Robert J. Cook (1) (1958–)

Call this a case study in what happens when official history meets real-life politics, as the author examines the misadventures of the United States Civil War Centennial Commission. Set up to tell a conventional “Reunion” story of tragic struggle being set aside for brotherhood and patriotism in the pursuit of national greatness, while politely ignoring the racially-charged aspects of that history, Cook illustrates how the on-going struggle over the civil rights of African-Americans rapidly short-circuited any effort by the commission to create a usable Cold War past. This is seeing as the real work was done by state-level organizations who all had their own agendas, over and above the boosterism of the original commissioners. Late in the day historians such as Allan Nevins and Bell Wiley tried to salvage the commission as a serious educational enterprise, but the damage had already been done.… (plus d'informations)

4207 Baptism of Fire The Republican Party in Iowa, 1838-1878, by Robert Cook (read 7 Sep 2006) The author is a lecturer in American history at the University of Sheffield in England, but he has such a command of his subject one would never guess he was British. It is a study of the Republican Party in Iowa from 1856 to 1878 and is really a good book. The Republican Party gained its ascendancy in Iowa for a valid reason: it was more right on civil rights than was the Democratic party in Iowa. The party changed, of course, but it had become entrenched in Iowa by then and it remained the dominant party all thru the period studied. Many of the books listed in the good bibliography in this book I have read. James Grimes comes out looking like a great man, whereas James Harlan was something of a crook--which I had not realized even though I read a biography of him back in 1945. This is a well-researched book and tells interesting things about the politics of early Iowa.… (plus d'informations)