David Herbert Donald died yesterday.
Welcome to this month's reading group selection. David Von Drehle mentions The Melting Pot , a play by Israel Zangwill, that premiered on Broadway in 1908. At that time theater was accessible to a broad section of the public, not the exclusive domain it has become over the decades. Zangwill carried a hopeful message that America was a place where old hatreds and prejudices were pointless, and that in this new country immigrants would find a more open society. I suppose the reference was more an ironic one for Von Drehle, as he notes the racial and ethnic hatreds were on display everywhere, and at best Zangwill's play helped persons forget for a moment how deep these divides ran. Nevertheless, "the melting pot" made its way into the American lexicon, even if New York could best be describing as a boiling cauldron in the early twentieth century. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America takes a broad view of events that led up the notorious fire, not...
Thanks, Robert.
ReplyDeleteYou and Chartres are much closer readers of the news than I am. I had totally missed it, and had read the book review information from the Times today.
Here's the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/19/books/19donald.html
As I posted down below, Fredrickson, in the little book on Lincoln I recently read (BIG ENOUGH TO BE INCONSISTENT) calls Donald and Cardwardine's biographies the two most notable recent biographies that manage to avoid "judging him from the standpoint of contemporary liberal or conservative ideologies" (this was published in 2008 so it was probably written before Burlingame's massive work).
He writes that "the balance and relative objectivity that characterize these works have been rare in the scholarship about a president who has become a national icon."
[Fredrickson provides an interesting historiographical overview of Lincoln studies/biographies, showing how, generally, we get the Lincoln we want and/or need.]
Robert, I added a picture for you but see now that your headline already links to the Times obituary. You are way ahead of me when it comes to this internet stuff.....
ReplyDeleteI saw that Donald got his start by examining Lincoln's law partner, William Herndon.
ReplyDeleteHere's a wonderful tribute, that was linked from the bibliophiles and battlefields site:
ReplyDeletehttp://hnn.us/articles/85629.html
Makes me want to run out and get one of his books.
Hi Folks!
ReplyDeleteGood to see that the exchange of ideas re American history is being conducted in a much more relaxed manner here on this forum.
So sad to read of the loss of the Professor Donald. He was a genius of a man who was remarkably articulate and knowledgeable about the Nation's past.
~~ known on another forum as Thanatopsy ~~
Great to have you aboard, Than. Drop me a line at Dzimas61@gmail.com and I can send you an invite to be a contributor.
ReplyDeleteWelcome Tripp.
ReplyDeleteHistory isn't dead. It isn't even past.
Grab a copy of Goodwin and join in.