In this volume, Leuchtenburg and more than two dozen of his colleagues consider American places, ranging from iconographic centers, such as Boston Common and Graceland, to lesser-known venues like Barre, Vermont, and Woodside, California. Leuchtenburg himself writes of his hometown of Queens, where history is busily writing itself today as immigrant groups forge a multi-ethnic community much different from the days of yore. The opening essay even addresses the place that is no place--namely, cyberspace--but that is also distinctly American, a frontier whose boundaries are unknown. Readers with an interest in history and cultural geography alike will find much of value in these pages. --Gregory McNamee

Product Description
In American Places, more than two dozen of America's most gifted historians write about their encounters with historic places, bringing a personal viewpoint to bear on a wide variety of sites, ranging from Monticello to Fenway Park. Here James M. McPherson writes about the battlefield of Gettysburg, and how walking the ground of Pickett's Charge inspired one of his books. Kevin Starr visits the Musso & Frank Grill in Hollywood and finds many of the flavors of California history there. Joel Williamson takes a bemused tour of Elvis Presley's Graceland, and David Kennedy tells the story of the "Pig War" on San Juan Island, where a spat between Britain and America over a speck of land in the Pacific Northwest helped determine the shape of the U.S. and Canada. William Freehling compares two places, Charleston's Battery and New Orleans' Jackson Square, showing how each reveals the different spirit of the society that created it. And Edward Ayers talks about spending time in Cyberspace, U.S.A. Other pieces include Robert Dallek on the FDR Memorial, David Hackett Fischer on the Boston Common, and William Leuchtenburg on his native borough of Queens.
American Places celebrates the career of Sheldon Meyer, who over his years at Oxford University Press has published some of America's most distinguished historians, including many Pulitzer Prize and Bancroft Prize winners, virtually all of whom have contributed to this volume.

That's what this book does in just over 350 pages.

From small towns you have never heard of to Gettysburg, Monticello, and the New York Giants' Polo Grounds. Brief narratives, written by notable historians, describe not only where but why such places are special to them.

I had given a friend who likes to travel a copy of Charles Kuralt's book, written shortly after he retired from CBS, about the 12 best places Kurault wished to spend one month each in for an entire year. And which month of the year was best to be there. Everyone has their own Top Twelve list, of course. But it was nice to see the country from Kurault's perspective.

In return for the Kurault book, my friend surprised me with a literary gift of his own the next time he was in my neck of the woods. It was this book--American Places, Encounters with History. What a delight! The writers have a special knack for making their favorite places come alive.

Each essay is no more than 10-12 pages. The perfect ticket to some of the best ideas for future trips you'll want to take as soon as you finish the book.


GOOD AND BAD..........   February 4, 2003
 2 out of 14 found this review helpful

Almost all the writers, not all, mentioned Black people and slavery in their stories, and some Jews and Indians. Some of them used the word White as if it were a dirty word. These writers seem to be all liberals who want to prove that they aren't racists. And how many Blacks are going to read this book? Unless it's required reading in school. To me, these stories were a subtle bashing of people whom they think are racist in their thinking and actions. I would not have bought the book if I had known all this racial...was in it.


An American Landscape Reader   December 11, 2002
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I have to echo Rick Friedman's praise of Leuchtenburg's book. This is a wonderful survey of places where the past has come alive for some of the top names in the field of American history. From the Grand Canyon to cyberspace to Graceland, these short essays convey a sense of the "spirit" of a place--like Montgomery, Alabama, and Fenway Park in Boston--and how it has affected the author and connected him/her to the past. For some, like David Hackett Fischer, it is a sense of history still alive, while for others, David Kennedy, for example, it is how the events that took "place" at a particular location had far-reaching effects. Each essay in American Places is well-written and if I have one complaint it's that there aren't more of them.

Anyone interested in American history and how history effects place and vice versa should pick up this volume. Like Mr. Friedman, I received my copy as a gift and am glad I did.