter 13. The ideology of the slaveholders. Chapter 14. The slaves: collaboration, revolt and accommodation. PART FOUR: POLITICS AND HISTORY. Conclusion. Notes. Bibliography. Index.
Table of contents:
Acknowledgments. INTRODUCTION. PART ONE: POWER IN AMERICA. Chapter 1. The origins of radical historiography. Chapter 2. The Spanish-American war and the Open Door Notes. Chapter 3. The Progressive Movement. Chapter 4. The New Deal. Chapter 5. The Cold War. Chapter 6. The Welfare State. PART TWO: THE RESISTANCE. THE SEARCH FOR A RADICAL PAST. Chapter 7. Staughton Lynd and the intellectual origins of American radicalism. Chapter 8. Norman Pollack: The Populists as proto-Marxists. Chapter 9. The hidden heritage: James Weinstein and American Socialism. Chapter 10. From reformists to radicals: the changing view on American communism. Chapter 11. From institutional history to 'history from the bottom up': the radicals and the American workers. Chapter 12. The rehabilitation of the radical abolitionists. I Howard Zinn and Aileen Kraditor: the vindication of William Lloyd Garrison. II Staughton Lynd: a neo-abolitionist interpretation of the constitution. PART THREE: EUGENE GENOVESE AND AMERICAN SLAVERY. Chapter 13. The ideology of the slaveholders. Chapter 14. The slaves: collaboration, revolt and accommodation. PART FOUR: POLITICS AND HISTORY. Conclusion. Notes. Bibliography. Index.