Volume 3 (1981)
Thomas Bender, editor
Again, we begin the Newsletter with a course syllabus. "The Culture of American Cities" has been offered by Professor William R. Taylor.
Theories of writing and narrative have transformed the study of literature in recent years; they may also have implications for the way history is written and read. Professor Richard H. King opens up this issue with an essay on "History and Fiction."
Professor John P. Diggins presents a critique of what he perceives as a contextualist movement in American historiography. His essay was occasioned by reviews of his book, The Bard of Savagery: Thorstein Veblen and Modern Social Theory (1978). The reviews that stimulated his reflections were written by Dorothy Ross (in the American Historical Review, October, 1979), by Laurence Veysey (in Human Nature, September, 1978), and by Thomas L. Haskell (in Reviews in American History, December, 1979). Professors Ross, Veysey, and Haskell have in turn responded to Diggins.
Professor Daniel Calhoun reviews The Railway Journey by Wolfgang Schivelbusch, and in the process challenges the assumptions underlying certain advanced styles of historical writing.
The concluding piece in this issue is a response by Professor J. G. A. Pocock, to the essay by Joyce Appleby in the last issue [Fall, 1980] of the Newsletter. Appleby's rejoinder will appear in the next issue [Spring, 1982] of the Newsletter.