Reflecting on the Work and Legacy of Bernard Bailyn with Michael Hattem
I am very excited to welcome Dr. Michael Hattem to The Rogue Historian! Michael earned his PhD from Yale University in 2017 after receiving his BA from the City College of New York. He has taught at Knox College and Lang College at the New School in New York City and is currently the Associate Director of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. He is the Producer of The JuntoCast and you can find him on Twitter at @michaelhattem. He is also the author of Past and Prologue: Politics and Memory in the American Revolution, which will be available from Yale University Press in November, 2020 - you can preorder HERE. This conversation initiates a new semi-regular series on then show in which I will discuss the work of a prominent and influential historian with an expert in the field. Today we are going to reflect on the work and legacy of one of the most prominent historians of early America, Bernard Bailyn. We discuss:
Taking on Ideological Origins of the American Revolution as a first-year graduate student
Progressive historians of the 1930s
Challenging progressives in the 1960s and the return to ideas - the controversies too
Wrestling with the problems of independence - looking beyond the Enlightenment to older republican principles.
The tension between liberty and power (the corrupting forces)
Revolution-era pamphlets as a primary source base - who read them and who didn’t
Ideas v. behavior
Liberalism v. republicanism - and Joyce Appleby’s study
Other relevant studies including those by Gordon Wood, Pauline Maier, and…because why not - Jessie Lemisch
How Bailyn’s work holds up in the 21st century - the legacy question
Lots more comes up in this fascinating conversation so be sure to listen (pro tip for Americanist grad students: TAKE NOTES!!)
You’ll want to for sure have a look at Michael’s website to keep up with what’s going on and be sure and get his BOOK in November! Michael will be returning to the show then to discuss…and the topic will be memory (my favorite). AND…don’t forget to subscribe to The Rogue Historian Podcast on Apple Podcasts or your favorite app so you never ever ever ever miss a show. That would be dumb.
With compliments,
Keith
Bernard Bailyn
PS - here is a selected bibliography of Bailyn’s books - check them out, y’all!
New England Merchants in the Seventeenth Century
The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution
The Origins of American Politics
The Peopling of British North America
Atlantic History: Concept and Contours