Why read The Progressive Historians?

Book cover of The Progressive Historians: Turner, Beard, Parrington

Book description

A detailed look at the ideas and contributions of the 3 major interpretive historians of the U.S. in the 20th century: Frederick Jackson Turner, Charles A. Beard and V. L. Parrington.

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Historiography

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Progressive Historians as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

James M. Banner Jr.

Author

This splendid book, by another teacher of mine, one of the most influential 20th-century historians of the United States, takes up the works of three similarly prominent early 20th-century historians: Charles A. Beard, Frederick Jackson Turner, and Vernon L. Parrington. Their books, too, make rewarding reading, even though time may have left their interpretations in the dust—Beard’s on the Constitution being, writes Hofstadter, an “imposing ruin.” Turner’s on the frontier and Parrington’s on American thought are also mostly ignored by historians today. So why bother with them? Because they can still be read for what they cover—the creation…

From James' list on The most readable books about historians and how they think and write.