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1877: America's Year of Living Violently. By Michael A . Bellesiles. (New York: New Press, 2010. xiv, 386 pp. $26.95, isbn 978-1-59558441-0.)
There are many contenders for the worst year in American history, but after reading Michael A. Bellesiles's latest book, I will cast my vote for 1877.
Bellesiles's Arming America (2000) was so controversial that his Bancroft Prize was rescinded. 1877 is unlikely to be as contentious as it is a different kind of book - a chronicle of events that collided in a single unfortunate year. Although Bellesiles draws on primary sources such as newspapers, memoirs, and guidebooks, little of what he describes will starde Gilded Age experts. In fact, the books old-fashioned narrative tone is its most distinguishing feature. In an age of boutique course offerings built around a single analytical category, arching syntheses such as 1877 are increasingly rare. By putting the story back into history, Bellesiles reveals 1877 as it might...