Selvages and Biases : : The Fabric of History in American Culture / / Michael Kammen.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Cornell University Press Archive Pre-2000
• VerfasserIn: Kammen, Michael,
• MitwirkendeR: Kammen, Carol,
• Place / Publishing House: Ithaca, NY : : Cornell University Press, , [2019]; ©1989
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (352 p.) :; 33 halftones

In this distinguished volume, Michael Kammen addresses three closely related themes concerning the state of historical inquiry in America—themes with which he has been deeply engaged during the past decade. He first explores how history as a professional discipline has changed over the past century. In the process, he treats the relationship of the historian's craft to American nationalism, reflects on the uses and value of historical significance of historiography as a measure of cultural change. He shows how Americans have manipulated the past for social and ideological reasons, how memories of the national and regional past have conflicted with the realities of historicalo experience, and how Americans have simultaneously become more present-minded while professing a deeper concern for their heritage. Finally, Kammen explains why he believes historians should pursue new approaches to American cultural history, and to state and local history as well.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- PART ONE. HISTORY AS A WAY OF LEARNING AND KNOWING -- Chapter 1. Historical Knowledge and Understanding -- PART TWO. PATTERNS OF MEANING IN THE HISTORIAN’S CRAFT -- Chapter 2. On Knowing the Past -- Chapter 3. Vanitas and the Historian’s Vocation -- Chapter 4. Clio and the Changing Fashions: Some Patterns in Current American Historiography -- Chapter 5. Extending the Reach of American Cultural History: A Retrospective Glance and a Prospectus -- Chapter 6. Challenges and Opportunities in Writing State and Local History -- PART THREE. THE QUEST FOR MEANING IN AMERICAN CULTURE -- Chapter 7. History Isn’t What It Once Was -- Chapter 8. Changing Perceptions of the Life Cycle in American Thought and Culture -- Chapter 9. Moses Coit Tyler: The First Professor of American History in the United States -- Chapter 10. “This, Here, and Soon”: Johan Huizinga’s Esquisse of American Culture -- Chapter 11. Uses and Abuses of the Past: A Bifocal Perspective -- Chapter 12. Heritage, Memory, and Hudson Valley Traditions -- INDEX