Synopses & Reviews
Twenty distinguished American historians vividly reimagine twenty events of great drama and significance in our country’s past.“What is the scene or incident in American history that you would like to have witnessed—and why?” This is the thought-provoking question that editor Byron Hollinshead posed to twenty of our finest interpreters of American history with the invitation to write a personal essay answering it. The result is I Wish I’d Been There, a book that trains a lens on crucial moments of our past and brings them to vivid life. With these peerless scholars as their guides, readers will be transported to the Salem witch trials, the Lewis and Clark expedition, the raid on Harpers Ferry, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the Scopes “monkey trial,” the beginnings of the Vietnam War, the voting rights march to Selma, and other turning points of our national drama. Contributors include Mary Beth Norton, Joseph Ellis, Jay Winik, Carol Berkin, Kevin Baker, Robert Cowley, Carolyn Gilman, Geoffrey Ward, Robert Dallek, and William Leuchtenburg, among other luminaries of the historical profession.
I Wish I’d Been There is a marvelous concept, wonderfully and imaginatively executed. The result is an American pageant of character and event that will attract and delight readers of history.
Synopsis
I Wish Id Been There brings together twenty of our most distinguished historians responses to the question “What scene or incident in American history would you most liked to have witnessed—and why?” The answers illuminate crucial moments in our past and give readers a front-row seat at some of American historys most dramatic events.The Salem witch trials, the raid on Harpers Ferry, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the voting rights march on Selma, the beginnings of the Vietnam War—all of these and more are vividly recreated here by a stellar list of contributors, including Mary Beth Norton, Joseph Ellis, Carol Berkin, Geoffrey Ward, Robert Dallek, Jay Winik, Robert Cowley, Carolyn Gilman, and William Leuchtenburg, among other luminaries of the profession. With imagination, insight, and vivid detail, I Wish Id Been There is an engaging tour through key events in American history.
About the Author
Byron Hollinshead is president of American Historical Publications, a producer of books in history for adults and for children. Previously, he was president of American Heritage Publishing Company and Oxford University Press, Inc. He was publisher of MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History and Time Machine: American History for Kids. He is a former president of National History Day and, currently, vice-chair of The National Council for History Education. Hollinshead has been a consultant to several PBS documentaries in history including, most recently, Freedom: A History of US, a sixteen part series from Kunhardt Productions. As an editor and publisher, Mr. Hollinshead has worked with many of the authors in this anthology on their previous books and articles.
Table of Contents
List of IllustrationsIntroduction by Byron Hollinshead
BILOINE W. YOUNG
A Say in Cahokia—AD1030
MARY BETH NORTON
The Salem Witchcraft Trials
CAROL BERKIN
George Washington and the Newburgh Conspiracy
JOSEPH J. ELLIS
The McGillivray Moment
CAROLYN GILMAN
Meriwether Lewis on the Divide
ROBERT V. REMINI
The Corrupt Bargain
PAUL C. NAGEL
The Amistad Trial
ROBERT W. JOHANNSEN
James K. Polk and the 1844 Election
Philip B. Kunhardt III
Jenny Linds American Debut, 1850
Thomas Fleming
WIth John Brown at Harpers Ferry
JAY WINIK
The Day Lincoln Was Shot
MARK STEVENS
Chief Joseph Surrenders
BERNARD WEISBERGER
La Follette Speaks against the War—1917
ROBERT COWLEY
The Road to Butgneville—November 11, 1918
JONATHAN RABB
Trying John Scopes
KEVIN BAKER
Lost-Found Nation: The Last Meeting between Elijah Muhammad and W. D. Fard
Geoffrey C. Ward
The Sick Man in the White House
ROBERT DALLEK
JFK and RFK Meet about Vietnam
CLAYBORNE CARSON
Memory, History, and the March on Washington
WILLIAM E. LEUCHTENBURG
Lyndon Johnson Confronts George Wallace
Acknowledgments
Illustration Credits