Top Young Historians

• 6-16-08
  

  Marina Rustow

  by Bonnie Goodman

  "Heresy and the Politics of Community is a fine piece of historical scholarship, presenting the new and exciting idea that the sectarian divide between Rabbanites and Qaraites in the tenth and eleventh centuries in the Middle East not only was not as deep and antagonistic as usually assumed but also hardly existed at all in certain areas."

• 8-9-10
  

  Malinda Maynor Lowery

  by Bonnie Goodman

  "Lowery’s book is a wonderfully rich account of Lumbee history in the segregated South under Jim Crow and makes a valuable contribution to American Indian history and the history of the American South. A lively exploration of Lumbee identity in post-Civil War North Carolina, it figures identity as a complex and not always polite 'conversation' between insiders and outsiders that changes over time. Her argument is solidly grounded in archival research and also interweaves personal and family stories that enhance the narrative in beautiful ways. Her insights on race, identity, and recognition are subtle, nuanced, and powerful." -- Jean O'Brien, University of Minnesota

• 8-2-10
  

  Christina Snyder,

  by Bonnie Goodman

  "Deeply researched, authoritative, and indispensable, Slavery in Indian Country tells us how slavery as an institution changed from a kin-based to a race-based system and richly evokes what the experience of slavery meant to those who were enslaved." -- Nancy Shoemaker, University of Connecticut

• 7-26-10
  

  Jennifer Burns

  by Bonnie Goodman

  "Historian Jennifer Burns's GODDESS OF THE MARKET--the stronger of the two [biographies]--situates Rand in the 20th- century American political scene, painting her as an influential advocate for capitalism and freedom." -- The Weekly Standard

• 7-19-10
  

  Andrew Preston

  by Bonnie Goodman

  "Logevall and Preston have done a splendid job assembling a valuable collection that should help quiet those who continue to celebrate Nixon's diplomatic brilliance." -- Melvin Small, "The Journal of American History"

• 7-12-10
  

  Thomas G. Andrews

  by Bonnie Goodman

  "Killing for Coal is far more than a blow-by-blow account of America's deadliest labor war. It is an environmental history that seeks to explain strike violence as the natural excretion of an industry that brutalized the earth and the men who worked beneath it. Andrews is one of the excellent young scholars who have given new life to the field of labor and working-class studies by introducing new questions about race and gender, ethnicity and nationality, and new insights drawn from anthropology and physical geography...Andrews deserves credit for writing one of the best books ever published on the mining industry and its environmental impact and for drawing more public attention to the Ludlow story and its significance." -- James Green, Dissent

• 7-5-10
  

  Daniel J. Sargent

  by Bonnie Goodman

  "Sargent is an amazing teacher... very very good class. I'M A TRANSFER STUDENT AND ENJOYED HIS CLASS!"

• 6-28-10
  

  Bethany Moreton

  by Bonnie Goodman

  "Fascinating...With verve and clarity, Moreton offers something more distinctive: a compelling explanation of how Wal-Mart captured the hearts and pocketbooks of so many Americans." -- Steven P. Miller, "St. Louis Post-Dispatch"

• 6-21-10
  

  François Furstenberg

  by Bonnie Goodman

  "Drawing from recent scholarship on the history of the book and on nationalism, his analysis of 'civic texts' offers several new twists on the old debate about the relationship between liberalism and slavery in a nation ostensibly dedicated to individual autonomy." -- Scott Casper, "William and Mary Quarterly"

• 6-14-10
  

  Pekka Hämäläinen

  by Bonnie Goodman

  "Hämäläinen's treatment of the complex relationships between the Comanches and other European and Native American societies is unique . . . Hämäläinen collates and narrates the events of the eastern and western frontiers through time in such an effective manner that the reader is swept in the flow of an almost seamless narrative." -- Mariah F. Wade, "Great Plains Quarterly"

• 6-7-10
  

  Jeffrey A. Engel

  by Bonnie Goodman

  "George H. W. Bush's China diary captures a pivotal moment when Americans were reintroduced to the Middle Kingdom after a generation of estrangement. It also reveals much of the humanity, humor, and light foreign policy touch of a future president and presidential father. We can be grateful to Jeffrey Engel for putting this important document into its rich historical context and making it accessible." -- Timothy Naftali, author of George H. W. Bush

• 5-24-10
  

  Charlotte Brooks

  by Bonnie Goodman

  "A fascinating study, beautifully accomplished. Comparing the experience of Japanese and Chinese Americans in two California cities, Brooks illuminates the complex texture of discrimination, and the role of citizenship and international affairs in the evolution of equality. This book illustrates the way focused studies of particular communities contribute important insights to our understanding of the intersection of U.S. foreign affairs and civil rights history." -- Mary L. Dudziak, USC Law School, author of "Exporting American Dreams; Thurgood Marshall's African Journey"

• 5-24-10
  

  Moshik Temkin

  by Bonnie Goodman

  "Temkin's original contribution is to set the case of Sacco and Vanzetti in international context, and he does so in engaging and energetic fashion." — Sarah Farmer, University of California, Irvine

• 5-7-10
  

  Jeremy Kuzmarov

  by Bonnie Goodman

  "The Myth of the Addicted Army will contend for best-book awards in history, sociology, and many fields of policy studies. It is chock full of original research utilizing government documents and interviews with policy makers to show how the war in Vietnam incubated the myth of widespread drug addiction among U.S. troops that became, in turn, the back story to the homefront War on Drugs." -- Jerry Lembcke, author of The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and the Legacy of Vietnam

• 12-18-06
  

  Kathryn Lofton

  by Bonnie Goodman

  Lofton's research and writing on John Balcolm Shaw illuminates the contradiction between living in a society that simultaneously celebrates individual self-expression alongside the propagation of more socially restrictive structures.

• 9-9-07
  

  Beverly Gage

  by Bonnie Goodman

  "Professor Gage is one of the best professors I have had. She created a pleasant atmosphere in class, and was always open to students' comments and ideas. She didn't give us the impression that she was seeking specific answers that would fit her opinion. The debates she led were lively and interesting. In addition, she was always accessible when needed."

• 8-27-07
  

  Tevi D. Troy

  by Bonnie Goodman

  "Tevi Troy's Intellectuals and the American Presidency is original and readable--required reading for intellectuals, Presidents, and the rest of us." -- Ben Wattenberg, American Enterprise Institute

• 9-16-07
  

  Kenneth A. Osgood

  by Bonnie Goodman

  "Impressively researched, packed with new information and insights, Total Cold War is a major contribution to Cold War studies and the history of the Eisenhower presidency. An outstanding first book." 

• 8-20-07
  

  Scott Sandage

  by Bonnie Goodman

  "The promise of America is that nobody is born to lose, but who has never wondered, 'Am I wasting my life?' We imagine escaping the mad scramble yet kick ourselves for lacking drive. Low ambition offends Americans even more than low achievement…. Failure conjures such vivid pictures of lost souls that it is hard to imagine a time, before the Civil War, when the word meant "breaking in business" - going broke. How did it become a name for a deficient self, an identity in the red? Why do we manage identity the way we run our businesses - by investment, risk, profit, and loss? -- Scott A. Sandage in "Born Losers: A History of Failure in America"

• 9-23-07
  

  Jonathan Zimmerman

  by Bonnie Goodman

  "Jonathan Zimmerman has written a terrific book. Beautifully written and deeply informed, Whose America? addresses issues in American education, politics and identity that are enormously important."