EH.T: economic history readings good for undergrad courses?

[dighe at oswego.edu]

Well, now that everyone's already selected their texts for this fall, I have a few supplementary-text ideas to pass along.  -- Ranjit

John Malsberger & James Marshall, eds., _The American Economic History Reader: Documents and Readings_.  This one is brand new, too new for me to have tried it, but it looks very promising:  concise yet insightful overviews of the topics, important primary documents, and famous articles or excerpts by economic historians.  Seems to be written for upper-level undergrads, but could probably work at other levels, too.

Walter Licht, _Industrializing America_.  Great, slender narrative of the nation's 19th century experience.  Appropriate for undergrads at all levels.  Would work well in a class of mostly econ and/or history majors (business students, not so much; at least that was my experience).

Charles Morris, _The Tycoons_.  Compelling, novelistic account of American industrialization, with a colorful but balanced treatment of Rockefeller, Gould, Morgan, and Carnegie.  Again, econ/history majors will like it a lot more than business majors.

James Loewen, _Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong_.  Not an ec hist book per se, but as a sociologist's passionate stab at U.S. history, it fits the interdisciplinary approach of most undergrad AEH classes pretty well.  And Loewen puts quite a bit of emphasis on the economics of colonial-Indian relations (a frequent gap in many AEH texts and classes), slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.  His chapter on economic mobility, while not his strongest, is good for stimulating discussion, especially if assigned in tandem with a more rigorous cliometric study of mobility and inequality.  Also, my students typically *love* this book; it does a lot to spark their interest in history.

Ranjit Dighe, ed., _The Historian's Wizard of Oz: Reading L. Frank Baum's Classic as a Political and Monetary Allegory_.  (Pardon the shameless self-promotion.)  The heart of the book is Baum's _Wonderful Wizard of Oz_, with about sixty annotations that point to alleged political/economic symbolism along the way.  There are separate chapters about Baum's intentions (or lack thereof), the gold standard, and  Populism, as well as an annotated version of the "Cross of Gold" speech.  Also a hit with students.

----- Original Message -----
From: Akira Motomura <amotomura at stonehill.edu>
Date: Friday, August 1, 2008 1:21 pm
Subject: EH.T: economic history readings good for undergrad courses?
To: Teaching Economic History <eh.teach at eh.net>

> ----------------- EH.TEACH POSTING -----------------
> Hi fellow economic history teachers,
> 
> As the new academic year approaches, I wonder if any of you out 
> there 
> have any suggestions of good readings for economic history 
> courses 
> that you might have come across in the past year or two.
> 
> Comments about the appropriate level of the reading (eg for 
> students 
> in an advanced seminar, with econ principles and/or stats 
> background, 
> no other formal econ courses, etc) would be appreciated by me 
> and 
> probably by others who might still be on this list.
> 
> Thanks in advance. - Akira
> 
> Akira Motomura
> Associate Professor of Economics
> Stonehill College
> 320 Washington St., D-58
> Easton, MA  02357
> 508.565.1149 (voice)
> 508.565.1444 (shared fax)
> amotomura at stonehill.edu
> 
> ----------------- FOOTER TO EH.TEACH POSTING -----------------
> EH.Teach at eh.net
> http://eh.net/mailman/listinfo/eh.teach
> 

***************************************************
Ranjit S. Dighe
Associate Professor
Department of Economics
SUNY College at Oswego
Oswego, NY  13126
Phone:  315-312-3484
Fax:    315-312-5444
E-mail: dighe at oswego.edu
Web: http://www.oswego.edu/~dighe/
Office:  Mahar Hall room 450
Office hours (Fall 2008):  MW 2:30-3:30, Tu 4-5
*************************************************** 
 "You don't have to burn books to destroy a 
culture. Just get people to stop reading them."
-- Mohandas K. Gandhi