Writing Early American History

by Alan Taylor, Christopher Clark (Foreword)

"Whoever reads these essays—and whether they follow the book from cover to cover, or dip into chapters at random—will find the rich abundance and variety of early American scholarship set out before them. Readers new to the field will grasp a sense of its expansiveness and possibilities, but seasoned scholars, too, will find here a feast of insights and possibilities that will engage, provoke, and inspire them."—from the Foreword, by Christopher Clark How is American history written? In a penetrating series of review essays, prize-winning author Alan Taylor provides his own answer to this question. In the pages of The New Republic , he has regularly scrutinized the writing of the most interesting historians of early American history. Together these reviews provide the general reader a rich and rewarding introduction to their subjects. The books reviewed span an enormous range of scholarship, from popular biographies of Founding Fathers, to investigations of murders of prostitutes to discussions of frontier technology. Grouped thematically, the essays reveal a historian with an unrivaled breadth of knowledge and an admirable passion for his subject, and one who has contributed a continent-wide perspective to colonial history. As readers steep themselves in world-class scholarship, they also discover a writer who takes very seriously his role as reader.

Genres: History, American History

Hardcover

First published June 16, 2005

About the author

Alan Shaw Taylor is a historian specializing in early American history. He is the author of a number of books about colonial America, the American Revolution, and the Early American Republic. He has won a Pulitzer Prize and the Bancroft Prize for his work.

Taylor graduated from Colby College, in Waterville, Maine, in 1977 and earned his Ph.D. from Brandeis University in 1986. Currently a professor of history at the University of California, Davis, he will join the faculty of the Corcoran Department of History at the University of Virginia in 2014.

Reviews

[QOH · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite the title, the book is not a how-to on writing history. It's a collection of book reviews of early American histories written by the (multiple Pulitzer-winning) early American historian Alan Taylor.

(And here I am reviewing it--a bit meta, isn't it?)

Taylor is a master reviewer. I am not, but I'll try. Taylor finds the good in each book, and where he might not have quite enough good things to say about the book or its author, he fills the review with an accounting of the relevant history. His criticisms are usually specific and he is patient (with a few exceptions, he never seems exasperated).

The only complaint I can make is that in reviewing two books that deal with Ben Franklin, we get a bit of overlap.

There is a lot to learn from reading book reviews, at least reviews of non-fiction. Facts are facts but context is everything; the way we interpret those facts can make for a lively debate and a greater understanding of the circumstances of historical events.

As someone who did not go to graduate school for history (I picked law, to my regret), I also ended up learning about the fads of historical scholarship.

In my adult life, no matter how poor I've been, I've kept my LRB subscription. The reason is that the reviewed books range across topics I might never have been interested in; I always learn something new (and usually find something I have to order from the UK). The delight of Taylor's collection of reviews is that they are all of early American history, and if you love early American history, you have probably read or wanted to read these books--and for those you have not, you will have a much better idea as to if you will seek them out.

[Tascha Folsoi · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone who is either a early American history enthusiast, an Alan Taylor fan, or a writer, this is not a book to pass up. First of all, this book is a great way to take another look at the time period from the perspective of many important historians and then the added layer of Taylor's perspective. I read it in order as the reviews progress more or less chronologically with the time period covered in the books. Because a reviewer is assuming that the readers of the book may not all be professors of history, Taylor provides succinct summaries to build background that helped to put on a finer point on things I thought I understood.

The book also left me with an even greater appreciation of just what a daunting -and ultimately creative– process it is to put together a history book. Authors must have a perspective, but they must be wary of superimposing their perspective in a way that does a disservice to the truth. They have to be open to the idea that one interpretation may be wrong and look to other primary source documents and other historians interpretations as well... but they ultimately have to commit to a stand on the subject. They have to decide what questions can be left open and which ones merit further research. Historians appoint themselves the explainers of the world...yet they can't fall prey to the the myth key syndrome, the hope that one can explain the entire world, which was the fate of Mr. Casaubon in Middlemarch (I never had any sympathy for him until I read one particular review in this book). Focus, pan out, speed by, slow down. There's so much to be done, both in writing and in reading. This book is interesting, fun, and was really informative even after reading all of Taylor’s other books. Funny too. Enjoy!