Touchstone Texts: The Historical Works We’re Reaching for Today, Part 1

AHA Session 83
Saturday, January 4, 2020: 10:30 AM-12:00 PM
New York Ballroom West (Sheraton New York, Third Floor)
Chair:
Sarah E. Igo, Vanderbilt University
Panel:
Gerald Early, Washington University in St. Louis
Martha S. Jones, Johns Hopkins University
Claire Bond Potter, New School for Social Research
Sean Wilentz, Princeton University

Session Abstract

The political upheaval and uncertainty in the United States and around the world has led many historians, scholars, and citizens in general to reach for and re-read classic texts of history, sociology, political theory and even fiction to help make sense of these troubled times. This panel--the second of two entitled "Touchstone Texts"--will bring together a group of distinguished scholars, each of whom has done a deep reading of an influential books that speaks to our moment: Martha Jones on on W.E.B. DuBois’s Black Reconstruction; Gerald Early on Sinclair Lewis's It Can’t Happen Here; Sean Wilentz on Richard Hofstadter's Anti-Intellectualism in American Life; and Claire Potter on Susan Brownmiller's Against Our Will. Audience discussion will draw connections among the presentations and the texts themselves.
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