Homeward Bound

This is the second time I have read this book. The first time I read it I was an undergrad, and I thoroughly hated it. This time around, I have a much better grounding in the historiography and can appreciate what a notable book this is. May takes an interesting approach to the Cold War by largely ignoring international relations in favor of examining the effect of the war on nuclear families. Her chapters on sexuality are especially interesting. As a bonus, the class discussion had a tenancy to turn to riotous laughter and some interesting discussions about pornography.

Get it? The people on the bus are "homeward bound."Admittedly, not one of my finer ones.

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: Merchant Seamen, Pirates and the Anglo-American Maritime World, 1700-1750 by Marcus Rediker

Pirates! Merchant seamen! The Royal Navy! And also commodities trading, a lot of commodities trading. This book was another read for my Atlantic World seminar. What better way to talk about the Atlantic than by discussing the men who made the transnational exchanges possible? Admittedly, this book has a Eurocentric orientation, but the English/European perspective is an important one to consider, even if it is not the only one.

The chapters on maritime culture are particularly fascinating; if you are interested in what seamen did and how they viewed themselves, then this book will give you a good (scholarly) understanding. If you are looking for swashbuckling adventure, read Captain Blood instead. Also, go to the Pirate Museum in Key West, FL.

Elusive Empires: Constructing Colonialism in the Ohio Valley, 1673-1800 by Eric Hinderaker

French and British trading and colonialism made the Ohio Valley a site of intercultural exchange, and Native Americans influenced and negotiated the process. Trading transformed Indian towns, politics, and culture, but these towns were often outside of imperial French and British control because trade “served local interests much more effectively than metropolitan imperial ones” (xii). In post-Revolution America, the pursuit of creating “an expansive, open-ended nation” undermined the idea of Native American sovereignty (236).

This photo is from a mural at Camp Marymount in Fairview, TN.

Whiteness of a Different Color by Matthew Fry Jacobson

It's a standard thing in all of my graduate seminars to discuss the ways in which race (and gender) are social constructions. Jacobson tries to understand how European ethnics went from being Celts, Slavs, Italians, etc. to being white in the eventual racial bifurcation of the country along a black/white axis. It was difficult as a reader in modern America to reorient the way I think about race/ethnicity in order to understand Jacobson's argument. The book is mostly effective, but the middle section seems out of place.

I consider myself white, but I suppose at one point I would have been considered Irish? Maybe?

The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in Its First Age of Terror by Beverly Gage

Gage examines why the first decades of the twentieth century was an anxious time when “the entire structure of American institutions…seemed up for grabs, poised to be reshaped by new movements and ideas” (8). She argues that the rise of corporations and Wall Street were coupled with intense economic discontent that led to the activities of revolutionaries who were dedicated to overthrowing the capitalist system through terrorism.

Sacred Gifts, Profane Pleasures: A History of Tobacco and Chocolate in the Atlantic World by Marcy Norton

Norton argues that through chocolate and tobacco, Amerindians influenced European society. Both of these goods are cultural artifacts that are bound with “knowledge and techniques” that were transmitted back to Spain along with the material goods (4). Colonists became acquainted with tobacco and chocolate as they made allies in the America. Some of them took their tastes back to Spain where they continued to use both goods in many of the same ways that Amerindians did, which is related to Norton’s central theme of syncretism (9).

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn

I read this book for my philosophy of history class, and while it was not exactly a pleasurable experience, it has drastically affected the way that I think about science. I have always pictured science as this monolith that moves forward in a constant state of progress. Kuhn introduced me to the idea that science is governed by paradigm shifts that fundamentally change the way scientists understand their discipline. Science changes as anomalies are discovered which the old way of doing science cannot account for. Scientists then switch to new a new paradigm that can account for the anomaly. Since science develops in this manner, it is not necessarily linearly progressing. This explanation is overly-simplified, but it shows the wide difference between what I use to believe and how I think about this topic now.

Evolution and natural selection are two examples of paradigm shifts that have radically altered the way science is done.

Blue books by lots and lots of people

I spent the last two semesters reading many hundreds of essays (no exaggeration) written in blue books. It is how I earn my keep as a grad student. Occasionally I read some true gems...like the one person who was convinced that MLK helped Emancipation era freedmen gain their civil rights. The top of the books say USE YOUR IMAGINATION, but really, you shouldn't.

Diaries and letters from Civil War era West Tennessee by Nannie, Rebecca, Amanda, Belle, Jessie, Sarah, Mattie, and others

One reason I have not been posting as many books this semester is because I haven't been reading as many. Instead, I spent a couple of months on a primary document binge. Sometimes the handwriting could not be deciphered even with the aid of a magnifying glass. Oftentimes I would catch myself day dreaming after a few hours of reading. And then every once in a while I would stumble upon something unexpected. Like the girl who told her friend that she was sorry to hear that she was getting fleshier. Or the girl who "embraced Mother Earth" while trying to play a game of ball (in mixed company). Basically, although research can be truly horrendous at times, it generally leaves me with the feeling that the people of the past weren't all that different. Hopefully my paper about elite women's transcendence of wartime inconvenience came across coherently.

