Jacksonian America: Society, Personality, and Politics
A historian's view of the Early American Republic
History of the U.S. I Timothy B. Smith, The Mississippi Secession Convention: Delegates and Deliberations in Politics and War, 1861-1865 (Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2014) ISBN 9781628460971 Don Hickey, Glorious Victory: Andrew Jackson and the Battle of New Orleans (Johns Hopkins University, 2015) ISBN 9781421417042 Betty Wood, The Origins of American Slavery: Freedom and Bondage in the English Colonies …
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This week, I submitted the index for Andrew Jackson and the Rise of the Democrats, which will be published in March 2015. I was asked to write this book by the series editor, Randall Miller, while I was completing Andrew Jackson, Southerner. It was an easy transition from one book to the next, since most …
Continue reading "Andrew Jackson and the Rise of the Democrats to be Published in Spring 2015"
On the schedule for the Spring 2015 semester are two sections of the U.S. survey (1865-present) and the Old South course. As usual, I've switched up the books. I also assign articles to supplement the book readings. History of the U.S. II Beth L. Bailey, From Front Porch to Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth-Century America …
I was going to write a blog post about a dream I had last night (in which Jonathan Rees revealed that he was part of a superhero tandem intent on fighting corruption within the history profession), but instead I decided to write about my fall semester book choices. Early U.S. I've abandoned my idea of …
(Previous entries in this series: Pts. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14) In August, I wrote my last entry in this series on developing a marketing plan for your book. Having implemented many of those ideas, I wanted to give some insight into what has and hasn't worked for me so far. Once I had a pretty firm idea of …
Continue reading "The Evolution of a Book, Pt. 15: Promoting Your Book"
It's that time again. Here are the books I plan to use in the Spring 2014 semester. Modern U.S. The past couple of years, I've tried to focus the readings in the U.S. survey courses on a specific theme. This semester, it's American culture and society. Glenn Altschuler, All Shook Up: How Rock 'n' Roll …
(Previous entries in this series: Pts. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13.) I'll just warn you ahead of time: Of all the things that I don't know about writing a book, this topic is what I know least about. Earlier in this series, I discussed the author's questionnaire, which deals in part with marketing. I dispensed these wise words: …
Continue reading "The Evolution of a Book, Pt. 14: Developing a Marketing Plan"
On Monday, I posted my review of Gene Smith's new book, The Slaves' Gamble: Choosing Sides in the War of 1812. Today, read an interview with Smith about his book and his future research plans. What led you to write The Slaves' Gamble? This book spawned from work with my major professor in graduate school …
Continue reading "Interview with Historian Gene Allen Smith"
(Previous entries in this series: Pts. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12.) It's appropriate that this entry is the thirteenth in the series. Academics generally hate compiling an index, even though it's one of the most important tools that they (at least historians) use when reading. There are software programs available that can create a book index for you. …
Continue reading "The Evolution of a Book, Pt. 13: Indexing the Book"
LSU Press has given me permission to post the introduction to Andrew Jackson, Southerner. The 1828 presidential election was one of the nastiest in United States political history. Andrew Jackson’s campaign accused the incumbent, John Quincy Adams, of being a pimp and spending the people’s money to fund gambling in the White House. Adams was …
Continue reading "Andrew Jackson, Southerner: The Introduction"
