John Mack Faragher

“And the lonely voice of youth cries ‘What is truth?’”: Western History and the National Narrative

A couple of years ago, I got a call from my oldest grandson, Jeremy. He was beginning middle school and taking his first class devoted to American history. For their initial homework assignment the teacher asked the students to speak with an older relative about their view of the American past and report on what he or she said. When Jeremy mentioned that two of his grandfathers were history professors (a complete coincidence, by the way), the teacher asked him to interview both of us. “Here’s the question, grandpa,” Jeremy said. “What does the United States of America mean to you as a historian?”nn“Wow,” I stammered, “that’s big. Can you give me a little more direction?” I was stalling. “I can tell you what Grandpa Lou said,” Jeremy offered. “That would help,” I replied, grateful for a few moments to gather my wits. “He thought about it for a while,” Jeremy said, “then told me that while America meant a lot of things to him, most important was the proclamation of human rights in the Declaration of Independence and the personal liberties guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and the other amendments to the Constitution.” Grandpa Lou had taken the high road. “He’s absolutely right about that,” I said. “Those are the guarantees of our enviable rights and freedoms.” Now it was my turn. “Since Lou emphasized the positive,” I offered, somewhat tentatively, “I’m going with the dark side. America is also about taking the land from hundreds of Indian nations and enslaving millions of Africans.” Jeremy responded with enthusiasm. “Thanks, …

Francis Parkman, Historian as Hero: The Formative Years

Preface Prologue Part One. The Hero-Historian Conquers Adversity 1. The Hero-Historian and His Illness 2. The Conquest of the Enemy 3. The Hero on the Oregon Trail Part Two. The Historian as Hero-Researcher 4. Pontiac: The Struggle to Re-create Frontier History 5. Noble-Ignoble Indian Portraits 6. Pontiacs Conspiracy: A Tarnished but Enduring Image Part Three. The Hero as Storyteller 7. The Hero in the Wilderness 8. Some Literary Devices of the Hero-Historian Part Four. The Hero-Historians Social Perspectives 9. The Hero-Historian and the Aristocratic Male Tradition 10. The Hero on Catholicism and Women Epilogue: The Legend of the Hero-Historian Appendix: Parkmans Commencement Oration, Romance in America Notes Bibliographical Note Index

Women and Men on the Overland Trail

This classic book offers a lively and penetrating analysis of what the overland journey was really like for midwestern farm families in the mid-1800s. Through the subtle use of contemporary diaries, memoirs, and even folk songs, John Mack Faragher dispels the common stereotypes of male and female roles and reveals the dynamic of pioneer family relationships. This edition includes a new preface in which Faragher looks back on the social context in which he formulated his original thesis and provides a new supplemental bibliography. Praise for the earlier edition: Faragher has made excellent use of the Overland Trail materials, using them to illuminate the society the emigrants left as well as the one they constructed en route. His study should be important to a wide range of readers, especially those interested in family history, migration and western history, and womens history.--Kathryn Kish Sklar An enlightening study.--American West A helpful study which not only illuminates the daily life of rural Americans but which also begins to compensate for the male orientation of so much of western history.--Journal of Social History