Lewis Perry

Boats Against the Current provides a fascinating account of how American culture emerged from the sheltered, elitist world of the eighteenth century into the dynamic, turbulent civilization that reached full bloom after the Civil War. The antebellum years were times of flux and change, years of a society rushing into the western wilds, muscular and ambitious, yet haunted by uncertainty about its future and its past. Renowned scholar Lewis Perry begins his study with a fresh look at Andrew Jackson--vividly recreating a time when Americans, feeling their ties to the past disintegrating, fostered a new fascination with history. Then Perry introduces us to the observations of such articulate foreign travelers as Alexis de Tocqueville and Fredrika Bremer. He deftly weaves together these writers' perspectives to provide a fascinating look at our emergent nation. Here, too, are the women of the cities and frontier, the peddlers, preachers, and showmen, along with such writers as Hawthorne, Emerson, Whittier, and Parker. Perry brings these personalities and writings together to show us how early nineteenth century America saw itself, in both its promise and its fears. Now available for the first time in paperback, Boats Against the Current offers a brilliant portrait of a society in the midst of change, expansion, and reflection about its own future and past. Written by one of our leading intellectual historians, it makes a major contribution to our understanding of the emergence of modern American culture.

American Culture Between Revolution and Modernity, 1820-1860

Boats Against the Current

Leonard I. Krimerman

Leonard Isaiah Krimerman

A Collection of Writings on the Anarchist Tradition

Patterns of Anarchy

This historical study of intellectuals asks, for every period, who they were, how important they were, and how they saw themselves in relation to other Americans. Lewis Perry considers intellectuals in their varied historical roles as learned gentlemen, as clergymen and public figures, as professionals, as freelance critics, and as a professoriate. Looking at the changing reputation of the intellect itself, Perry examines many forms of anti-intellectualism, showing that some of these were encouraged by intellectuals as surely as by their antagonists. This work is interpretative, critical, and highly provocative, and it provides what is all too often missing in the study of intellectuals—a sense of historical orientation.

A History

Intellectual Life in America

First published in 1973, this book remains the authoritative work on the various radical movements that grew out of antislavery ideas in the 1840s and 1850s. Lewis Perry argues that the idea of the government of God was central to the abolitionists' conviction that slavery was a sin: no person could claim to be master over another without violating divine sovereignty. Potentially anarchistic, this view posed challenges to other forms of "slavery" in American society - in the church, the government, the family, and even reform organizations - and led radical abolitionists to experiment with new styles of political action and community life. Perry identifies some striking weaknesses that emerged in antislavery thought by the eve of the Civil War. The abolitionists' devotion to the right of private judgment made it difficult for them to determine which responses to violence and slavery were appropriate and which were not. And despite the emphasis on self-liberation, the abolitionists failed significantly to establish any role for slaves in their own emancipation. The war further aggravated such confusions and inconsistencies, and after the war much of the radicalism in antislavery thought was forgotten. Yet the key issues with which the radical abolitionists wrestled - race, violence, women's rights, pacifism, and the role of government - retain their relevance in today's society. For this edition, Perry offers a new preface that connects his original conclusions about radical abolitionism with the most recent scholarship in the history of African Americans and women.

Radical Abolitionism; Anarchy and the Government of God in Antislavery Thought

Anarchy and the Government of God in Antislavery Thought

Radical Abolitionism

Karen Halttunen

American history is filled with moments of grave moral doubt and institutional crisis, with conflicts over fundamental values, with ethical dilemmas and paradoxes. This volume surveys the moral landscape of the American past from slavery to the Vietnam War. Bringing together fourteen of the most original historians practicing today, the book illuminates a critical dimension of American history, even as it shows how historical study contributes to present-day debates about values and the moral life. These essays examine a wide range of questions that have engaged past generations of Americans and persist into the present—questions about the composition of a moral community and the case for civil disobedience, about the appropriate responses to injustices and inequalities, and about the ethical implications of artistic expression, school curricula, sexual behaviors, and popular media. Focusing on the impact of moral problems on everyday experience, the authors consider these questions in light of reform movements and religious practices; changing social institutions such as marriage, public schools, labor unions, and penitentiaries; and enduring moral forces from the Bible to the U.S. Constitution. Together their essays give historical context to a wide variety of American practices and beliefs and, in doing so, provide a new framework for understanding cultural life.

New Perspectives on Cultural History

Moral Problems in American Life

This volume surveys the moral landscape of the American past from slavery to the Vietnam War. The 14 contributing historians illuminate this critical dimension of American history, showing how historical study contributes to present-day debates about values and the moral life.

Lewis Perry

Books

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