Looking back, Summer 2012 at Jacksonian America wasn't very Jacksonian. My summer reading list dictated the topic of many of the posts. If you're looking for some reading material, here's a look at the past couple of months. My summer reading list included several books on fundamentalist and evangelical Christianity. You can find my reviews … Continue reading What You Missed This Summer at Jacksonian America
New Book on Jacksonian Race Riot
Jefferson Morley's new book, Snow-Storm in August: Washington City, Francis Scott Key, and the Forgotten Race Riot of 1835, recounts the August 1835 race riot that took place in the nation's capital. As president, Andrew Jackson played a pivotal role in the fate of John Arthur Bowen, a slave found guilty of attacking his owner, Anna Thornton, … Continue reading New Book on Jacksonian Race Riot
Revisiting Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Remember when I said I didn't really get the Abe Lincoln/vampire mash-up novel and movie? After reading W. Scott Poole's article in the HuffPo, I'm rethinking my opinion. Poole makes the following argument: If you've read the novel, you know it's a dark rendering of America's secret history, the idea that dark powers have moved … Continue reading Revisiting Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
BrANCHing Out
I recently learned that my proposal, "‘The Evolution of the Enslaved Community at Andrew Jackson’s Plantations, 1790s-1840s," was accepted to be part of the 2012 BrANCH (Association of British American Nineteenth Century Historians) conference, which will be held in Newcastle-upon-Tyne this fall. This paper is part of a new project focusing on the slave community at The Hermitage. … Continue reading BrANCHing Out
Andrew Jackson, Alien Slayer
I didn't get the allure of Seth Grahame-Smith's Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, but it drew enough attention that someone made a movie about it. One good thing about the movie: Benjamin Walker of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson makes his big-screen debut. Given the dearth of film portrayals of Andrew Jackson, I suppose it's inevitable that … Continue reading Andrew Jackson, Alien Slayer
THS 2012: Popularizing Jacksonian America
I consider my first visit to The Historical Society’s biennial meeting a success. In today’s post, I’ll cover the session in which I presented. On Thursday, I’ll discuss the session on digital history. Heather Richardson chaired and commented on my session, entitled “Popularizing Jacksonian America and ‘Frontier’ History.” Dan Allosso, a Ph.D. candidate at the … Continue reading THS 2012: Popularizing Jacksonian America
The Evolution of a Book, Part 6: Editing the Manuscript
(The rest of this series is available at the following links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.) I'll address the official copy-editing process in a later post. Today's topic is the editing that takes place before submission to your acquisitions editor. There are two types of editing while you're writing. The first is your own, … Continue reading The Evolution of a Book, Part 6: Editing the Manuscript
The Historical Society 2012: “Old Hickory Just Got All Sexypants”
I'm attending this year's meeting of The Historical Society, to be held in Columbia, SC, on May31-June 2. It's my first time to be part of this conference, and I'm looking forward to meeting several people I know virtually. The conference theme is "Popularizing Historical Knowledge: Practice, Prospects, and Perils." In keeping with the theme, I entitled … Continue reading The Historical Society 2012: “Old Hickory Just Got All Sexypants”
Andrew Jackson’s Profane Parrot
Even though the poster to the left was never actually used in the Smithsonian's PR campaign, I like it. Whether it's true is something else entirely. I told Poll's story as a docent at The Hermitage years ago and never questioned its validity. This poster made me think twice, so I asked Marsha Mullin, the … Continue reading Andrew Jackson’s Profane Parrot
The Evolution of a Book, Part 4: Funding Your Research
(The first three posts in this series are available at the following links: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.) One of the most important parts of completing a book is finding research funding. For historians, there are a number of sources of funding. Unfortunately, I wasn't very successful in obtaining research funding for the Jackson biography. Part … Continue reading The Evolution of a Book, Part 4: Funding Your Research
Jacksonian America: Society, Personality, and Politics 