What are American Studies faculty reading? We chatted with Professor Larry Glickman, the Milman Professor of American Studies, to learn about some of the books he is most excited about right now. Read on for his thoughts.
1. Janek Wasserman, The Marginal Revolutionaries: How Austrian Economists Fought the War of Ideas.
I’m looking forward to reading this one since it sheds light on one group of influential economists—the “Austrian School”—who are often credited with introducing “neoliberalism” into economic discourse.
2. Tera Hunter, Bound in Wedlock Slave and Free Black Marriage in the Nineteenth Century.
An amazing work of historical reconstruction that begins with Hunter’s own family history. A book that shows that the history of marriage is always political history and that shows that it is impossible to separate race and gender as separate categories in studying institutions like marriage.
3. Lukas Rieppel, Assembling the Dinosaur: Fossil Hunters, Tycoons, and the Making of a Spectacle.
A book whose premise might seem gimmicky at first, but which makes amazing connections between the rise of paleontology, museums, philanthropy, and capitalism. A great combination of history of science and history of capitalism.
Two by Pekka Hemalainen:
4. Heinalainen has opened up new worlds to those of us who aren’t specialists in Native American history. The Comanche Empire won multiple awards and I expect his new book on the Lakota to do the same. His work, without denying the power of settler dispossession, highlights Native American power and politics.
5. Lakota America: A New History of Indigenous Power.
