The Future of the Past [Paperback]

The late C. Vann Woodward was one of America's most prominent historians. His books have won every major history award--including the Pulitzer, Bancroft, and Parkman Prizes--and he has served as president of both the American Historical Association and the Organization of American Historians.The Future of the Pastcollects two decades worth of Woodward's most significant essays, addresses, and major book reviews, including two important presidential addresses-- The Future of the Past and Clio with Soul (his trenchant assessment of Afro-American history)--as well as essays on changing historical concerns of the past decades, the value of comparative history, the South in Reconstruction times and the South today, and the use of fiction in history (and history in fiction). Woodward has written illuminating introductory comments on each section and offers an incisive general introduction about history and the direction the profession is taking today. Whether reviewing William Safire's novelFreedomor evaluating Henry Adam's portrait of Jefferson, Woodward's essays reflect a lifetime of thought on history and historical writing, and are essential reading for anyone concerned with either.

The Future of the Past, then, is Woodward the essayist in the tradition of Montaigne and Addison and Steele....Woodward...is still classier than the rest of us at our very best. --John Herbert Roper,The Journal of Southern History

Woodward is a historian who knows what he thinks, and has known it for a long time. And the vision is compelling....These essays show a devoted attention to and care for the discipline of history, which he has served well. --The Journal of American History

The essays of this tough-minded scholar are imbued with a generosity of spirit toward those with whom he takes issue and a charmingly self-depracatory attitude towards his own importance....Yet for all his genial comportment and enl³r