Becoming Historians
James M. Banner Jr. and John R. Gillis
Abstract
In this collection, the memoirs of eleven historians provide a portrait of a formative generation of scholars. Born around the time of World War II, these historians came of age just before the upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s and helped to transform both their discipline and the broader world of American higher education. The self-inventions they chronicle led, in many cases, to the invention of new fields—including women's and gender history, social history, and public history—that cleared paths in the academy and made the study of the past more capacious and broadly relevant. In these stori ... More
In this collection, the memoirs of eleven historians provide a portrait of a formative generation of scholars. Born around the time of World War II, these historians came of age just before the upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s and helped to transform both their discipline and the broader world of American higher education. The self-inventions they chronicle led, in many cases, to the invention of new fields—including women's and gender history, social history, and public history—that cleared paths in the academy and made the study of the past more capacious and broadly relevant. In these stories, aspiring historians will find inspiration and guidance, experienced scholars will see reflections of their own dilemmas and struggles, and all readers will discover an account of how today's seasoned historians embarked on their intellectual journeys.
Keywords:
historians,
World War II,
1960s,
1970s,
higher education,
America,
women's history,
gender history,
social history,
public history
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2009 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780226036564 |
| Published to Chicago Scholarship Online: March 2013 |
DOI:10.7208/chicago/9780226036595.001.0001 |
