History, On Proper Principles: Essays in Honor of Forrest McDonald - Tapa dura

Few historians have been as prolific—or as controversial—as Forrest McDonald, who has spent his long career shattering myths and standing athwart the increasingly ideological approach of his fellow historians. Perhaps most notably, he overturned Charles Beard’s theories about the economic origins of the Constitution, which had dominated the historical profession for decades.

History, on Proper Principles is the first book to pay tribute to McDonald’s towering legacy. Here, a distinguished group of scholars honors McDonald with essays on the wide variety of topics the historian has addressed over the past half century—from the Constitution to economics, from Hamilton and Jefferson to Franklin Roosevelt, from the antebellum South to interwar America. Contributors include such noted intellectuals as Bruce Frohnen, Burton W. Folsom Jr., Richard K. Matthews, F. Thornton Miller, and C. Bradley Thompson.

The book also includes an unpublished piece by McDonald himself, which he delivered as his final public lecture. Finally, the insightful introduction by editors Stephen Klugewicz and Lenore Ealy provides the only intellectual biography of McDonald ever penned, covering his approach to writing history, his legacy, and even his apparent contradictions in thought.

History, on Proper Principles is not only a long-overdue tribute to a hugely influential figure in the field of history, but also a fascinating and important historical contribution in its own right.

 

 

Stephen M. Klugewicz is director of education at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. He earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in American history at the University of Alabama, where Forrest McDonald directed his dissertation. A former director of education programs at the Bill of Rights Institute, he has written on history, politics, and classical music for various academic and popular journals. Lenore T. Ealy is president of Thinkitecture, Inc., a consultancy engaged in understanding and promoting the transformative work of philanthropy and the voluntary sector. She is an affiliated senior scholar with George Mason University s Mercatus Center and the founding editor of the journal "Conversations on Philanthropy."Ealy earned an M.A. in history from the University of Alabama, where she studied with Forrest McDonald, and a Ph.D. in the history of moral and political thought from Johns Hopkins. She lives in Indiana. ABOUT FORREST McDONALD Forrest McDonald is an eminent historian known whose wide-ranging work has covered the American founding including groundbreaking books on the Constitution such as "Novus Ordo Seclorum" (1985) and "E Pluribus Unum" (1965) the presidency, American business history, and the ethnic roots of the American South. His work has exerted a tremendous influence on historical interpretation, most particularly in his overturning of the influential Marxian theory of Charles Beard. McDonald earned his Ph.D. at the University of Texas is currently distinguished senior fellow of the Center for the Study of Southern History and Culture at the University of Alabama."