Saturday, January 19, 2019

January 19-20, 2019: Spring Previews: Book Plans


[A new semester is upon us, and with it came a new Spring Preview series. Leading up to this special weekend post on book updates, plans, and hopes!]
I was hoping to have a bit more information about the publication date for my next book, We the People: The 500-Year Battle over Who is an American (Rowman & Littlefield’s American Ways series), by this weekend’s post than I do. I believe it will come out sometime in the spring, but will keep you all posted on specifics as soon as I have them!
In the meantime, I’ll reiterate what I said in that hyperlinked post: of all five of my books to date, this is the one for which I believe it’s most vital that I share it with as many audiences, communities, conversations as possible. I’ll thus be doing everything I can to find opportunities and connections for book talks, and would really appreciate any and all ideas and suggestions (whether specific or general, fully formed or preliminary) that you might have for such possibilities. Feel free to comment here or email me, and thanks so much in advance!
Finally, one last optimistic (perhaps utopian) hope. To say that we’re in a divided moment is to significantly understate the case. Pretty much every public scholarly project seems to be received within that divided frame, seen as part of the 21st century’s culture war debates. And I know that arguing for an inclusive vision of America, in contrast with an exclusionary one, would seem to locate my book firmly within one side of such divisions and debates. But I would say the opposite: the exclusionary histories I highlight affect and implicate us all; we are all living in and with their legacies; and the inclusive alternatives on which my chapters focus offer inspiring American figures, stories, and texts that we all can and should embrace as the best of who and what we’ve been and can be. No, my book won’t speak to overt white supremacist bigots; but I still refuse to believe that’s more than a vocal and still too powerful minority of Americans, and I do believe and hope that this project can speak to the rest of us. One more reason I want to share it as widely as possible!
Next series starts Monday,
Ben
PS. Spring previews or plans of your own to share? I’d love to hear them!

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