Early Historians Research Articles

The Madness of Hugo van der Goes: The Troubled Search for Origins in Early Netherlandish Painting

The extant works of Hugo van der Goes frustrated attempts among early historians of Netherlandish painting to organize the artist's career according to a chronology. The survival of a biographical document attesting to his madness additionally troubled the expectation of artistic progression. Goes earned the reputation of the first modern artist whose genius was connected to his aberrant psychology. This essay critically examines the impulse in art history toward temporal sequencing, arguing that such a practice is most profitably applied in the case of Goes not to his oeuvre as a whole but to a study of his process within an individual work. The alterations over time to the surface of The Fall of Man, which has often (but not unanimously) been deemed the artist's “first work,” afford consideration of how Goes thought about revision and how historians of early Netherlandish painting might engage disciplinary change by rethinking the impulse toward prioritization.

Oral history and historical writing among Arabs - Critical Analytical Study –: التاريخ الشفاهي والكتابة التاريخية عند العرب - دراسة تحليلية نقدية –

The aim of the study is to demonstrate the efforts of Muslim historians in preserving oral history and making it an important foundation of the historical material. The inductive syllabus was used in the study, and the results of it showed that the early historians adopted a set of characteristics and controls that are compatible with the nature of Islamic history, and these things in its entirety participated in the emergence of the curriculum Criticism of historical narratives, and in light of the results, a number of recommendations and proposals were presented to study oral history, preserve it, and develop ways of adopting it.

“No Innocent Words”: Nachman Blumental’s Metaphorology Project and the Cultural History of the Holocaust

ABSTRACT Nachman Blumental (1902–1983) belongs to a group of early Holocaust historians whose work is being rediscovered by contemporary scholars. Especially noteworthy is Blumental's work on the language of Holocaust victims and perpetrators. This article explores the connection between this work and Blumental's prewar studies in the field of Polish and Yiddish literary theory, focusing on his project of metaphorology, a comprehensive study of metaphor. The essay explores the place of Blumental's interwar project of metaphorology at the intersection of Polish and Yiddish scholarship at a time of rising nationalism in Poland, and investigates the way in which negotiations between the Polish and Jewish contexts shaped the project. It makes a case for the significance of the Eastern European literary theory to the contemporary cultural history of the Holocaust, and the importance of including Yiddish works into the broader history of modern literary theory in Eastern Europe.

ЗАРОЖДЕНИЕ ДРЕВНЕГРЕЧЕСКОЙ ИСТОРИЧЕСКОЙ МЫСЛИ И АРХАИЧЕСКАЯ ИОНИЙСКАЯ НАУКА

Ancient Greek historical thought came into existence in the 6th century B.C. It was the period when two tendencies, the rationalist and mystic ones, struggled with each other in the Hellenic Weltanschauung (world view). Early historians were influenced both by the latter and – especially – by the former, which gave birth to the Archaic Ionian science (Thales, Anaximander). The paper shows that the influence of natural scientists upon historiographers manifested itself, for instance, in the fact that from the works of the latter, starting with Hecataeus, lacked parts devoted to theogony disappear (in Acusilaus, such a part was still present). The author also traces the serious interest in geography among both Greek natural philosophers and first historians. Anaximander made the earliest in Greece geographical map and Hecataeus improved it. The historians of the first generations after Hecateus can be divided into two groups: those who, like Hecateus, had a special interest not only in history, but also in geography, and those who did not. The second group includes the Athenian Ferekides and Gellanik. As for the first group, Charon of Lampsak and Damast of Sigei can be added to it – this line comes up to Herodotus.

The People's Revolt: Texas Populists and the Roots of American Liberalism by Gregg Cantrell

Reviewed by: The People's Revolt: Texas Populists and the Roots of American Liberalism by Gregg Cantrell Matthew Hild The People's Revolt: Texas Populists and the Roots of American Liberalism. By Gregg Cantrell. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2020. Pp. 592. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index.) The Populist movement of the 1890s played an important role in the history of Texas, and Texas played an important role in the history of that movement. Two previous books, The People's Party in Texas: A Study in Third Party Politics by Roscoe C. Martin (University of Texas Press, 1933), and Farmers in Rebellion: The Rise and Fall of the Southern Farmers' Alliance and People's Party in Texas (University of Texas Press, 1984) by Donna A. Barnes, have examined Texas Populism, and broader studies by historians such as Lawrence Goodwyn and Robert C. McMath have paid close attention to Texas. Significantly, McMath argued that the Southern Farmers' Alliance, which farmers formed in Lampasas County, Texas, in or around 1877, served as the "Populist vanguard" that gave birth to the People's (or Populist) Party during 1891–92. In an era that some observers have dubbed the "new" or "second" Gilded Age, the Populists remain relevant. Gregg Cantrell has written about various aspects of Texas Populism as well as the African American Populist leader John B. Rayner of Robertson County in previous journal articles and books, and he brings decades of research to this magisterial new study. In addition to providing a fresh perspective on the topic, this book serves as an almost encyclopedic examination of Texas Populism. Cantrell has utilized resources made available on the Internet as well as those only available in archives and courthouses to compile a massive trove of primary sources. The bibliography lists 123 newspapers, most from Texas but others from across the United States. Goodwyn found much of the impetus for the Populist movement in the rise and fall of the cooperative enterprises that the Farmers' Alliance established as a means of eliminating middlemen from its members' financial transactions. The People's Revolt contains an appendix that lists all the Texas Farmers' Alliance cooperatives that Cantrell "was able to identify with a reasonable degree of confidence" (445). This list is seventeen pages long and provides detailed information about each of some 320 cooperatives. Specific chapter topics include, but are not limited to, the roots of Texas Populism, of which [End Page 354] Cantrell presents a more nuanced interpretation than did Goodwyn; the birth of the Texas People's Party; the state elections of 1892, 1894, and 1896; the Texas Populists' ideological beliefs, policy positions, and efforts at crafting and passing legislation; how the Texas Populists grappled with issues of race, ethnicity, and gender; and how and why the Texas People's Party collapsed as the 1890s drew to a close. Cantrell also puts forth an informative analysis of the differences between "Populism" (upper-case "P") and the "populism" (lower-case "p") that followed. The thesis of The People's Revolt is revealed in the book's subtitle. Cantrell posits that the Populists, in Texas and elsewhere, were "the progenitors of modern liberalism" (12). Recalling some of the important proclamations of liberal icons such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Lyndon Baines Johnson, and Barack Obama, Cantrell contends that "these leaders were invoking a political ideology first enunciated by Populists, and particularly by those in Texas" (22). Earlier historians of American or southern Populism, such as John D. Hicks and C. Vann Woodward, drew links between Populism and early twentieth-century Progressivism, and as Cantrell shows and other scholars have previously shown, in Texas some Populists of the 1890s later became progressive Democrats. Making a connection between Texas Populists and LBJ and Obama is more tenuous (even though, as Cantrell explains, LBJ's grandfather was a Texas Populist himself). We have no way of knowing what an 1890s Populist would have thought of the Great Society or "Obamacare." Nevertheless, Cantrell makes a compelling argument, and he certainly shows that the Populists were at the forefront of liberal thought on pressing issues of their own era that are still relevant today. The People's Revolt is an important book, then...

Skeletal vs mummified populations in the pro- tohistory of Tenerife

Since the discover y of Guanche mummies by the Europeans after the conquest of the island in 1496, these remarkable specimens attracted a large number of scholars. So, it is not strange that the chroniclers and early historians wrote about them, describing the mummification method and the social status of the individuals (the elite). In this paper, we try to stablish differences between the skeletal (represented by a large number of remains) and mummified (a much smaller group) populations from different points of view: number of individuals, demographic data of both populations, physical data, physical activities, dietary patterns, metabolic stress markers, pathology (skeletal and dental), etc.

Osoby duchowne w otoczeniu i czynnościach prawnych księcia gdańskiego Warcisława II

The above paper deals with the clergy in the state of Warcisław II, Duke of Gdańsk and East­­­‑Pomerania between 1266 and 1269/70. The careers of representatives of this class are reconstructed by collecting and verifying source information and the extensive discussions of earlier historians. Four clergymen from Gdańsk, 2 from Słupsk, and Michael priest of “Saulyn” have been authenticated, but it is not certain that the last two places actually belonged to Warcisław’s state.
 The main conclusion of this research is that during the reign of Warcisław II, clergy were of political significance. They served in administration and in an early chancellery service, as in the case of a group of clergy in the fortified church in Gdańsk. It is likely that one of local priests­­­‑ Wacław/Unisław – was also probably related to an influential gentry family This was also probably the case with Luder, priest of St. Catharine’s Church in the city of Gdańsk. He was probably an agent mediating between the Duke and the middle class. Warcisław II had good relations with the middle class and its political influence was growing during his reign. In Słupsk, too, the clergy participated in changing political affiliations, but that is visible only later. Clergymen also supported other dukes; this was visible and of importance during the East­­­‑Pomeranian civil war (1269–1271) between Warcisław II and Msciwoj II, which ended in the former’s exile.
 One historian believes that the priest Michael served in Salino in East­­­‑Pomerania. Perhaps his presence in a privilege from 1268 had a political context – by that act Warcisław II could show his claims to Białogarda’s land. This had been mortgaged to the Teutonic Order by Duke Racibor. Otherwise, according to the opinion of Klemens Bruski, Michael could have served in another place – Słona near Kościerzyna.

The Altamira Collection and the history of the Dutch Revolt

La Colección Altamira, nombre con el que es conocido entre los historiadores modernistas el excepcional archivo atesorado durante siglos por los condes de Altamira, es uno de los fondos documentales más importantes para el estudio de la Monarquía Hispánica y en especial del reinado de Felipe II. La ruina de la Casa de Altamira provocó la dispersión de su archivo a partir de 1868, cuyos papeles fueron adquiridos por distintos compradores, entre los que se contaba Archer Milton Huntington, fundador de “The Hispanic Society of America”. El magnate adquirió la colección de libros y manuscritos del marqués de Jerez de los Caballeros, única en su género, y cuyos papeles en una gran parte eran de procedencia Altamira. The Library of the Hispanic Society of America conserva hoy una parte significativa del acervo documental Altamira que constituye, junto a los demás fondos repartidos por Europa, un repositorio documental de obligada consulta para los historiadores de la Revuelta de los Países Bajos.

Noah’s Grandson and St. James: Rewriting the Past in Eighteenth-Century Spain

ABSTRACT In the late seventeenth century, when Spain gradually emerged from the general crisis that had afflicted the country, several members of the cultural elite became acquainted with the new sophisticated theories and methods of modern science. This newly acquired knowledge inspired these novatores (innovators) to examine Spain’s history and historiography. They intended in the first place to integrate and align Spain with European culture at large, since the religious and ideological obstacles of the past were supposedly no longer in force. Their second purpose was to establish a scientifically based historical discourse focused on the genuine achievements of Spain over the centuries and its contribution to European civilization. They were thus willing to confront the long-standing distortions arising from propaganda, either from the outside—such as the “black legend” forged by the enemies of Spain—or from inside—such as the “fake glories” forged by earlier historians. Diverse circumstances, however, limited their enlightened endeavour, and whoever was eager to resume it in the eighteenth century came up against the restrictions imposed on modern culture by Enlightened despotism.

The Image of the Caliphs of the Umayyad Caliph in the book "History of the Caliphs" by Imam Jalaluddin al-Suyuti: صورة خلفاء بني أمية في كتاب "تاريخ الخلفاء" للإمام جلال الدين السيوطي

The earliest historians, in their codification of the history of the Umayyad dynasty, relied on a number of some of the novelists of fads and whims, who were carrying hostility to the Umayyad state for doctrinal, intellectual or ethnic reasons. Unfortunately, these narratives formed a source that late historians still take advantage of in their writings. To find out the impact of these accounts on the late historians, this study came with the intent of clarifying the image of illiteracy among Imam Jalal al-Din Abd al-Rahman al-Suyuti in his book "The History of the Caliphs", and to verify whether al-Suyuti had merely relayed from his predecessors or had conjured up his deep knowledge of hadith science Subjecting these narratives to their criticism in terms of support and body. This study has concluded that Imam al-Suyuti's position on the succession of the Umayyad was no different in many or few from other historians; it depended on the transmission from the “History of Islam” to Imam al-Dhabi and other authors of literary works without subjecting their narratives to the approach of modern scholars based on criticism Novels and news. Moreover, we do not exclude that Al-Suyuti's bias towards the Abbasids, as evidenced by the book "The History of the Caliphs" and other works, as well as his close connection with the Abbasid caliph residing in Cairo, have a role in Al-Suyuti's deviation from the Umayyads and his prejudice against them.

The Gallic Singularity and the Royal Mistress

The relationship of the French king and royal mistress, complementary but unequal, embodied the Gallic singularity; the royal mistress exercised a civilizing manner and the soft power of women on the king’s behalf. However, both her contemporaries and nineteenth- and early twentieth-century historians were uncomfortable with the mistress’s political power. Furthermore, paradoxical attitudes about French womanhood have led to analyses of her role that are often contradictory. Royal mistresses have simultaneously been celebrated for their civilizing effect in the realm of culture, chided for their frivolous expenditures on clothing and jewelry, and excoriated for their dangerous meddling in politics. Their increasing visibility in the political realm by the eighteenth century led many to blame Louis XV’s mistresses—along with Queen Marie-Antoinette, who exercised a similar influence over her husband, Louis XVI—for the degradation and eventual fall of the monarchy. This article reexamines the historiography of the royal mistress.

