On behalf of all the writers and readers of the U.S. Intellectual
History blog, as well as the members and friends of the Society for U.S.
Intellectual History, we wish to congratulate Daniel T. Rodgers, who
was recently named as one of three winners of the 2012 Bancroft Prize.
We knew that Age of Fracture was an Important Book. Andrew Hartman made that call for the USIH blog on January 4, 2011. He wrote, "A new book by Daniel Rodgers, The Age of Fracture,
which I predict will be the most talked about work of intellectual
history since Louis Menand’s Metaphysical Club, implies that Marx’s
thesis is a pretty good explanation for our postmodern condition."
Well...
What
Daniel Rodgers's book implies became a subject of repeated inquiry and
rigorous debate here on the blog and in the intellectual history blogosphere
generally. Andrew launched the discussion of Age of Fracture with a response to Lisa Szefel's review of Rodgers's book (History News Network), and followed his invocation of Szefel's critique with some reflections of his own ("The Culture Wars: Notes Towards a Working Definition"). Fellow blog authors Ben Alpers ("Pulling a Thread: How Should Intellectual Historians Deal with Erroneous, Foolish, or Vicious Thought?" ), Tim Lacy ("Who's In? The Hierarchy of Intellectuals"), Ray Haberski ("What Fractured?"), David Sehat ("Intellectual History and the Age of Fracture, Part I") and Mike O'Connor ("more on 'Age of Fracture'")
picked up the discussion and carried it forward, backward, and
sideways, with the enthusiastic participation of commenters known and
unknown.*
Indeed, in a marvelous bit of mimesis, Daniel
Rodgers and his brilliant book spread across the USIH cosmos (on this
blog and well beyond it) like the very contagion of metaphors he so
brilliantly, thickly and deftly described.
A highlight
of the fourth annual USIH conference (the first to be held under the auspices
of the newly organized S-USIH) was an entire session devoted to
discussing Rodgers's Age of Fracture. Ben Alpers chaired the
roundtable; Andrew Hartman, James Livingston, Lisa Szefel, and Mary Dudziak offered careful, critical reviews of the work. Daniel Rodgers responded thoughtfully
to these thoughtful interlocutors, and answered questions from the
audience -- though, as is only fitting for such a thought-provoking
book, his cryptic, coy replies may have raised more questions than they
answered.
Beyond question, though, is the breathtaking brilliance of Age of Fracture.
Daniel Rodgers managed to frame the epistemic frame of an age in such a
way that others are able to glimpse its contours, even as we stand within it.
That is no small feat, and this is no small book.
We are all delighted that Daniel Rodgers has been honored for this remarkable work.
------------
*I
have provided links to just a few of more than a score of posts on this
blog labeled with the keywords "Age of Fracture" or "Daniel Rodgers."
There are many more posts where Rodgers, his book, and his ideas are the
subject of discussion in the text and the comments.
In order to claim my own (very small place!) in the history of the reception of Rodgers's prize-winning book, I would like to point out that one of the above-mentioned posts was actually a guest post primarily written by yours truly--and generously posted to the blog by Mike O'Connor. Thanks again, Mike, for giving me that opportunity, and for making comments on the post that were probably more cogent than the piece itself!
ReplyDeleteDang it, Brian! I *saw* that and meant to add an edit earlier. Sigh. I am just angling for a spot on your persona non grata list...
ReplyDelete