American Places: Encounters with History

by William E. Leuchtenburg

Overview

In American Places, more than two dozen of America's most gifted historians write about their encounters with historic places, bringing a personal viewpoint to bear on a wide variety of sites, ranging from Monticello to Fenway Park. Here James M. McPherson writes about the battlefield of Gettysburg, and how walking the ground of Pickett's Charge inspired one of his books. Kevin Starr visits the Musso & Frank Grill in Hollywood and finds many of the flavors of California history there. Joel Williamson takes a bemused tour of Elvis Presley's Graceland, and David Kennedy tells the story of the "Pig War" on San Juan Island, where a spat between Britain and America over a speck of land in the Pacific Northwest helped determine the shape of the U.S. and Canada. William Freehling compares two places, Charleston's Battery and New Orleans' Jackson Square, showing how each reveals the different spirit of the society that created it. And Edward Ayers talks about spending time in Cyberspace, U.S.A. Other pieces include Robert Dallek on the FDR Memorial, David Hackett Fischer on the Boston Common, and William Leuchtenburg on his native borough of Queens.
American Places celebrates the career of Sheldon Meyer, who over his years at Oxford University Press has published some of America's most distinguished historians, including many Pulitzer Prize and Bancroft Prize winners, virtually all of whom have contributed to this volume.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195152456
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/23/2002
Series:	Encounters with History
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	420
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.20(d)
Lexile:	1330L (what's this?)

About the Author

William E. Leuchtenburg is William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of History at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He has served as president of both the Organization of American Historians and the American Historical Association. His books include The FDR Years and Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932-1940, winner of the Bancroft and Francis Parkman Prizes.

Table of Contents

Introduction, William LeuchtenburgCyberspace, U.S.A., Edward L. AyersPennsylvania Avenue: The Avenue of The Presidents, Paul Boller, Jr.A Monument for Barre: Memory in a Massachusetts Town, T. H. BreenGreensboro, North Carolina: A Window on Race in the American South, William H. ChafeWorld War II Normandy: American Cemetery and Memorial, James C. CobbThe Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, Washington, D.C., Robert DallekThe Americanized Mannheim of 1945-1946, David Brion DavisVassar College, Carl N. DeglerA Fan's Homage to Fenway, John DemosFinding History in Woodside, California, Paula S. FassBoston Common, David FischerCharleston, William FreehlingClimbing Stone Mountain, Louis R. HarlanMemphis, Tennessee, Kenneth T. JacksonIllinois' Old State Capitol: A Tale of Two Speeches, Robert W. Johannsen"A Little Journey": Elbert Hubbard and the Roycroft Community at East Aurora, New York, Michael KammenSan Juan Island, Washington, David M. Kennedy1048 Fifth Avenue, Alice Kessler-HarrisQueens, William E. LeuchtenburgGettysburg, James M. McPhersonMonticello, Merrill D. PetersonThe Musso & Frank Grill in Hollywood, Kevin StarrThe Polo Ground, Jules TygielGraceland, Joel WilliamsonNassau Hall, Princeton, New Jersey, Sean WilentzMontgomery, C. Vann WoodwardThe Grand Canyon, Donald WorsterSewanee - How to Make a Yankee Southern: Memories of the 1940s, Bertram Wyatt-Brown

Editorial Reviews

"A lively and enjoyable collection."—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

This collection of essays is a tribute to longtime Oxford University Press editor Sheldon Meyer. Edited by New Deal historian Leuchtenburg (history, Univ. of North Carolina; The FDR Years), it gathers essays by nearly 30 well-known American historians, who reflect on personal encounters with historic places. The places range from cyberspace to Elvis's Graceland, and the writing varies from warm, personal reminiscences to dry, academic narratives. The most successful pieces weave the passion of personal discovery into the fabric of historical fact, allowing readers a glimpse of what drives historians to delve into the past. Essays like T.H. Breen's on a long-forgotten Massachusetts slave and James M. McPherson's sketch of Gettysburg remind us that history is found in places great and small. Other passages mourn the loss of historic districts and sports parks. Race and the South figure prominently in many of the essays. While this book might appeal to history buffs, it will be of interest chiefly to other historians. Recommended for academic libraries.--Duncan Stewart, State Historical Society of Iowa Lib., Iowa City Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Essays on historic and ever-changing American locations, celebrating the career of an innovative Oxford University Press editor, Sheldon Meyer. The festschrift, an anthology compiled in honor of a particular scholar, is an awkward format, and despite the conscientious efforts of Leuchtenburg (History/Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; The Supreme Court in the Age of Roosevelt, 1995, etc.), this assortment shows some of the predictable problems of the genre. Although Leuchtenburg confides that some authors found the personal essays challenging after decades of rigorous scholarly objectivity, others apparently had no trouble indulging in evidently self-centered or frankly self-indulgent writing, rambling on about their careers or their reminiscences of Meyer in pieces resembling the transcripts of speeches at a retirement party. The volume also includes a few of those wistful first-person meditations in which the author returns to his boyhood home after many decades and finds that it has changed in the interim, inspiring the usual reflections on transience and memory. A gratifying number of pieces, however, transcend the unpromising format to offer substantial information and fresh insights into the history implicit in the American landscape. In"Greensboro, North Carolina: A Window on Race in the American South," William H. Chafe provides context for the famous 1960 Woolworth's sit-in."Illinois's Old State Capitol: A Tale of Two Speeches," by Robert Johannsen, brings the Douglas-Lincoln campaign of 1860 to life. Donald Worster makes a powerful case in"The Grand Canyon" for the inclusion of geography and ecology in the study of human history."A Fan's Homage to Fenway (Or, WhyWeLove It When They Always Break Our Hearts)," by John Demos, and"The Polo Grounds," by Jules Tygiel, are zestful tributes to both baseball and place. The finest essay here, Kenneth T. Jackson's"Memphis, Tennessee: The Rise and Fall of Main Street," presents a stirring defense of urbanism and a gentle, hilarious tribute to the pleasures the city offered a teenager in the 1950s. Despite its flaws, a lively and enjoyable collection.

Kirkus Reviews