Clearly we shouldn't debate Eric Foner's version of history here. Or Ron Radosh' history of exaggerations. But, I can't resist a couple of points.
1. It is yet one more piece of a certain kind of right wing agenda which believes that if you don't believe as it believes, something rather fundamental must be wrong with you. As in unpatriotic.
2. Foner's history, I recommend reading it, is quite good, and is yet another illustration of the degree to which the academy flourishes, not stagnates. It includes all sorts of voices these days. Lots of people still invoke Hofstadter, who was a truly conservative figure, not one of these ranters like Radosh.
3. It will not surprise you, Bill, to hear that I think a history written without the dimensions of race, class, and gender is incomplete. Just as one without diplomatic history, etc. None exhaust history. Just takes as many voices as possible to write the stuff. And to avoid the Neitzschian (sp?) aphorism that only the winners write history. |
