| Description |
xii, 372 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Contents |
I. Thinking About History. 1. The Unpredictable Past: Reflections on Recent American Historiography. 2. The Historian and the Culture Gap -- II. Patterns of African-American Culture. 3. Slave Songs and Slave Consciousness: Explorations in Neglected Sources. 4. "Some Go Up and Some Go Down": The Meaning of the Slave Trickster. 5. African Culture and U.S. Slavery. 6. The Concept of the New Negro and the Realities of Black Culture. 7. Marcus Garvey and the Politics of Revitalization -- III. Towards an Understanding of Popular Culture. 8. William Shakespeare and the American People: A Study in Cultural Transformation. 9. Jazz and American Culture. 10. Progress and Nostalgia: The Self Image of the Nineteen Twenties. 11. American Culture and the Great Depression. 12. Hollywood's Washington: Film Images of National Politics During the Great Depression. 13. The Historian and the Icon: Photography and the History of the American People in the 1930s and 1940s |
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14. The Folklore of Industrial Society: Popular Culture and Its Audiences |
| Summary |
"The future is certain," according to an old Soviet joke, "it is only the past that is unpredictable." But it is not solely in totalitarian societies that the past is contested terrain. Disagreements about the meaning and significance of past events and people have been part of the landscape in our own society from its inception. To the historian, therefore, the unpredictability of the past is no laughing matter. Indeed, so protracted have historical disputes become in recent years that there has been a growing conviction among many that the venerable craft of history is in a state of crisis. In this collection of essays, Lawrence W. Levine offers a response to the controversy which rages in the academy today. This debate among historians does not concern, as one might think, conflicting interpretations of the past, but rather concentrates upon which past events, peoples, and cultures are significant enough to deserve our attention. Taking issue with those who desire "synthesis" above all else, Levine's book constitutes a passionate call for inclusion, a history that extends the traditional focus on the centers of political, economic, and social power to embrace the panoply of ethnic, racial, regional, occupational, class, and gender groups that have been ignored or distorted in the past, and subject areas--like folk and popular culture--that have been by-passed or denigrated as trivial. The fourteen essays included here seek not to erect new fences and shut more doors but to expand our knowledge, supplement our approaches, and broaden our historical vision. The Unpredictable Past offers discussions of American history and historiography at large, African-American culture, and the times of the Great Depression during which film, radio, photography, and even the comic strip emerged as significant manifestations of a changing American popular culture. There are also examinations of folk songs and folktales, Marcus Garvey's role as a black leader in the 1920s, jazz and American culture, Hollywood's unique view of national government in Washington (especially as seen in the films of Frank Capra), even Shakespeare's role as the most popular playwright in nineteenth-century America. --From publisher's description |
| Analysis |
Culture History |
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United States |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 321-353) and index |
| Subject |
African Americans -- History.
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Popular culture -- United States -- History.
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| SUBJECT |
United States -- Historiography.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140129
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| LC no. |
92032258 |
| ISBN |
0195082966 (hard : acid-free paper) |
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0195082974 (paperback: acid-free paper) |
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