So little perspective on this moment, its quite impossible to say. I think the perception that many people in the United States and of course also around the world have that this is an extraordinary unusual time something we are the time out of time, will be curiosity in the future people will look back and wonder about that very wonderment i think its an interesting phenomenon. When you think about today do you compare it to any period in history . Jill lepore as a historian im interested in analogies we have a cognitive tendency to enjoy analogies to find d one thing to be like another all the time. Just in the same way and the kind of person that sees likenesses and family members, and look at a new baby and say, that looks just like great grandma someone so. Have the same time, even as they say i recognize a lot of that is minded perception, my need for familiarity. I think there has been for most of my career as a historian the question to ask historians is what time is this like.
Books as a historian what is your contemporary view of how our world will be viewed . We have so little perspective on this moment is quite impossible to say but the perceptionptio t many peopln the United States and around the worldha have the extraordinary initial time. In a way that was experiencing. Host thinking about today do compared to any other period of history . Guest know. As a historian i think we have a cognitive tendency to enjoy analogies to be thing like anotherre f. And then to say that looks just like my great grandma with the baby but then also with my need for familiarity so as my career as a historian that is a journalistic tick to understand theres a whole crop leftparenthesis president ial beyond the one biographers as a way to contain that chaos as a way to avoid with that moment in time. Host you gave a talk on your book what do we mean in American History . How do we reckon that it is two different as to share a common ancestry as a people and it seems a fair
Of shoreland and conservation and food sustainability, and its just, its just terrific. Thank you so much for sharing your city with us. R span cspan is in portland, maine. We visit the childhood home of Henry Wadsworth longfellow. Often i think of the beautiful town that is seated by the sea, and often in thought go up and down the pleasant streets of that dear old town, and my youth comes back to me. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a, was an american poet in the 19th century. He was, when he was alive and writing, probably the most famous english language writer in the world if not the most famous person in the world. And today hes probably best remembered for poems like paul reveres ride, the childrens hour. Hes still very much a part of our everyday lexicon and our american memory. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in portland, maine, february 27, 1807. He grew up here. Its where he started writing. And even after he as an adult left portland and left maine, he still came back all
Paid much attention to dyer. They thought she was a crackpot, a lewin tuck. Who would write lunatic. Who would write books for 50 years decrying the shakers . Models of new england farm life and history. Yet as i read her text, i realized this isnt a woman whos insane, this is a woman whos angry. This was a woman who was placed in an untenable position as a woman in American Society in the first decades of the 19th century. The more i read, the more i realized this was more to this story than an angry woman trying to retrieve her children. Mary and joseph dyer were New Hampshire farmers living in the earliest years of the 19th century. At that time New Hampshire, especially in the far north, was still a frontier. And they were seeking security in an uncertain world. And they found it in religion. They became early converts to the religious group known as the shakers. The shakers are an american communal sectarian group. They are protestant in their orientation. They live separate from
Capture, john mccain talks about the impact of the vietnam war on his life and country sunday at 6 00 and 10 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv on cspan3. Announcer American History tv is that the main Historical Society maine Historical Society collecting artifacts. One goes back to the 15th century. Welcome to the maine Historical Society, the third oldest Historical Society founded in 1822 and have been collecting at this location since 1907. For the early years, maine Historical Society moved around a bit, the public library, and city hall, and once the house was donated to the society, we built this library. In 2007, we underwent restoration and renovation where we added 13,000 feet to the back of the 1907 building. The temperature and humidity controls, climate controls. We also have an offsite storage case for larger collections since we have outgrown the footprint of our intown location. We collect specifically on maine , but our materials to reach back to the 15th century