Front Matter

WHY AMERICAN HISTORY IS NOT WHAT THEY SAY: AN INTRODUCTION TO REVISIONISM

ALSO BY JEFF RIGGENBACH

In Praise of Decadence

WHY AMERICAN HISTORY IS NOT WHAT THEY SAY: AN INTRODUCTION TO REVISIONISM

Jeff Riggenbach

All rights reserved. Written permission must be secured from the publisher to use or reproduce any part of this book, except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles. For information write: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 518 West Magnolia Avenue, Auburn, Alabama 36832; mises.org.

Copyright 2009 © by Jeff Riggenbach

ISBN: 978-1-933550-49-7

History, n. An account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools.

-AMBROSE BIERCE

The Devil's Dictionary (1906)

This book is for Suzanne, who made it possible.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Portions of Chapter Three and Chapter Five appeared earlier, in somewhat different form, in Liberty magazine, on RationalReview. com, and on Antiwar.com. David J. Theroux of the Independent Institute, Andrea Millen Rich of the Center for Independent Thought, and Alexia Gilmore of the Randolph Bourne Institute were generous with their assistance during the researching and writing stages of this project. Ellen Stuttle was her usual indispensable self. And, of course, responsibility for any errors of fact, usage, or judgment in these pages is entirely my own.

CONTENTS

Preface

ONE — The Art of History

I. Objectivity in History

II. History and Fiction

III. The Historical Fiction of Kenneth Roberts

IV. The Historical Fiction of John Dos Passos

TWO — The Historical Fiction of Gore Vidal: The "American Chronicle" Novels

I. Burr and Lincoln

II. 1876, Empire, and Hollywood

III. Hollywood and The Golden Age

THREE — The Story of American Revisionism

I. The Birth of American Revisionism and the Rise of Harry Elmer Barnes

II. Charles A. Beard and William Appleman Williams: From Progressivism to the New Left

III. Harry Elmer Barnes and James J. Martin: From Progressivism to Libertarianism

IV. James J. Martin: Historian and Pamphleteer

V. The Libertarian Historians and Their Colleagues on the New Left

FOUR — Some American Wars—Both Hot And Cold—Through Revisionist Eyes

I. The U.S. Civil War—the Revisionist View

II. America in the World Wars—A Revisionist Perspective

III. A Revisionist Look at America in the Cold War

FIVE — The Politics of the American Revisionists

I. "Left" and "Right," "Conservative" and "Liberal," Differentiated Historically

II. The Decline of American Liberalism—the Early Years

III. Conservative Republicans and Liberal Democrats in 19^th Century America

IV. Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and the Triumph of Conservatism

V. Herbert Hoover's New Deal

VI. The Myth of the "Old Right"

VII. The Goldwater Anomaly

VIII. The Reagan Fraud—and After

SIX — The New American History Wars

I. Why Textbooks Matter

II. The Breakdown of the Consensus—the Case of Howard Zinn

III. American History According to Eric Foner

IV. Thomas E. Woods, Jr. vs. Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen

V. History, Fiction, and Objectivity—Some Concluding Observations

Index

Notes