Today is my last day of class for the year. I still have final research papers to complete but… first year down. No pause for reflection, I will figure that out later.
Although this may be premature I am going to state that Drew Gilpin Faust is my favorite historian. I read James Henry Hammond and the Old South for school. I am reading This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War and I have Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South all lined up in my queue (aka nightstand).
Faust embodies the perfect prescription for scholarship. 1/3 Narrative (stories, gossip), 1/3 theory, and 1/3 statistics. Her seamless narrative is dashed with facts and wrapped in historiography. It’s what I strive to do in all of my work.
I can’t wait for this semester and all of the art markets to be over so I can spend some time just reading, thinking, and writing. Breathing. Having fun that doesn’t come with guilt.
Deep breath – here goes my head buried deeper in the sand for the next two weeks… And Faust as my shining light.