Contact: Kay Fike Jones
A Mississippi State University professor is co-editor of a just-published book on the history of the American political system.
John Marszalek of history, along with Wilson D. Miscamble of the University of Notre Dame, edited "American Political History: Essays on the State of the Discipline," University of Notre Dame (Ind.) Press, 1997.
Marszalek said the 200-page book came about following a 1995 Notre Dame symposium where more than 100 historians convened to discuss the history of the American political system.
"Political history is undergoing substantial change, some would say attack, so an anthology addressing its present state is particularly important," Marszalek said.
"American political history has been seriously challenged by the 'New Social History' with its emphasis on the study of the past from the bottom up, analyses of the experience of the masses of people rather than that of governing elites," he added.
The book features essays by historians Michael Les Benedict, history professor at Ohio State University; Carl N. Degler, Margaret Byrne Professor Emeritus of History at Stanford University; Jane Sherron De Hart, history professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara; Robert V. Remini, emeritus professor of history at the University of Illinois at Chicago and visiting professor of American studies at Notre Dame; and R. Hal Williams, history professor at Southern Methodist University.