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The Unpredictable Past: Explorations in American Cultural History
The Unpredictable Past offers eloquent discussions of American history and historiography, African-American culture, and popular culture.
Taking issue with historians who desire 'synthesis' above all else, Levine's book constitutes a passionate call for inclusion, for a history that extends the traditional focus on the centers of political, economic, and social power to embrace the panoply of ethnic, racial, regional, occupational, class, and gender groups that have been ignored or distorted in the past, and subject areas--like folk and popular culture--that have been by-passed or denigrated as trivial.
There are trenchant examinations of folk songs and folktales, Marcus Garvey's role as a black leader in the 1920s, jazz and American culture, Hollywood's unique view of government in Washington (especially as seen in the films of Frank Capra), Shakespeare's role as the most popular playwright in nineteenth-century America, and the era of the Great Depression, during which film, radio, photography, and even the comic strip emerged as significant manifestations of a changing American popular culture. The immediacy of each essay is enhanced by a brief introduction that places each one not only in the context of Levine's career, but in that of American history as a whole.
Levine demonstrates how history, from generation to generation, is viewed through the prism of an ever-changing present and rather than distorting our vision, offers us new ways of seeing things. The Unpredictable Past is a remarkably wide-ranging lens for viewing the richly textured history of America.
"The Unpredictable Past is a brilliant reminder of why Lawrence W. Levine has long been required reading for everyone interested in American culture and its history."
-- Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Harvard University
Taking issue with historians who desire 'synthesis' above all else, Levine's book constitutes a passionate call for inclusion, for a history that extends the traditional focus on the centers of political, economic, and social power to embrace the panoply of ethnic, racial, regional, occupational, class, and gender groups that have been ignored or distorted in the past, and subject areas--like folk and popular culture--that have been by-passed or denigrated as trivial.
There are trenchant examinations of folk songs and folktales, Marcus Garvey's role as a black leader in the 1920s, jazz and American culture, Hollywood's unique view of government in Washington (especially as seen in the films of Frank Capra), Shakespeare's role as the most popular playwright in nineteenth-century America, and the era of the Great Depression, during which film, radio, photography, and even the comic strip emerged as significant manifestations of a changing American popular culture. The immediacy of each essay is enhanced by a brief introduction that places each one not only in the context of Levine's career, but in that of American history as a whole.
Levine demonstrates how history, from generation to generation, is viewed through the prism of an ever-changing present and rather than distorting our vision, offers us new ways of seeing things. The Unpredictable Past is a remarkably wide-ranging lens for viewing the richly textured history of America.
"The Unpredictable Past is a brilliant reminder of why Lawrence W. Levine has long been required reading for everyone interested in American culture and its history."
-- Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Harvard University
384 pages, Hardcover
First published June 3, 1993
2 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Lawrence W. Levine
21 books18 followersLawrence William Levine was a celebrated American historian. He was born in Manhattan and died in Berkeley, California.
A model of the engaged scholar throughout his life, Levine lived both his scholarship and his politics. From the very outset, he immersed himself in the political life of Berkeley – in, for example, a sleep-in in the rotunda of the state capitol in Sacramento to press for fair housing legislation, and the sit-ins in Berkeley organized by CORE to force stores to hire black people.
He participated in the march from Selma to Montgomery, expressing his solidarity with the civil rights movement. During the Free Speech upheaval at Berkeley, he came to the defense of students protesting a ban on political activity on campus in support of the civil rights movement.
He received numerous awards and accolades over the course of his career, most of which was spent in the History Department at the University of California, Berkeley.
Among the honors bestowed upon him were a MacArthur Prize Fellowship in 1983, election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1985, election as President of the Organization of American Historians in 1992, recognition as a Guggenheim Fellow in 1994, the 2005 Distinguished Scholar Award from the American Historical Association, and the posthumous designation of the Lawrence W. Levine Award, which is given annually by the OAH to the author of the best book in American cultural history.
His books include:
• Defender of the Faith: William Jennings Bryan, the Last Decade, 1915-1925. Oxford University Press, 1965.
• Black Culture and Black Consciousness. Oxford University Press, 1978.
• Highbrow/Lowbrow. Harvard University Press, 1990.
• The Unpredictable Past. Oxford University Press, 1993.
• The Opening of the American Mind. Beacon Press, 1997.
• [with Cornelia R. Levine] The people and the President: America's Conversation with FDR. Beacon Press, 2002.
A model of the engaged scholar throughout his life, Levine lived both his scholarship and his politics. From the very outset, he immersed himself in the political life of Berkeley – in, for example, a sleep-in in the rotunda of the state capitol in Sacramento to press for fair housing legislation, and the sit-ins in Berkeley organized by CORE to force stores to hire black people.
He participated in the march from Selma to Montgomery, expressing his solidarity with the civil rights movement. During the Free Speech upheaval at Berkeley, he came to the defense of students protesting a ban on political activity on campus in support of the civil rights movement.
He received numerous awards and accolades over the course of his career, most of which was spent in the History Department at the University of California, Berkeley.
Among the honors bestowed upon him were a MacArthur Prize Fellowship in 1983, election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1985, election as President of the Organization of American Historians in 1992, recognition as a Guggenheim Fellow in 1994, the 2005 Distinguished Scholar Award from the American Historical Association, and the posthumous designation of the Lawrence W. Levine Award, which is given annually by the OAH to the author of the best book in American cultural history.
His books include:
• Defender of the Faith: William Jennings Bryan, the Last Decade, 1915-1925. Oxford University Press, 1965.
• Black Culture and Black Consciousness. Oxford University Press, 1978.
• Highbrow/Lowbrow. Harvard University Press, 1990.
• The Unpredictable Past. Oxford University Press, 1993.
• The Opening of the American Mind. Beacon Press, 1997.
• [with Cornelia R. Levine] The people and the President: America's Conversation with FDR. Beacon Press, 2002.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 29, 2011
If you are interested in studying not just the history of the intellect, but the history of men thinking, this book offers thoughtful insight. Brilliant collection of essays written over the course of several decades, this book offers timeless contemplation of the effects of culture and social status upon historical academia.
Fantastic read, I would recommend this book to anyone looking to go beyond the rote and often boring insight of American contributions to cultural history.
Fantastic read, I would recommend this book to anyone looking to go beyond the rote and often boring insight of American contributions to cultural history.
October 17, 2014
Excellent - this volume begins with the chapter 'thinking about history' which seeks to reevaluate the dominant historiographical paradigms. Levine's analysis of political vs. social history is considered and sharp, before he turns his attention to African American history, slave culture, and the Great Depression. For my purposes, the latter half of the book, dealing with Great Depression popular culture, political film and documentary photography was highly useful for my project.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews