OUT OF OUR PAST

by Carl N. Degler ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 7, 1958

Here is a challenging new way to approach American history and this reader found the book stimulating, provocative and revealing as an interpretation of the social forces in the building of a nation. The past is seen through the lens of the present and events, their causes and results, emerge in different relationship and with different emphases. The chronology and the biography of our history are here of small moment; for these one needs a systematic orderly approach as groundwork. Some of our preconceptions become outmoded shibboleths; probably other take their place. The areas of development are threefold: the War of Independence, the War for the Nation and the Great Depression. Out of each comes a new America, and Professor Degler traces the emerging factors, the significant changes- and behind all, the continuity of tradition, basically conservative. Perhaps the most important chapter in the book, viewed, at this moment in our history, is Chapter VIII -awn Without where he sums up the effect of the Reconstruction period in the place of the Negro, not only in the South but the North. Some little known facts throw new light on what is happening today. Inevitably, there has been sharply selective use of material throughout:- the American people in their development, socially, politically, economically, industrially, hre stressed and individuals underplayed; the ile of moral ideas gets perhaps more emphasis than customarily, though economic and social forces are not minimized; the positive achievements of Americans are not measured alone in standard-of-living symbols -- the national character is what really emerges from these pages. Reading this is an exciting experience.

Pub Date: Jan. 7, 1958

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1958

Categories: NONFICTION