Our Fragile Freedoms; Essays
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Table of Contents:
Introduction
Author Info:
Personal Opinion:
I am definitely sorry but this book wasn't for me. I read nonfiction books from the way I learned in college; check the argument and see if the book matches to it. While the author uses Introduction to state his purpose and reason for the book, "The book examines history as refracted through the prism of some of the most influential recent works of scholarship, while at the same time shedding light on my own evolution as a historian." (xv) as to why there is use of old book reviews, "Many such essays, I believe, continue to be of value well after their initial appearance." (xvi) I read it from cover to cover and aside from the topic of racism and importance of Civil War and its effects, I am not sure I fully understand the deeper purpose of the book. Is the book filled with lots of new information? Of course. Practically everything that's related to African American history can be found here, from beginnings of slavery to modern day racism and also events like Tulsa Massacre. What I think my problem here is that the book is told in essays and this isn't narrative history as I had hoped it would be. I definitely feel that narrative history would have been a lot better than book reviews. Although I am a history major with Bachelor's Degree, its interesting to note that mine and author's paths went in reverse. (The part where it covers evolution of author as a historian is pretty accurate.)
This was given for review
3 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)
Introduction
Part I:Slavery and Antislavery
The Rise and Fall of American Slavery 2011
The Slave Ship 2008
American Slavery: The First Two Centuries 1999
The Line 2024
Washington and Slavery 2019
Inside the Largest Slave Auction 2018
Israel Hill 2004
States Rights and Fugitive Slaves 2015
Lincoln and Brown 2020
Lincoln and Douglass 2007
Part II: The Civil War and Reconstruction
Death and Meaning in the Civil War 2008
The Civil War in "post Racial" America 2011
The Emancipation of Abraham Lincoln 2012
On Jefferson Davis 2000
The Making and the Breaking of the legend of Robert E Lee 2017
Longstreet 2023
The War within the confederacy 2010
Why Reconstruction matters 2015
Donald Trump's Unconstitutional Dreams 2018
We should embrace the ambiguity of the 14th amendment 2018
Boston's Black activists 2012
Colfax 2008
When the court chooses the president 2004
Part III: Jim Crow America
American freedom 2023
The right to discriminate 2021
Land and freedom in the aftermath of slavery 2017
A Black dynasty and its fate 2006
Race, rights and the law 2024
Everyday violence in the Jim Crow south 2023
Tulsa; forgetting and remembering 2021
Part IV: The Movement
Reporting the movement 2023
The double v 2023
The real Rosa Parks 2001
Riding for freedom 2006
A great American 2023
King's dream at 60 2023
Whatever happened to integration? 1998
Part V: An Imperfect Democracy
The electoral college 2020
Political wars of the gilded age 2021
The oldest mass party 2022
The first black president 2020
Free speech and its history 2004
American anarchists 2017
The war on civil liberties 2023
Chicago, 1968 2023
The court: grave of liberty 2019
American exceptionalism, American freedom 2013
Letter to Bernie 2015
The enemy within 2021
Part VI: History, Memory, Historians
The monuments question 1999
Textbook history 2022
Twisting history in Texas 2010
Du Bois 2000-2001
Rayford Logan 1997
Vann Woodward 2022
Hofstadter 1992
American myth 2024
Author Info:
Personal Opinion:
I am definitely sorry but this book wasn't for me. I read nonfiction books from the way I learned in college; check the argument and see if the book matches to it. While the author uses Introduction to state his purpose and reason for the book, "The book examines history as refracted through the prism of some of the most influential recent works of scholarship, while at the same time shedding light on my own evolution as a historian." (xv) as to why there is use of old book reviews, "Many such essays, I believe, continue to be of value well after their initial appearance." (xvi) I read it from cover to cover and aside from the topic of racism and importance of Civil War and its effects, I am not sure I fully understand the deeper purpose of the book. Is the book filled with lots of new information? Of course. Practically everything that's related to African American history can be found here, from beginnings of slavery to modern day racism and also events like Tulsa Massacre. What I think my problem here is that the book is told in essays and this isn't narrative history as I had hoped it would be. I definitely feel that narrative history would have been a lot better than book reviews. Although I am a history major with Bachelor's Degree, its interesting to note that mine and author's paths went in reverse. (The part where it covers evolution of author as a historian is pretty accurate.)
This was given for review
3 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)
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