New texts dealing with history and its interpretation

THE END OF THE MYTH by Greg Grandin (Fordlandia) is subtitled “From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America.” Grandin begins with a reference to Frederick Jackson Turner in the very first sentence of his introduction, soon noting that “the kind of Americanism Turner represented took all the unbounded optimism that went into the founding of the United States and bet that the country’s progress, moving forward on the frontier and into the world, would reduce racism to a remnant … would dilute other social problems as well, … teaching diverse people how to live together in peace.” Contrast that with Grandin’s last sentence, quoting Donald Trump on keeping out Central American asylum seekers: “Barbed wire can be a beautiful sight.” In between, Grandin uses chapters with titles like “All that Space,” “The Safety Valve,” “A Psychological Twist,” and “More, More, More” to explore America’s border myth, expansionist policies, changing identity, and recent disenchantment. Called “troubling, but inspiring,” this new, and at times controversial, work by an award-winning author contains roughly sixty pages of notes and a detailed index.

BENDING TOWARD JUSTICE by Doug Jones is subtitled “The Birmingham Church Bombing that Changed the Course of Civil Rights.”  The newly elected Senator from Alabama is a former US Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama where he prosecuted former KKK members for their roles in the 1963 bombing. In Part One of this text, he first describes events leading up to the bombing, the event itself (which occurred when Jones was 9 years old), and then the prosecution by Alabama’s Attorney General, William Baxley, eventually leading to one conviction in 1977.  Subsequent sections describe Jones’ own career and activities as a prosecutor, mainly in obtaining the convictions in early the 2000s.  The book contains several plates of black and white images, primarily of Jones and/or his family. BENDING TOWARD JUSTICE offers firsthand accounts and another perspective on an historic event – one that took nearly forty years to achieve a legal resolution.   

Crashed by Adam Tooze

CRASHED by Adam Tooze, an award winning Professor of History at Columba University, contains over 700 pages which explain “How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World.”  Tooze does indeed focus on the intertwined financial world: first, he reviews the immediate response to the 2008 crisis and then moves to a discussion of the impact on Europe, especially countries like Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain. Next, he looks at a shift to a more austere fiscal policy around the globe which when combined with earlier events contributed to the rise of populist politics, as evidenced by the Brexit vote and Trump election. Much more than a quick summary of a complex, challenging and continuing situation, Tooze’s detailed analysis raises numerous questions. For example, are we abandoning the view that global trade makes everyone better off in the longer term? Will governments be more willing to act in a bipartisan manner to combat market distortions? Or are we heading once again towards more deregulation? What has been the impact on Russia and China? What kind of global cooperation can we expect if a new crisis occurs? CRASHED, a fascinating and comprehensive history for students of economics and politics, includes extensive notes and received starred reviews from both Kirkus and Library Journal.

America, Politics, and the Younger Generation ...

Today is the thirty year anniversary of the local school shooting at Hubbard Woods School. Had he survived, Nick Corwin would have been old enough to have a family and to perhaps even bring his children to play soccer in the local league. Instead, other children are playing at the park which bears his name and honors his memory.

In trying to process the horrific news about Santa Fe High School and the latest school shooting, pause to reflect on the student who when asked whether she felt like a shooting couldn’t happen at her school, replied, “It’s been happening everywhere. I’ve always felt it would eventually happen here too.” How many students share those sentiments and fears?

Referring to that student comment on Friday’s PBS NewsHour Judy Woodruff said, “I was profoundly saddened” and encouraged viewers “to ask if we have crossed a line and whether we owe our younger generation something better.” Several new books which deal with politics and American values echo that question.  

The first I will mention is TAILSPIN by award winning journalist Steven Brill. In a companion Time Magazine article Brill writes, “Yet key measures of the nation’s public engagement, satisfaction and confidence – voter turnout, knowledge of public-policy issues, faith that the next generation will fare better than the current one, and respect for basic institutions, especially the government – are far below what they were 50 years ago, and in many cases have reached near historic lows.”   In his book, Brill describes how key American values such as meritocracy and innovation have led to an isolated elite, reinforcing privileges for corporations and businesses with little or no accountability for government officials. He opines that the protected few do not need government for much whereas the unprotected need it to provide good public schools, health care, a competitive playing field for small businesses, adequate infrastructure and much more. TAILSPIN is a comprehensive and fascinating read, referring to numerous sources such as Putnam’s Bowling Alone and the realization that “something important happened to social bonds and civic engagement in America over the last third of the twentieth century.” Roughly a fourth of the lengthy book contains footnotes and sources; TAILSPIN received starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly and is being published by Knopf on May 29th.

THE SOUL OF AMERICA by Pulitzer-prize winner Jon Meacham is subtitled “The Battle for Our Better Angels” and was published by Random House earlier this month. Here, Meacham reflects on what Americans have loved in common down the centuries: “a love of fair play, of generosity of spirit, of reaping the rewards of hard work, and of faith in the future.” Even though he says, “too often, people see their own opportunity as dependent on domination over others,” he is optimistic enough to describe many instances of leadership and citizen activism such that “the soul of the country manifests itself in an inclination to open our arms rather than to clench our fists; to look out rather than to turn inward; to accept rather than to reject; to hope rather than to fear.”

Meacham also provides extensive notes and a lengthy bibliography and employs a historical lens to illustrate that "history's stories of presidential leadership in hours of fear are as often disappointing as they are heroic." While his work may be a bit verbose for our high school students, THE SOUL OF AMERICA did receive a starred review from Booklist. 


STANDOFF by Bill Schneider again looks at American political history from the 1960s to the present day. As a professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University and a former CNN senior political analyst, Schneider draws on his expertise to examine past presidential elections and how they led to Trump’s “social populism (anti-immigrant), economic populism (anti-free trade), and isolationism (“America First”).”  In the initial chapter, “Old America Versus New America,” he recaps national and state election results and sets the stage for “the new normal in the United States: gridlock and dysfunctional government.”

A key theme in the book is the role of polling the public and how a passionate, intense minority cancels a majority on issues like gun control, immigration, small government and international interests. Schneider further points out that “without a crisis or war [war on poverty, war on drugs, etc.] to rally public opinion, the system doesn’t work at all,” thereby supporting his subtitle, “How America became Ungovernable.”  Granted, there is a bias, but I found STANDOFF to be very readable due to features like captions (e.g., Coalitions and Movements; Interests and Values) for short sub-sections which were then followed by examples and, where applicable, statistics.  The supporting endnotes comprise roughly a tenth of this thought-provoking book which was published May 15 by Simon & Schuster.