Synopsis
A thought-provoking new book from one of America's finest historians "History," wrote James Baldwin, "does not refer merely, or even principally, to the past. On the contrary, the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do." Rarely has Baldwin's insight been more forcefully confirmed than during the past few decades. History has become a matter of public controversy, as Americans clash over such things as museum presentations, the flying of the Confederate flag, or reparations for slavery. So whose history is being written? Who owns it? In Who Owns History?, Eric Foner proposes his answer to these and other questions about the historian's relationship to the world of the past and future. He reconsiders his own earlier ideas and those of the pathbreaking Richard Hofstadter. He also examines international changes during the past two decades--globalization, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of apartheid in South Africa--and their effects on historical consciousness. He concludes with considerations of the enduring, but often misunderstood, legacies of slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. This is a provocative, even controversial, study of the reasons we care about history--or should. Eric Foneris DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University. He is the author of many highly acclaimed works in American history, notablyThe Story of American FreedomandReconstruction. He lives in New York City. "History," wrote James Baldwin, "does not refer merely, or even principally, to the past. On the contrary, the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do." Rarely has Baldwin's insight been more forcefully confirmed than during the past few decades. History has become a matter of public controversy, as Americans clash over such things as museum presentations, the flying of the Confederate flag, or reparations for slavery. So whose history is being written? Who owns it? In Who Owns History?, Eric Foner proposes his answer to these and other questions about the historian's relationship to the world of the past and future. He reconsiders his own earlier ideas and those of Richard Hofstadter. He also examines international changes during the past two decades—globalization, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of apartheid in South Africa—and their effects on historical consciousness. He concludes with considerations of the enduring, but often misunderstood, legacies of slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. This provocative book tells us many of the reasons we care about history—or should. "Who Owns History'testifies to Foner's lifelong personal commitment to writing histories that advance the struggle for racial equality and economic justice . . . Foner's clearly written prose offers a thoughtful, accessible perspective on the world he and his readers inhabit . . . Makes for a provocative introduction to the diverse interests of a master historian."—Professor David Glassberg, University of Massachusetts-Amherst,The Washington Post "Foner moves adroitly from personal history to reconstituting global history in post-apartheid South Africa and in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. His overarching theme is that history is 'a constantly evolving, never-ending journal of discovery.' Foner views American history through a prism of race, and he is at his most persuasive when elucidating the 'continuing racial dilemmas of our society' in an analysis of how blacks have been mistreated by constitutional law and Supreme Court decisions."—Paul Grondahl,The New York