American Oracle by David W Blight
David Blight takes his readers back to the Civil War's centennial celebration to determine how Americans made sense of the suffering, loss, and liberation a century earlier. He shows how four of America's most incisive writers-Robert Penn Warren, Bruce Catton, Edmund Wilson, and James Baldwin-explored the gulf between remembrance and reality.
The Civil War has given us not only great history, literature, and art, but also great works of thoughtDavid Blight enriches this canon by probing the war’s power to haunt and inspire every generation. American Oracle is intellectual history at its best—deep terrain, mined by a scholar who brings gems to the page. -- Tony Horwitz, author of Confederates in the Attic
The ghosts of the Civil War never leave us, as David Blight knows perhaps better than anyone, and in this superb book he masterfully unites two distant but inextricably bound events with insightful dissection of the works of four of our best writers…obsessed with coming to terms with our original sin. -- Ken Burns
A searching and suggestive book. -- Andrew Delbanco * New York Review of Books *
An introspective journey into America’s most complex and enigmatic historical event through the minds of four exceptional storytellers. [Blight] offers us the opportunity to revisit a monumental tragedy and…to probe its meaning. * Times Higher Education *
David W. Blight’s richly interpretive American Oracle contextualizes the sentimentalized celebration of the Civil War in the early 1960s within the tense realities of the civil rights era and the Cold War. Blight unravels the complexities of Civil War memory and meaning at a time when most white Americans considered restoration of the Union, not emancipation, as the war’s grand result. * Charlotte Observer *
Blight explores the mythology that came out of the Civil War and the sense of American redemption that did not include any examination of the tragedies of racism and slavery. -- Vanessa Bush * Booklist (starred review) *
Truly a tour de force…intellectual history and criticism at the highest level, told with passion and artistry. -- Fitzhugh Brundage, author of The Southern Past
Perceptive, eloquent, and timely, Blight’s book should find a wide and appreciative audience. -- Gary Gallagher, author of The Union War
During the middle decades of the twentieth century the United States faced a dual challenge—of civility and memory, each one race-related. David Blight develops deep biographical links to connect and explain those troubled years, and does so with eloquence. He thereby adds a brilliant new aspect to the field of American memory studies. -- Michael Kammen, Newton C. Farr Professor of American History and Culture (Emeritus) at Cornell University and Past President of the Organization of American Historians
Blight’s elegant narrative enables us to see the full, enduring, significance of the Civil War in the consciousness of four major writers. An outstanding achievement. -- Caryl Phillips, author of Dancing in the Dark
This is a distinctive addition to the books about the Civil War and how we view it on the conflict’s 150th anniversary. * Publishers Weekly *
Overall a valuable contribution to historical understanding. -- D. Schaefer * Choice *
The ghosts of the Civil War never leave us, as David Blight knows perhaps better than anyone, and in this superb book he masterfully unites two distant but inextricably bound events with insightful dissection of the works of four of our best writers…obsessed with coming to terms with our original sin. -- Ken Burns
A searching and suggestive book. -- Andrew Delbanco * New York Review of Books *
An introspective journey into America’s most complex and enigmatic historical event through the minds of four exceptional storytellers. [Blight] offers us the opportunity to revisit a monumental tragedy and…to probe its meaning. * Times Higher Education *
David W. Blight’s richly interpretive American Oracle contextualizes the sentimentalized celebration of the Civil War in the early 1960s within the tense realities of the civil rights era and the Cold War. Blight unravels the complexities of Civil War memory and meaning at a time when most white Americans considered restoration of the Union, not emancipation, as the war’s grand result. * Charlotte Observer *
Blight explores the mythology that came out of the Civil War and the sense of American redemption that did not include any examination of the tragedies of racism and slavery. -- Vanessa Bush * Booklist (starred review) *
Truly a tour de force…intellectual history and criticism at the highest level, told with passion and artistry. -- Fitzhugh Brundage, author of The Southern Past
Perceptive, eloquent, and timely, Blight’s book should find a wide and appreciative audience. -- Gary Gallagher, author of The Union War
During the middle decades of the twentieth century the United States faced a dual challenge—of civility and memory, each one race-related. David Blight develops deep biographical links to connect and explain those troubled years, and does so with eloquence. He thereby adds a brilliant new aspect to the field of American memory studies. -- Michael Kammen, Newton C. Farr Professor of American History and Culture (Emeritus) at Cornell University and Past President of the Organization of American Historians
Blight’s elegant narrative enables us to see the full, enduring, significance of the Civil War in the consciousness of four major writers. An outstanding achievement. -- Caryl Phillips, author of Dancing in the Dark
This is a distinctive addition to the books about the Civil War and how we view it on the conflict’s 150th anniversary. * Publishers Weekly *
Overall a valuable contribution to historical understanding. -- D. Schaefer * Choice *
David W. Blight is Sterling Professor of American History and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University. He is the author of many books, including Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, which won the Pulitzer Prize for History, and Race and Reunion (Harvard), which received the Bancroft Prize and Frederick Douglass Prize, among other awards.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780674725973 |
| ISBN 10 | 0674725972 |
| Title | American Oracle |
| Author | David W Blight |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Harvard University Press |
| Year published | 2013-10-07 |
| Number of pages | 328 |
| Prizes | Winner of Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards 2012, Nominated for National Book Awards 2011, Nominated for Francis Parkman Prize 2012, Nominated for Avery O. Craven Award 2012, Nominated for James A. Rawley Prize 2012, Nominated for Lawrence W. Levine Award 2012, Nominated for OAH Liberty Legacy Foundation Award 2012, Nominated for Merle Curti Award 2012, Nominated for Pulitzer Prizes 2012, Nominated for John G. Cawelti Award 2012 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |