In the Past Lane
Historical Perspectives on American Culture
Published on 29. April 1999
Book
Paperback/Softback
296 pages
978-0-19-513091-1 (ISBN)
Description
Michael Kammen is widely regarded as one of our most important--and most diversely talented--cultural historians. David Brion Davis has said, "No other historian of [his] generation has such a broad and concrete grasp of 'American culture' in all its manifestations, from constitutional law to formal painting and popular culture." This engaging volume stands as rich and compelling evidence of that assertion. In the Past Lane collects writings from a span of
more than ten years, covering the broad spectrum of Kammen's recent interests. Essay topics include the role of the historian, the relationship between culture and the State, uses of tradition in American
commercial culture, American historical art, memory distortion in American history, the contested uses of history in American education, and others. The book will be seen as an important contribution to Kammen's wide-ranging scholarship--and to American cultural history proper."For professional historians or serious students of history, Kammen's essays provide an excellent opportunity to gauge how those who chronicle our past both influence and are influenced by national
and personal experiences."--Booklist
more than ten years, covering the broad spectrum of Kammen's recent interests. Essay topics include the role of the historian, the relationship between culture and the State, uses of tradition in American
commercial culture, American historical art, memory distortion in American history, the contested uses of history in American education, and others. The book will be seen as an important contribution to Kammen's wide-ranging scholarship--and to American cultural history proper."For professional historians or serious students of history, Kammen's essays provide an excellent opportunity to gauge how those who chronicle our past both influence and are influenced by national
and personal experiences."--Booklist
Reviews / Votes
In this book, Professor Kammen addresses three specific current concerns among American historians: the nature and dynamics of collective memory in national life, the contested role of cultural programs in the civic order, and the complex linking between the personal and the professional in the writing of history. More deeply, it is a book about art-about representations of reality by artists in the form of words and in the form of objects. Michael Kammen is passionate about art in both of these forms. He appreciates the primal fact that America is most usefully seen as one culture among the myriad cultures of the earth. His work as a scholar is powered by a passion for context: cultural context, the context of personal experience, all past time, and global geography. Widely aware, carefully thought-out, superbly written, In The Past Lane offers us here insights and understandings that are uniquely valuable. Joel Williamson, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
halftones
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
484 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-513091-1 (9780195130911)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
12/1999
1st Edition
Oxford University Press
€56.49
Available for download
Person
Michael Kammen is the Newton C. Farr Professor of American History and Culture at Cornell University. He won the Pulitzer Prize for People of Paradox (1973) and the Francis Parkman Prize for A Machine That Would Go of Itself (1987). Kammen is also the author of The Lively Arts (Oxford, 1996).
Content
I. The Personal and the Professional
1: Personal Identity and the Historian's Vocation
II. Perceptions of Culture and Public Life
2: Culture and the State of America
3: Temples of Justice: The Iconography of Judgement and American Culture
4: "Our Idealism is Practical": Emerging Uses of Tradition in American Commercial Culture, 1889-1936
5: The Enduring Challenges and Changing Role of Cultural Institutions
III. Changing Perceptions of the Past
6: Myth, Memory, and Amnesia in American Historical Art
7: The Problem of American Exceptionalism: A Reconsideration
8: Some Patterns and Meanings of Memory Distortion in American History
9: History Is Our Heritage: The Past in Contemporary American Culture
1: Personal Identity and the Historian's Vocation
II. Perceptions of Culture and Public Life
2: Culture and the State of America
3: Temples of Justice: The Iconography of Judgement and American Culture
4: "Our Idealism is Practical": Emerging Uses of Tradition in American Commercial Culture, 1889-1936
5: The Enduring Challenges and Changing Role of Cultural Institutions
III. Changing Perceptions of the Past
6: Myth, Memory, and Amnesia in American Historical Art
7: The Problem of American Exceptionalism: A Reconsideration
8: Some Patterns and Meanings of Memory Distortion in American History
9: History Is Our Heritage: The Past in Contemporary American Culture