Volume 22, Number 16 · October 16, 1975
The Uses of Antislavery
By George M. Fredrickson
The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution, 1770-1823
by David Brion Davis
Cornell University Press, 576 pp., $17.50
At a recent meeting of American historians a session was devoted to the question: 'Is intellectual history dead?' Those who replied in the affirmative should read David Brion Davis's new book. Like Mark Twain, they might discover that some reports of death are greatly exaggerated. Of course intellectual history is not what it used to be. Ideas are no longer generally seen as free-floating entities which can be described, compared, and placed in chronological patterns with little or no reference to their social and economic setting. But they remain important; for it is ideas and not the 'hard data' of the quantifiers and 'cliometricians' that people have in their heads when they do the things that make history. As Davis's work demonstrates, good intellectual history is absolutely essential for an adequate understanding of the past; its proper subject is the way flesh-and-blood human beings make sense out of their world and try to gain some kind of mastery over it.
Review, 3112 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |