Touching America's History
From the Pequot War through WWII
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Indiana University Press
Published:22nd Mar '13
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
America's past as told by the objects left behind
Brings readers in contact with the past through tangible objects and the history these objects evoke
Things you can see and touch can bring to mind the time when the items were made and used. In Touching America's History, Meredith Mason Brown uses twenty objects to summon up major developments in America's history. The objects range in date from a Pequot stone axe head probably made before the Pequot War in 1637, to the western novel Dwight Eisenhower was reading while waiting for the weather to clear so that the Normandy Invasion could begin, and to a piece of a toilet bowl found in the bombed-out wreckage of Hitler's home in the Bavarian alps in 1945. Among the other historically evocative items are a Kentucky rifle carried by Col. John Floyd, killed by Indians in 1783; a letter from George Washington explaining why he will not be able to attend the Constitutional Convention; shavings from the scaffold on which John Brown was hanged; a pistol belonging to Gen. William Preston, in whose arms Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston bled to death after being shot at the Battle of Shiloh; and the records of a court-martial for the killing by an American officer of a Filipino captive during the Philippine War. Together, the objects call to mind nothing less than the birth, growth, and shaping of what is now America.
Clearly written, buttressed by maps and portraits, Brown's book regales while showing the objectivity and nuance of a historian. The tales make distinctive what to professional practitioners are familiar yet intriguing accounts primarily of America's military and war-related past.
* Library Journal *They say you cannot judge a book by its cover, but what about its title? The whole idea behind Meredith Mason Brown's second trade book is right there...[Brown] uncovers how his own ancestors played a role in what shaped this country, war after war after war. It is a unique approach...
* Publishers Weekly BEA Show Daily *Touching America's History is structured ingeniously around 20 objects that Brown, esteemed biographer of Daniel Boone, has in his possession: historically evocative artifacts ranging from a Pequot stone ax . . . to a letter written by George Washington . . . and a piece of Adolf Hitler's shattered toilet bowl . . . Taken together, they tell a remarkably rich story of America.
* The Weekly Standard *Brown's method has produced a fascinating mix of military history, memoir, and family lore. . . . Brown's writing is consistently engaging and on certain topics such as military history his expertise shines.
* Ohio Valley History *Brown . . . demonstrates the power of sight and touch in eliciting historical memory in his latest work, Touching America's History.
* Journal of Military History *In today's era, when it seems that so many Americans are disengaged from or uninterested in civic engagement, Brown's fine little book reminds us that individual human beings can influence their world and in many cases remain master of their own destinies. Brown's book also reminds us that one person's 'junk' may be another person's 'artifact.'
* Groton School Quarterly *[Touching America's History] combines an easy-flowing style and scholastic rigor, carefully treading the line between approachable volume and imposing monograph.
* H-WISBN: 9780253008336
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 590g
288 pages