Reviews for Historians in Conversation Volumes

Randall Stephens

The October 2010 issue of History and Theory includes short reviews of Recent Themes in the History of Science and Religion, ed. Donald A. Yerxa; and Recent Themes in American Religious History, ed. Randall J. Stephens. Both are part of the University of South Carolina Press's Historians in Conversation series, which draws on essays that have appeared in Historically Speaking over the last few years. Each of the eight volumes includes an introduction that contextualizes the subfield and offers some insight into new directions.

"[T]he contributors to" the Science and Religion volume, writes the reviewer, "seek to broach the big questions at stake in ongoing efforts to fathom the historical interface of science and religion—two of the most important ways of knowing our world—to better our understanding of how both have shaped the course of history and the direction of modern thinking. Designed as a supplemental reader for students of scientific and religious history, this volume will appeal as well to general readers with avid interests in history."

Recent Themes in American Religious, says a reviewer, contains a "collection of essays and interviews from Historically Speaking address several subjects central to religious history in the Unites States. . . . Recent Themes in American Religious History will appeal to students, scholars, and general readers of American history, American studies, and religious studies."

With a minimum of a $50 donation to the Historical Society you can choose two volumes of the eight to receive for free.

Praise for Recent Themes in the History of Africa and the Atlantic World

Randall Stephens

In 1963, writes Sandra Amponsah in the African Studies Quarterly, Hugh Trevor-Roper thought African history had little to recommend it as a field. “Perhaps in the future there will be some African history to teach," he sniffed. "But at present there is none, or very little: there is only the history of Europe in Africa." Amponsah writes that "Now we can all call ourselves Africanists or Atlanticists, or so it appears, as the history of Africa and Atlantic world have become the subjects of interest among scholars of the Caribbean, North and South America, Africa, and Western Europe." Recent Themes in the History of Africa and the Atlantic World, edited by Donald A. Yerxa, shows just how far things have come since Trevor-Roper overlooked a continent.

Amponsah calls the essays in Recent Themes "thoroughly researched" and "presented in a lively argument and counter-argument" style. The collection contains the work of "outstanding African, Atlantic, and world historians," and the entries touch "on several issues that contribute to a better understanding of Africa’s elusive past." Recent Themes in the History of Africa and the Atlantic World pulls together articles and forums that have appeared in Historically Speaking over the years:

“Beyond Blacks, Bondage, and Blame: Why a Multi-Centric World History Needs Africa: A Forum"
Joseph C. Miller

“The Way of Africa, ‘The Way I Am,’ and the Hermeneutic Circle”
Ricardo Duchesne

“Africa in World History and Historiography”
Patrick Manning

“Comment on Miller”
William H. McNeill

“Finding Africa in World History”
David Northrup

“The Borders of African and World History”
Jonathan T. Reynolds

“What Are World Histories?”
Michael Salman

“Another World”
Ajay Skaria

“Africa in a Multi-Centric World History: Beyond Witches and Warlords”
John K. Thornton

“Multi-Centrism in History: How and Why Perspectives Matter”
Joseph C. Miller

“African Encounters”
David Northrup

“Only Connect: The Rise and Rise (and Fall?) of Atlantic History”
Trevor Burnard

“Does Equiano Still Matter? A Forum”
Vincent Carretta

“Construction of Identity, Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa?”
Paul E. Lovejoy

“Goodbye, Equiano, the African”
Trevor Burnard

“Beyond Equiano”
Jon Sensbach

“Response to Lovejoy, Burnard, and Sensbach”
Vincent Carretta

Amponsah concludes her review by acknowledging, that "Although originally intended as a course companion for students of African and African Diasporic history, world history, and Atlantic history, this book will undoubtedly appeal to the intellectual response of scholars in various academic areas, particularly those interested in race and identity formation. It also holds a real treasure in historical analysis by providing in a single volume not only arguments and counter-arguments, but also opportunity for the proponents of the arguments to respond to the counter-arguments."

See other published and forthcoming titles in the Historians in Conversation series:

Recent Themes in World History and the History of the West, Yerxa, ed.
Recent Themes on Historians and the Public, Yerxa, ed.
Recent Themes in Military History: Historians in Conversation, Yerxa, ed.
Recent Themes in Historical Thinking: Historians in Conversation, Yerxa, ed.
Recent Themes in the History of Africa and the Atlantic World, Yerxa, ed.
Recent Themes in the History of Science and Religion, Yerxa, ed.
Recent Themes in Early American History, Yerxa, ed.
Recent Themes in American Religious History, Stephens, ed.