On the Books

Greetings all! I have just been listening to historian Edward L. Ayers interview fellow blogger Kevin Levin on NPR's Backstory  concerning his recent post on Civil War Memory. The topic: history bestsellers in 2014.

In the post, Kevin offers his observations on a few salient characteristics shared by the authors on the list. Among those enumerated, notable is that most of the authors are journalists - not academic historians.

Kevin's reasons behind this? Well, for one, it's because journalists tell an entertaining story (which implies that academics don't...but more on that later). And ultimately, that is what the reading public wants: entertainment. But more importantly, these authors have much more far-ranging influence than your garden variety academic. They benefit from exposure on television, in the press, and they have a strong social media presence. With this I think Kevin is pretty much right on the money. Take it from me, I know a robust Internet presence helps sell books (see what I did there?). In a follow-up post, he counsels academics, and I would agree: if you want to keep up, you had better get to work.

Get to work indeed. Many (though certainly not all) academics are missing out on an enormous opportunity to engage with the general public precisely because they do not take advantage of the instantaneous and world-wide connections provided by social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram. Let's take the journalists...I can assure you that they have things covered in the exposure department.

But popularity aside, are these journalist-author-personalities up to the challenge? I suggest that not all best-selling journalists - even Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists - are created equal, at least when it comes to writing history. While the American public thirsts for a good historical tale, many would-be historians fall short in their efforts to rise to the occasion. The well-read, and might I add informed public, certainly get the entertainment they desire. What they often do not get is engaging history - but rather, shallow reports of historical events. So let's not be confused here. Entertaining stories and history are not necessarily the same thing. Though first-rate journalists may have a flair for the written word, I am not convinced that they stand up to the rigors of academic research. And I do not want to sound snotty - but much of their work fails to match the standards set in academia. Some just write bad history well - and that is a damn shame.

Case in point. I recently read journalist Dick Lehr's book on the controversial film, The Birth of a Nation. The book was not without virtues.  The writing was vivid, punchy, and yes, entertaining. But the history didn't cut it for me. Lehr's book was full of pretty obvious historical errors. His analysis was one dimensional and the book lacked depth and insight (spoiler alert: the film is racist...and black people didn't like that).  I can only surmise that this is because the man is not a trained historian - so I forgive his shortcomings. And let's be honest - if I tried to be a journalist, I would most likely blow it. So I will stick to doing what I know how to do - and keep writing history.

On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed journalist Rick Atkinson's WWII Liberation Trilogy. This series was exhaustively researched and beautifully written. And yes, it too was entertaining. So I guess you never know. Like in any profession (even academia...) some are just better than others.

So while Kevin might call for academics to get on board with the 21st century and reach out to a world of potential readers, I would add that journalists should up their game as well - perhaps hit the archives and the historiography a little harder. And as a side note or a story for another day, I would be thrilled if academic historians would not only reach out to but also write for a broader audience. To my friends in the hallowed halls - dial down the esoteric language. It sounds so...academic. You'll just wind up writing a better story, and that's a good thing.

As always, feel free to weigh in here.

With compliments,

Keith