SchlagerBlog

We’ve just launched the November issue of our Milestone Documents newsletter. This month the focus is on the Civil War and Reconstruction era. The figure of Abraham Lincoln dominates the period, as you might expect–both in the historical record in general as well as in the key documents from the period. Some of the most famous words in American history were penned by the Illinois statesman: just think of his “mystic chords of memory” (first inaugural address) or the “better angels of our memory” (ditto) or “with malice toward none; with charity toward all” (second inaugural address). By the way, there is a fantastic source of Lincoln papers available on the Web for free here.

Aside from Lincoln, though, the era also saw influential documents such as Dred Scott v. Sandford, the trio of amendments passed at the end of the war to protect African American rights (the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments), and the bitter fight over Reconstruction, as seen in the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Articles of Impeachment of Andrew Johnson. Fascinating stuff. Needless to say, the full texts of all of these documents are available (for free) on MilestoneDocuments.com.

Will next week witness the election of another Illinois statesman as president?

The executive editor of our “Milestone Documents” series, Paul Finkelman, has an interesting piece over at the Huffington Post about “accidental” vice presidents in American history. Paul’s research areas range widely, from African American history to legal history to politics to baseball. This makes him a perfect fit to shepherd our series. (And his terrific Rolodex doesn’t hurt, either.) You can see some of his books on an Amazon search.

On another front, next week we’ll be putting the finishing touches on our next issue of the free Milestone Documents e-newsletter. These are turning out to be a lot of fun to produce, as we’re able to pull from the various segments of our content pool to craft what we hope is a useful and engaging tool for history educators. The November issue will be focused on the Civil War and Reconstruction–another of Paul’s specialties, as it turns out. We also look forward to a significant number of new subscribers, as we’ve got flyers being handed out at several state and regional meetings of history educators beginning this weekend.

Finally, we just received some good news to start the week: Milestone Documents in American History has received a prestigious award. I’m not at liberty to share details just yet, but this is gratifying news indeed. Along with all of the great reviews we’ve received, it further validates the concept behind our publishing program and bodes well for the upcoming titles in the series.

The Center for History and New Media, an organization housed at George Mason University and an essential site for anyone interested in digital history, has just launched a redesign of its main Web site. It’s very handsome and exhibits the same graphical clarity and ease of navigation that distinguishes all of the CHNM sites. According to Dan Cohen (the director of the CHNM), this marks the 4th redesign in 14 years of existence. I can relate to this. Although we only recently launched our own digital history Web site (MilestoneDocuments.com), we have already begun thinking about the future–how the site’s design could be improved and made more flexible to better reflect our growing list of content offerings. In any case, I urge you to check out the new and improved CHNM home page.

Yesterday over at the Milestone Documents Blog, we saw the biggest response in the site’s history to a fairly innocuous post: In the news: Presidential debates. Such is the power of link journalism, I guess. Of course, coming as it did on the heels of Wednesday’s debate between John McCain and Barack Obama, the post was well positioned to take advantage of the incredibly high interest level about the current presidential election. Call me an incurable optimist (and my staff often does), but I find it hard to be too pessimistic about the state of our country when so many people are so passionate about an election. Just one example: several sites are reporting that Obama’s campaign is on the verge of reporting its September fundraising figures, and that those figures may come in at or above $100 million. That’s just astonishing.

A final note on Obama: One of the best pieces I’ve read recently is over at the A. Lincoln Blog, where the historian Brian Dirck comments on the high expectations that Obama is now facing and relates those expectations to the ones faced by Abraham Lincoln, both before and after he took office.

In the wake of our smashing success with the free Constitution poster offer, we are running a new promotion: Purchase Milestone Documents in American History and receive a free poster about Franklin Roosevelt’s Pearl Harbor speech. The poster will be shipped in time for classroom discussion related to Pearl Harbor Day in December. As great as the poster is, of course, the real value here is the content in MDAH, which includes the 4-volume print set as well as free online access to the content via Salem History through 2011. In addition to the engaging, accessible expert analysis of the Pearl Harbor speech, the set offers in-depth analysis of several other key FDR documents: his first inaugural address, his critical 1936 campaign address at Madison Square Garden, his “Four Freedoms” message to Congress in 1941, and several executive orders and legislative acts (e.g., the Social Security Act) that occurred during his presidency. To purchase the set and receive the free poster, call Salem Press at 800-221-1592.

