Overview

With an epic career that spanned two-thirds of the twentieth century, C. Vann Woodward (1908–1999) was a historian of singular importance. A brilliant writer, his work captivated both academic and public audiences. He also figured prominently in the major intellectual conflicts between left and right during the last half of the twentieth century, although his unwavering commitment to free speech and racial integration that affirmed his liberalism in the 1950s struck some as emblematic of his growing conservatism by the 1990s. Woodward’s vision still permeates our understandings of the American South and of the history of race relations in the United States. Indeed, as this fresh and revealing biography shows, he displayed a rare genius and enthusiasm for crafting lessons from the past that seemed directly applicable to the concerns of the present—a practice that more than once cast doubt on his scholarship. James C. Cobb offers many original insights into Woodward’s early years and private life, his long career, and his almost mythic public persona. In a time where the study and substance of American history are profoundly contested, Woodward’s career is replete with lessons in how myths about the past, some created by historians themselves, come to be enshrined as historical truth.

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9781469696164

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Reviews

""A fresh and revealing biography.""--South Carolina Public Radio ""A richly detailed biography . . . A rewarding read for scholars of Southern and 20th-century historical references in the United States.""--Library Journal ""An excellent biography.""--Register of the Kentucky Historical Society ""Cobb comments intelligently on Woodward's many scholarly works and essays. He is particularly sensitive to the ways in which Woodward, in writing about historical events, was also working out his own loyalties as a Southerner.""--Wall Street Journal ""Cobb deserves congratulations for a meticulous and even-handed biography, magisterial in its exploration of one our most celebrated historians.""--Chronicles ""Cobb's biography is a masterpiece. . . . deeply researched, movingly written, and thought-provoking. . . . Cobb's confident command of every part of the story, his exquisite selection of quotations, and the way he blends sophisticated analysis with folksy jabs keep the reader captivated.""--Journal of Southern History ""Cobb's engaging prose captures the nuances of Woodward's worldview and adroitly locates the historian within his evolving political moment. By no means a simple intellectual biography or a hagiography of a momentous scholar, the monograph fairly and cogently contends with the many facets of Woodward's personality.""--New York History ""Cobb's work aims to be the definitive biography of Woodward. It succeeds. . . . This book is good reading for anyone.""--Arkansas Historical Quarterly ""Drawing on his subject's writings and his voluminous papers at Yale, where Woodward taught from 1961 to 1977, Cobb portrays a scholar impatient with the mythologies, distortions and misguided hero worship that for most of the 20th century inhibited discussion of the South's many problems.""--Eric Foner, London Review of Books ""Woodward's concerns presaged ongoing debates that roil the historical profession about the place, purpose, and practice of history. This makes Cobb's biography a welcome and timely addition to the literature in this moment. It provides unique insights into the power and production of history and the generational conflicts that shape the discipline's debates.""--Civil War Monitor

“Drawing on his subject’s writings and his voluminous papers at Yale, where Woodward taught from 1961 to 1977, Cobb portrays a scholar impatient with the mythologies, distortions and misguided hero worship that for most of the 20th century inhibited discussion of the South’s many problems.”—Eric Foner, London Review of Books “Cobb’s biography is a masterpiece. . . . deeply researched, movingly written, and thought-provoking. . . . Cobb’s confident command of every part of the story, his exquisite selection of quotations, and the way he blends sophisticated analysis with folksy jabs keep the reader captivated.”—Journal of Southern History “Cobb comments intelligently on Woodward’s many scholarly works and essays. He is particularly sensitive to the ways in which Woodward, in writing about historical events, was also working out his own loyalties as a Southerner.”—Wall Street Journal “A richly detailed biography . . . A rewarding read for scholars of Southern and 20th-century historical references in the United States.”—Library Journal “Cobb’s engaging prose captures the nuances of Woodward’s worldview and adroitly locates the historian within his evolving political moment. By no means a simple intellectual biography or a hagiography of a momentous scholar, the monograph fairly and cogently contends with the many facets of Woodward’s personality.”—New York History “Woodward’s concerns presaged ongoing debates that roil the historical profession about the place, purpose, and practice of history. This makes Cobb’s biography a welcome and timely addition to the literature in this moment. It provides unique insights into the power and production of history and the generational conflicts that shape the discipline’s debates.”—Civil War Monitor “Cobb’s work aims to be the definitive biography of Woodward. It succeeds. . . . This book is good reading for anyone.”—Arkansas Historical Quarterly “Cobb deserves congratulations for a meticulous and even-handed biography, magisterial in its exploration of one our most celebrated historians.”—Chronicles “An excellent biography.”—Register of the Kentucky Historical Society “A fresh and revealing biography.”—South Carolina Public Radio

Author Information

James C. Cobb is B. Phinizy Spalding Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Georgia.

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