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Outside In

The Transnational Circuitry of US History

Doug Rossinow editor Andrew Preston editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc

Published:19th Jan '17

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Outside In cover

Outside In presents the newest scholarship that narrates and explains the history of the United States as part of a networked transnational past. This work tells the stories of Americans who inhabited the border-crossing circuitry of people, ideas, and institutions that have made the modern world a worldly place. Forsaking manifestos of transnational history and surveys of existing scholarship for fresh research, careful attention to concrete situations and transactions, and original interpretation, the vigorous, accomplished historians whose work is collected here show how the transnational history of the United States is actually being written. Ranging from high statecraft to political ferment from below, from the history of religion to the discourse of women's rights, from the political left to the political right, from conservative businessmen to African diaspora radicals, this set of original essays narrates U.S. history in new ways, emphasizing the period from 1870 to the present. The essays in Outside In demonstrate the inadequacy of any unidirectional concept of "the U.S. and the world," although they stress the worldly forces that have shaped Americans. At the same time, these essays disrupt and complicate the very idea of simple inward and outward flows of influence, showing how Americans lived within transnational circuits featuring impacts and influences running in multiple directions. Outside In also transcends the divide between work focusing on the international system of nation-states and transnational history that treats non-state actors exclusively. The essays assembled here show how to write transnational history that takes the nation-state seriously, explaining that governments and non-state actors were never sealed off from one another in the modern world. These essays point the way toward a more concrete and fully internationalized vision of modern American history.

"This collection of 11 essays employs the emerging concept of transnational history to broaden the study of US history by focusing on neglected actors, giving new perspectives to traditional topics. Transnational history, the editors explain in their introduction, focuses on non-state actors (thus differing from international history), provides a 'bottom-up, social history,' and demonstrates ways that interactions between Americans and others have influenced US history (thus the Outside in of the title)....The editors and several authors acknowledge that transnational studies cannot ignore the nation-state, but their approach nonetheless represents a dramatic departure from state-centered diplomatic history or international history. The collection thus makes a convincing case for the value of transnational history. The essays are of uniformly high quality, well documented, and convincing in their interpretations. Highly recommended."--CHOICE "Outside In offers a fantastic sampling of the latest scholarship on the history of the United States in transnational perspective. Brimming with missionaries, oil men, counterinsurgents, and other boots-on-the-ground actors, yet without losing sight of the importance of state structures and borders, the essays in this collection carefully unpack the interplay between international cooperation and competition, and between domestic politics and foreign affairs."--Brooke L. Blower, author of Becoming Americans in Paris: Transatlantic Politics and Culture between the World Wars "While in recent years we have learned a great deal about US influences on the world, Outside In helps us see the world's influences on the United States. In these essays, a dozen terrific historians pull back the cover on the 'transnational circuitry' of America's past. The editors rightly note that U.S. history is 'shot through with contending international and transnational forces of all kinds'-and this collection is shot through with insights and revelations of all kinds."--Thomas ("Tim") Borstelmann, author of The 1970s: A New Global History from Civil Rights to Economic Inequality "A rich sampling of recent work...covering themes ranging from foreign policy and political economy to gender, race, religion, and migration."--Erez Manela, Journal of Interdisciplinary History "Awareness of the interdependence between national and global history informs the entire volume, and for this reason alone the book may be considered a landmark in U.S. historiography."--Akira Iriye, Journal of American History

ISBN: 9780190459857

Dimensions: 155mm x 234mm x 18mm

Weight: 431g

296 pages