Both Shade and Brown write their pieces in a way that demonstrates the growing complexity of both American history and politics \u2013 on through charting the development of American political history and the other through the analysis of \u201cinformed citizenry\u201d in the United States. While I agree with my colleagues that Shade\u2019s \u201cD\u00e9j\u00e0 Vu All Over Again\u201d was undoubtedly dense, I think it sheds important light on the development of American political histories and how a \u201cNew New Political History\u2026provides hope for the revitalization of American political history (404).\u201d While arguing that the newest form of political history emphasizes \u201cculture\u201d and is largely devoid of any \u201cquantification of their analyses,\u201d Shade illustrates this newest political history also incorporates previous political histories (400-401). Through his analysis of several works contained in Beyond the Founders, Shade makes clear that the newest political history is not a definitive departure from the traditional or even the first New Political History. Rather, it takes some of the strategies employed by the previous histories \u2013 for example, Pasley\u2019s traditional and neo-Progressive characteristics in his work \u2013 to emphasize different perspectives of a similar historical narrative (397). I think that Shade sees this amalgamation of qualities from earlier political histories as the aforementioned \u201chope\u201d he sees for the future of American political history.<\/p>\n
\tIn reading Shade, I also agree with Michael that Shade\u2019s commentary in many ways reflects what we have done throughout this course. While beginning the class with a very traditional view of political history, we have become cognizant of political history even in the \u201cpublic sphere,\u201d a quality Shade states is shared by almost all the newest political historians (398). In the past few weeks as we have incorporated religious history, women\u2019s history, and the history of black Americans, we have crafted ourselves into New New Political Historians and explored the nuances American politics for different members of society, as well as the way these nuances limited or shaped political voices.<\/p>\n
\tI also found Brown\u2019s \u201cLooking Backward\u201d and engaging piece of scholarship as I reflect on this semester. Most interesting was his argument about the development of the \u201ccommercial sector\u201d as the \u201cmost powerful educator and molder of informed citizenry\u201d in the United States (203). I thought his argument about t the commercial sector becoming a \u201ccrude demagoguery\u201d was most effective because it lifted some of his criticism off of American citizens and onto government officials. He claims that there is a fear that government officials have become \u201ctoo responsive\u201d to the messages conveyed by the commercial sector as opposed to moral institutions like the church (204). Thus, public officials are reinforcing the creation of an uninformed populace by succumbing to its uninformed demands. One criticism I have of Brown is that he finds that \u201ccomparisons across time\u201d of an informed citizenry \u201ccannot be definitive\u201d (202). While I comprehend his argument, he concludes that throughout American history, there has not been a monolithic definition of an \u201cinformed citizenry\u201d (205). In order to convincingly demonstrate this claim, Brown would have had to embark on some form of comparison of interpretations \u2013 much like Shade did in outlining American political history \u2013 of an informed citizenry in American history. It seems contradictory that instead, Brown casts doubt on the very grounds upon which he establishes his argument. With this in mind, Brown ultimately writes a very powerful and pertinent piece that calls into question the current state of American informed citizenry and challenges the populace to change political culture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Both Shade and Brown write their pieces in a way that demonstrates the growing complexity of both American history and politics \u2013 on through charting the development of American political history and the other through the analysis of \u201cinformed citizenry\u201d in the United States. While I agree with my colleagues that Shade\u2019s \u201cD\u00e9j\u00e0 Vu All … <\/p>\n