American History

[nino_savatte]

Slavery genuinely wasn't the fundamental issue in the run up to the Civil War, state's rights were.

And what exactly were "States Rights", diamond?

 

[nino_savatte]

So, neither of you are saying that the right to practice slavery was not bound up with so-called "State's Rights"?

 

[dilute micro]

You miss the point (rather spectacularly and deliberately). Dilute has tried to present slavery as a venerable institution, where slaves were happy and never wanted for anything. The reality is much, much worse.

You have a Heman-Skelator world view.

 

[nino_savatte]

dilute micro
This message is hidden because dilute micro is on your ignore list.

For a moment I thought someone had come along who had something to say that wasn't based on crypto-racist notions of how society should be formed. Silly me!

 

[dilute micro]

From the book 'Complicity's introduction is something that sort of makes the same case I was making earlier in this thread. It's the biggest peeve of mine about learning any history, not just American.

"The history of the United States is typically told backwards, as a means of explaining to members of the current generation how their country grew to be the way it is. In such an account, slavery is a single chapter, a background event limited to one region of the country and overwhelmed by the more recent events of pioneers moving west, railroads spanning the continent, and great cities growing up around stockyards and steel mills.

A history told frontwards, however, pushes slavery into the foreground, inserting it into nearly every chapter."

 

[nino_savatte]

Good book, highly recommended.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Narrative-L...0687661?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191925642&sr=1-2

 

[nino_savatte]

This is petty good too.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Bondage-...0687661?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191925642&sr=1-8

 

[Zeppo]

Nosos - just started to read America's Revolutionary Heritage (Marxist essays) George Novack. Looks interesting. First edition 1976 third printing 1993. Takes in Native Americans (the indians), first american revolution, slavery, second american revolution, the first wave of feminism & american imperialism.