A Team of Our Own: The Role of Local and Regional Identities in Spanish Sport

To validate the field, early sports historians often delved into topics with overt connections to politics and class on the national level. However, sub-national groups also use sport and this paper attempts to identify how they have done so in Spain throughout the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries and across multiple competitive activities. On the regional level, Catalonia and the Basque Country have long used sports organizations to define themselves in opposition to the national core. Beyond this, numerous regions include sporting endeavors as part of their unique culture, including long-term Catalan promotion of physical education and the Basques and Valencians each claiming different forms of pelota. Similarly, numerous regions have used cycling heroes, professional teams, and regional tours to foster identity. Local and civic governments have also long seen sport as a useful tool. Before and after the Spanish Civil War, local competitions offered opportunities for non-political community building. Later, newer sports like basketball offered opportunities for smaller cities to find success through specialization, while others recognized that hosting larger events offered national and international branding opportunities. Lastly, the structure of league competition offers cities exposure through regular competition, rivalries, and weekly quiniela choices.

Thomas Jefferson’s Lives: Biographers and the Battle for History ed. by Robert M. S. McDonald

Reviewed by: Thomas Jefferson’s Lives: Biographers and the Battle for History ed. by Robert M. S. McDonald Edith Gelles Thomas Jefferson’s Lives: Biographers and the Battle for History. Edited by Robert M. S. McDonald. Foreword by Jon Meacham. Afterword by Gordon S. Wood. Jeffersonian America. (Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press, 2019. Pp. xxxii, 311. $35.00, ISBN 978-0-8139-4291-9.) The word Lives in this title may be interpreted in several ways, as shown in this marvelous new collection of essays, finely edited by Robert M. S. McDonald. The essays originated at a 2012 conference at Monticello to commemorate Peter S. Onuf, one of this generation’s master historians of Thomas Jefferson. Each of the other master historians featured in this volume examines the biographical interpretations of a particular era during the nearly two centuries since the third president’s death in 1826, excluding the present generation of Jefferson biographers. Interest in the third president has not flagged since his death; the mythologizing of Jefferson has been of industrial proportions. That is one way to read the titular “Lives.” Another way is that, with each generation, the perception of Jefferson’s character has shifted, reflecting the biographer’s own times. As Jon Meacham writes in the foreword, “there is no such thing as a totally objective life. Biographies . . . often belong to the ages in which they were written no matter how hard some historians may try It can be no other” (p. x). Finally, reading Lives in its verb form, it is clear that Jefferson still baffles biographers, and the challenge to define him continues. R. B. Bernstein, in his fine essay on Dumas Malone, quotes Hermione Lee that biography is “‘a mixed, unstable genre, whose rules keep coming undone [and] the only rule that holds good is that there is no such thing as a definitive biography’” (p. 220). In the end, it is fair to say that the essayists agree with Joseph J. Ellis’s incisive 1997 portrait of Jefferson as the “American Sphinx,” an icon that remains a puzzle. Thomas Jefferson’s Lives: Biographers and the Battle for History is divided into three sections, reflecting the chronology of the biographies. Part 1, “Memory,” begins with a reflection on Jefferson’s own failed efforts to write a memoir, which is followed by a series of essays about the biographers who either knew Jefferson or knew people who were familiar with the paterfamilias. This group includes an adulatory great-granddaughter, Sarah N. Randolph, who, as the late Jan Ellen Lewis points out, emphasized Jefferson’s dislike of public life and claimed he “entered politics only out of ‘a lurking desire to leave to his children the honor’” (p. 87). Not all of the early authors were so romantic [End Page 449] or self-serving in their works. They emphasized Jefferson’s public life and his public service while suppressing his personal life, a slant that, in the period between the early nineteenth century and the Civil War, meant allowing scant attention to slavery, to Jefferson’s absence from public service during the Revolutionary War, and yes, to the scandalous story of his relationship with Sally Hemings. This rumor circulated after 1802, when the journalist James Callender published a reference to Jefferson’s so-called illicit affair. None of these essayists can get away from the subject of Jefferson’s relationship with Hemings, perhaps a telling reflection of the current generation’s contextual focus. The conclusive evidence surfaced in 1998 when the scientific certainty of DNA confirmed the paternity of Hemings’s children. Earlier historians, like Henry S. Randall, whom Andrew Burstein insightfully analyzes along with James Parton, attributed paternity to Jefferson’s nephews, the notorious reprobates, the Carr brothers. Burstein’s Randall “showcased [Jefferson] as the most well-rounded, refined, and resilient of the founders”; “Randall’s work served as justification for all future monuments to the Jefferson whose ‘spirit-stirring pen’ enshrined a world-transformative humanism” (p. 63). Parton’s 1872–1873 biography echoed that sentiment: “‘If Jefferson was wrong, America is wrong. If America is right, Jefferson was right’” (pp. 77–78). In a transitional essay to the second part, Richard...

