[It’s been a
while since I spent
a week highlighting the amazing work done by my fellow
AmericanStudies scholars. So for this week’s series I thought I’d highlight
five recent books by scholars with whom I’ve had the pleasure of working on the NEASA Council.
I’d love to hear in comments about books and scholars, recent or otherwise,
that have inspired you!]
On the great
book about a great topic by a great AmericanStudier.
I’ve written a
good deal in this space about
Salem, and for good reason: it’s my favorite
public, historical space in Massachusetts (and perhaps in America—sorry native
Virginia!), features my single favorite
memorial/piece of public art, is full of complex
and evocative American histories and stories, represents some of the
worst yet also some of the best of what we have been and can be in America.
I think there’s a great deal more for us to say and think about Salem than we
have yet, and I can’t imagine a better person to help us continue to say and
think about the city than Maggi
Smith-Dalton.
I’ve also
featured Maggi a fair amount in this space: not only in that above linked post,
but also in this
post on her performance with her husband Jim Dalton at the 2012 NEASA
Colloquium; and these
posts on my
pieces for the Salem
History Time series that Maggi edits. In her writing
and editing, as well as those musical
and educational performances and programs with Jim, Maggi exemplifies
public AmericanStudying to me, and is just as closely linked in my mind to her
home city of Salem. And one of her latest
contributions to the AmericanStudying of that city is her recent book, A
History of Spiritualism and the Occult in Salem: The Rise of Witch City
(The History Press, 2012).
I could write
another paragraph here about History of
Spiritualism, but I’ll just say this: it’s only 10 bucks on the Kindle (and
20 in paperback)! All of the books I’ve featured in this week’s series are well
worth your time and investment, and will more than pay you back in what they
can add to your sense of American culture, history, literature, and society.
Check ‘em out, and please share your thoughts on them here if you do (as well
as any other books or authors you’d share)!
An update on my
own next book this weekend,
Ben
PS. Books or scholars you'd share? I'd love to hear about them!
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