The newest issue of Curriculum Connections, which is published as a supplement to School Library Journal, has an interesting interview with the historian Howard Zinn. Many of you will know him as the author of A People’s History of the United States, which has become a standard history textbook (or textbook alternative) in much of the country. Famous for his left-leaning politics and his work to popularize the stories of minorities, women, the powerless, etc., Zinn is a lightning rod for criticism. His Wikipedia page offers a useful window into his life, his work, and the controversy that surrounds him. Although I won’t venture any comment here about Zinn’s work, I like what Douglas Brinkley said about him on the Book TV “In Depth” program that I recently blogged about (and I paraphrase): If you only read his book and no others, you would be left with an unbalanced view of American history. But he is a terrific writer and historian who knows how to craft engaging, compelling narratives.

On another topic, I have been enthusiastically watching the PBS series “Spain…On the Road Again.” Part travelogue and part cooking show, it features Mario Batali and Gwyneth Paltrow (along with the New York Times writer Mark Bittman and the Spanish actress Claudia Bassols) as they travel around the country, sampling regional Spanish cuisine, seeing the sights, and having fun. The show is heaven for a hispanophile like myself, and you won’t be surprised to learn that I just ordered the companion book.  Who knew that Gwyneth Paltrow was fluent in Spanish? She speaks the language beautifully. Mario Batali is likewise fluent, although his accent leaves something to be desired. (For the record: I speak Spanish horribly.) It all makes me long to visit the country again, if not to live there again (as I did for a while in college).

Back to American history for a moment: Over at the Milestone Documents blog, we’ve launched a new category called “Spotlight.” From time to time we’ll focus on famous historial persons and tell you where to find information about them–and their primary sources–on the Web. It should provide an entertaining snapshot of some of the content that will find its way into our forthcoming Milestone Documents of American Leaders. Our first Spotlight post is on Andrew Jackson.

I ended up losing virtually this entire week to jury duty. It was my first time sitting on a jury, and while I fretted the entire time about the mountain of work piling up on my desk back at the office, it was indeed a very interesting–if exhausting–experience. Alas, the case (a criminal one) ended with a guilty verdict by me and my peers, but it was a fairly heartbreaking decision, with both the defendant and some members of the jury in tears when it was over. I would say that the experience gave me more faith in the criminal justice system than I had to begin with, given how fair-minded and well intentioned our jury (which was exceedingly diverse, this being a large metropolitan area) was, and how well intentioned all participants in the case–the prosecutors, the defense attorney, the judge, and the police officers and firefighters and medical personnel who were witnesses–appeared to be.

I am reminded that our colleagues at Salem Press have a new title on this subject just out, and it’s received some good reviews recently. And now, about that mountain of work on my desk….

I’m often asked why we have chosen to focus our publishing efforts on primary sources. The obvious reason, of course, is that these sources help us better understand the key events and people in any given period. It’s one thing, for example, to learn that about the federal government’s role in kicking American Indians off their land in the 1800s and “removing” them to reservations; it’s quite another to read a president’s own words justifying such actions–Andrew Jackson, in 1830, in his Indian removal speech. Likewise, it’s one thing to learn that Abraham Lincoln was a gifted orator who wrote his own words (unlike virtually every modern president); it’s quite another to read his Gettysburg Address or second inaugural speech and see for yourself the force of his ideas and the poetry in his writing.

The benefit of using primary sources to teach and learn history is, of course, the reason that they are at the heart of history education. And yet we all know the tired refrain from generation after generation of students: “history is boring!” All those infernal dates and names. Still, with a good and knowledgeable teacher, history becomes instantly compelling and alluring. Yesterday I was watching C-Span’s Book TV coverage, specifically the In Depth program. The guests yesterday were two prominent historians, Richard Norton Smith and Douglas Brinkley. With each question, the pair treated viewers to countless historical anecdotes, touching on events and people and themes in American history in ways that were consistently funny and engrossing and interesting. Who knew, for instance, that Ulysses S. Grant’s memoirs are apparently captivating, so much so that many people have wondered if they weren’t in fact written by Mark Twain?

This, too, is something that we’ve tried to capture in our publishing efforts: the skill of a historian making a primary document come alive with smart and accessible analysis. You can see this focus in our encyclopedias (”The accompanying text is clear and intelligent, making the documents themselves appear more accessible and alive,” said Booklist about Milestone Documents in American History), our e-newsletter for history educators, and our Milestone Documents blog (featuring our “team of experts” blogging about primary sources). We consider ourselves lucky to be working in this arena, and we have just scratched the surface of finding ways to assist students, teachers, and librarians.

The History Carnival is a monthly roundup of the best history blog writing; the carnival rotates to a different host site each month. The October carnival is at the American Presidents Blog, and I’m pleased to learn that the carnival has taken note of one of our posts at the Milestone Documents Blog: Jonathan Rees on Eugene V. Debs. Congratulations to Jonathan for his interesting and illuminating post. Jonathan, by the way, has his own history blog: More or Less Bunk.