Wild Rose: The Life and Times of Victor Marion Rose, Poet and Early Historian of Texas by Louise S. O’Connor

Reviewed by: Wild Rose: The Life and Times of Victor Marion Rose, Poet and Early Historian of Texas by Louise S. O’Connor Jillian Spivey Caddell Wild Rose: The Life and Times of Victor Marion Rose, Poet and Early Historian of Texas. By Louise S. O’Connor. Clayton Wheat Williams Texas Life Series. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2018. Pp. xx, 176. $30.00, ISBN 978-1-62349-675-3.) In his eventful life, Victor Marion Rose penned books of poetry and Texas history and edited newspapers, and this biography by Louise S. O’Connor seeks to establish Rose’s place in the pantheon of southern writers. O’Connor’s project is deeply personal and richly researched. Rose’s descendant, she often cites her own archive of his works alongside interviews with fellow family members. She paints a nuanced portrait of a man whose flowery pen got him into and out of scrapes but who, O’Connor insists, “was one of the few people that could write about the times from an insider’s perspective” (p. 14). Wild Rose: The Life and Times of Victor Marion Rose, Poet and Early Historian of Texas positions Rose as an important witness to key events in Texas history, from the Civil War and the end of slavery to the shift from farming to ranching. Rose was born into an influential slave-owning Texas family in 1842. Given the backdrop of what O’Connor calls the “honor system of the south,” which she associates with “courage, strength, and violence (when necessary),” Rose was an anomaly more interested in poetry than in outdoor pursuits (pp. 29, 7). Yet in one of the many paradoxes of his life, he left college to fight for the Confederate army. Later, as he forged a career in letters and newspaper editing, he also was an alcoholic and womanizer. O’Connor at times struggles to balance her desire to venerate Rose as an underappreciated writer with the plain and sometimes unsavory facts of his biography. Wild Rose is most valuable as a work of Texas history. Rose’s life encapsulates many of the singular circumstances of nineteenth-century Texas. Descended from English immigrants, Rose encountered people of Mexican, German, Native American, and African American descent throughout his career. He lived through many of the state’s most tumultuous times and chronicled them as a historian and poet. The book is also an instructive lesson in nineteenth-century print cultures. As Rose flitted between literary genres and media after the Civil War, readers see the product of a century in which [End Page 494] new technologies and advancements in education made books and newspapers proliferate, even in locations far from the traditional U.S. centers of publication. O’Connor’s biography is less successful when it attempts to gloss broad social movements, such as the Old South and its racism. When Rose writes an African American character speaking in dialect, O’Connor explains that he does it “not only for humor but as a protection for his own, at times, unpopular ideas” (p. 75). Elsewhere O’Connor describes a piece in which Rose uses “‘watermelon eating and google-eyed’ descriptions of blacks,” before assuring her readers that “[h]e went on to rise above this take later” (p. 97). Rose’s abusive treatment of women is similarly acknowledged but shrugged away, as O’Connor writes that Rose “was seemingly attracted to women apparently not imbued with the ethics” he praised in his writing (p. 9). The author seems to want to have it both ways: Rose is depicted as both entrenched in his times and transgressive of them. One wishes that, instead of insisting on Rose’s exceptionalism, O’Connor had acknowledged how paradoxical yet typical many of Rose’s opinions were. Jillian Spivey Caddell University of Kent Copyright © 2020 The Southern Historical Association

Wild Rose: The Life and Times of Victor Marion Rose, Poet and Early Historian of Texas by Louise O'Connor

Wild Rose: The Life and Times of Victor Marion Rose, Poet and Early Historian of Texas by Louise O'Connor

A New Source for mons Badonicus? Returning to the Irish life of Finnian of Clonard

This paper examines a report describing conflict between Saxons and Britons in the Irish life of Finnian of Clonard. It connects this report to the battle at Llongborth, remembered in an early medieval Welsh poem, and to the siege of 'mons' Badonicus, reported by a variety of early medieval insular historians. Both battles have been linked to the legendary King Arthur. In connecting these battles to an entry in 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle' and to the immediate context of Gildas' 'De excidio Britanniae', this article offers a date for 'mons Badonicus' in the early 480s and conjectures that the 'Age of Arthur', if historical, postdates the publication of 'De excidio'.