Shattered Hope: The Guatemalan Revolution and the United States, 1944-1954 by Piero Gleijeses

I find it incredibly depressing to read about the CIA's involvement in Guatemala. Talk about disheartening. It is like watching a bad spy movie.

Women and the Nicaraguan Revolution by Tomas Borge

Borge's speech explains the Sandanista's views about women in Marxist terms. This slim volume was published in the United States in 1982.

A History of the Cuban Revolution by Aviva Chomsky

I was majorly impressed with this book. Chomsky manages to accomplish a truly remarkable feat, a balanced historical account of the Cuban Revolution through 2010. She explains events from the U.S.-centric view that I am familiar with and then addressed how Cuban historians present the subject. The historiography is vastly different depending on which country's historians you are reading. I thoroughly enjoyed it; I hope the other books that come out of this publisher's Viewpoints series are equally well done.

Key West...90 miles from Cuba. To put that in perspective, Cuba is closer to the United States than Memphis is to Nashville.

From Reliable Sources: An Introduction to Historical Methods by Martha Howell & Walter Prevenier

I think the title tells you all you need to know; it's an introduction to historical methods. Basically, the authors talk about all the pieces needed for a historical work to be a valuable and reliable addition to the literature.

I guess this is as good of a time as any to say that I will not be posting nearly as frequently for the next couple of months. Instead of reading as much history this semester, I will be writing history. Frankly, the thought of doing this research seminar fills me with a throbbing sense of anxiety, but at least I anticipate that I will learn a heck of a lot. It's a trade off really.

Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History by Michel Rolph-Trouillot

Rolph-Trouillot writes about the ways in which power is asserted to silence parts of history. Sometimes the process is intentional, but oftentimes it is not. Which version of a story gets told? What is ignored? What might be lost forever because the sources were not deemed important enough to save?

Suspect Relations: Sex, Race, and Resistance in Colonial North Carolina by Kirsten Fischer

Fischer writes about the ways in which sexual activity shaped the boundaries of race in the 18th century. She discusses white, Native American, servant, and slave women and the sexual realities they faced. These sexual relationships were imbued with double standards, and were important in determining acceptable racial behavior as well. It was well written, easy to read, and had some very blunt examples. It is also the last history book I am reading this semester.

I read this book back in December and just realized that I never posted it. The smiley face, which appeared in a salad bowl after all the greens were gone, is because I was happy that I was going to get to spend the next month reading some fiction.

The Story of Enschede and Memphis by William R. Herstein

While looking for a different book in the museum library this morning, I spotted this small text. I love Memphis history, especially the history that has not been widely written and debated (I'm talking about you, Civil War and Yellow Fever epidemic). Evidently, after World War II Memphis "adopted" the city of Enschede, Netherlands, because of the cotton trading connection between the cities. Students made cigar boxes full of school supplies and citizens donated clothing and money and shipped them to Enschede via New York. When a new hotel was opened in Enschede in 1950, it was named Memphis-hotel and originally flew the flags of the Kingdom of Holland, the United States, and the City of Memphis. Who knew?

For some more stories about Memphis' colorful past, check out the Memphis Moments that were writen by staff members at the Pink Palace.

Binder O' Assorted Readings by various authors in academic journals

Meet my binder o' assorted readings that I read this semester for HIST7060. We had different professors come in most weeks and spend the first hour and a half of class discussing the study of women and gender in their particular field. Most of them assigned at least 3 readings. Not all of the readings are in here because by the end of the semester I deemed the binder too heavy to lug around. I know this isn't a book, but I spent so much time reading all of these articles that I decide they count. Yeah, grad school's fun.

What a Woman Ought to Be and to Do: Black Professional Women Workers during the Jim Crow Era by Stephanie J. Shaw

I really liked this book. Shaw takes these women and explains how their parents and communities taught them who they should be as African American women. They were not educated in spite of being black women; they were educated because they were black women. She also does a good job contrasting this ideal of womanhood with the reality they faced once their education was finished. I also liked that this discussion was the first one in which I know I participated well. Corner turned.

I read this book back in November. Same old story about being backlogged that I will not bore you with again.

Founding Mothers and Fathers: Gendered Power and the Forming of American Society by Mary Beth Norton

405 pages.............

This book was assigned to coincide nicely with Thanksgiving. You know what I'm thankful for? Not having lived in colonial America.

Music and Revolution: Cultural Change in Socialist Cuba by Robin D. Moore

What do son, timba, and nueva trova have in common? They are all forms of Cuban music, and all genres of music I had never heard before class two weeks ago. That's a benefit to reading a book about music, to discuss it in class, you have to listen to it!