On The Fringes Of History: A Memoir

by Curtin, Philip D.

• ISBN13: 9780821416457
• ISBN10: 0821416456
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-09-01
• Publisher: Ohio Univ Pr

Summary

In the 1950s professional historians claiming to specialize in tropical Africa were no more than a handful. The teaching of world history was confined to high school courses, and even those focused on European history. Philip Curtin developed a sound methodology for teaching world history and, always a controversial figure, revived the study of the history of the Atlantic slave trade. His career stands as an example of the kind of dissatisfaction and struggle that brought about a sea change in higher education. Curtin founded African Studies and the Program in Comparative World History at Wisconsin and Johns Hopkins universities, programs that produced many of the most influential Africanists from the 1950s into the 1990s. Written with economy and telling detail, On the Fringes of History follows Curtin from his beginnings in West Virginia in the 1920s. This memoir, beautifully illustrated with Curtin's photographs, tracks the emergence of American interest and engagement with the wider world and writes an important chapter in the history of twentieth-century academia. ABOUT THE AUTHOR---Philip D. Curtin is Herbert Baxter Adams Professor Emeritus, at Johns Hopkins University. His books include The Atlantic Slave Trade: a Census and Cross Cultural Trade in World History.

Author Biography

Philip D. Curtin is Herbert Baxter Adams Professor Emeritus, at Johns Hopkins University. His books include The Atlantic Slave Trade: a Census and Cross Cultural Trade in World History.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	vii
Preface	xi
Growing Up in Central West Virginia	1	(25)
George School, Swarthmore, and the War Years	26	(19)
After the War and Graduate School at Harvard	45	(19)
Transitions	64	(31)
First Years at Wisconsin	95	(32)
Comparative Tropical History and African Studies	127	(22)
Academic Politics in the Late 1960s	149	(21)
To Johns Hopkins	170	(21)
Notes	191