Major John Richardson

Major John Richardson has been recognized as “the father” of Canadian literature as well an early historian of the War of 1812 but his writings, rich in detail and highly autobiographical, have not been sufficiently appreciated by historians as valuable historical source materials. Yet they provide accurate portrayals of contemporary Upper Canadian perceptions and attitudes similar to those found in the writings of the more popular Brock, Strachan, Mackenzie, Robinson, Baldwin, and Ryerson. Richardson also deserves greater recognition for his role as a Canadian patriot and nationalist. Despite living abroad, he consistently proclaimed himself “a Canadian”, and hoped, through his works, to “infuse” into the Canadian community “a spirit of National literature.” His writings reflect the pride and emerging Canadian national spirit and as such merit greater attention by historians.

Inferring Road Networks and Socio-Political Change through Elite Monuments of the Golconda Kingdom

In the study of medieval and early modern South Asia, archaeologists, historians, and art historians have studied selected monuments in depth or surveyed regions for monumental ruins and other features, but have less commonly studied their datasets as a group to infer processes of socio-political change. Using the example of the Golconda kingdom of India’s Deccan plateau, this study describes the evidence of the kingdom’s physical presence across a wide area, and shows how by combining the distribution across space with evidence of changes over time, aspects of the kingdom’s socio-political evolution can be inferred, from the development of the capital to the kingdom’s changing relationship with its more distant peripheries. Some overlooked monuments, when placed in this context, critically suggest the early formative stages of central political authority; others point to a growing culture of elite wealth, patronage, and competition during the era of increased international trade.

Historians Writing about Historians

This article takes three famous historians writing about historians and history-writing as its subject, considering Fan Ye’s work in light of Liu Zhiji’s understanding of history and Fan Ye’s writing on Ban Gu. It seeks to discover in Liu Zhiji’s work the principles for writing a guoshi 國史 (court history), reading Liu Zhiji’s principles in relation to Liu’s assessment of Fan Ye’s Hou Hanshu (History of the Later Han) in general, and, it provides, more particularly as a case study, a study of Fan Ye’s treatment of the earlier historian Ban Gu, author of the Hanshu (History of Han). The article builds the cases that Liu Zhiji and Fan Ye are model historians, insofar as they were responsible for supplying plausible accounts of the past based on the evidence available to them. Liu Zhiji’s metahistorical rules and Fan Ye’s biography of Ban Gu serve in the article as examples in this regard. The article presumes that the historians’ experiences in their own lifetimes inevitably shaped both the style and content of their works, as no “objective” or “scientific” account of history is possible. The good historian instead holds himself accountable for the judgments rendered. So although modern historians of China today may well prefer the rhetorical style of one of the three early historians to that of the others, moderns would do well to ponder, and in some cases emulate features of the early histories under review here.

EXPELLING THE FOREIGN-BORN MENACE: IMMIGRANT DISSENT, THE EARLY DEPORTATION STATE, AND THE FIRST AMERICAN RED SCARE

This essay explores the impact of the First Red Scare on immigrant populations, focusing on the function that detentions, deportations, and attempted deportations occupied within the broader antiradical politics of the period. I assert that deportations were far more than an instrumentalist tactic of the Red Scare, but instead, were part of a much longer trajectory of expanding anti-immigrant enforcement and the postentry social control of foreign-born residents. Antiradical raids during the era have held a prominent place in the scholarly imagination, which has remained overly constrained by the exceptionalist and episodic narratives put forth by its earliest historians. I trace the evolution of scholarship on the Red Scare's temporal boundaries, the motivations for targeting immigrants, and the debates over how radical a rupture this period represented from earlier practices of antiradicalism and anti-immigrant politics. In doing so, I argue that Red Scare deportations must be understood in relationship to the broader deportation practices of the period and the rapid (and more consistent) growth of removals instigated because of racialized criteria of poverty, crime, health, or violations of an ever-stricter border regime.