Before I approached Roll Jordan, Roll I felt disappointed that so much of this book and its interpretations have been told to me by others in the class and classes I have had in American history in the past. What I had heard about the book and Genovese's writings is that they are highly controversial and tend to paint slavery in a flattering light and explain away the negatives of slavery through a discussion of southern whites and African-American slaves as having equal influence on one another. (Note: This is what I have been told, not necessarily what I think or know the book actually says.)
Therefore, it is hard to approach the book without having built-in negative judgment.
When you read, does hearing negative criticisms of a historical book tend to ruin the experience of reaching your own conclusions? I feel like sometimes approaching history books, I have a built-in bias against them and it is harder for me to get into them and dig out their deeper meanings. Ex: I loved Edmund Morgan's book that we read because it was a topic that I hadn't read a lot about, and the writing style was incredibly engaging. I could have a confident, longer discussion of that book. And then we got into Gordon Wood's book, in which I personally found the writing style to be incredibly dull, and it was on a historical time period I don't have a particular interest in. I try to keep an open mind to fishing out the topics of interest to all American historians and in an ideal world, I would be a student of history who is always ready to engage in that approach, but sometimes I can't motivate myself on topics I am disinterested in or the negative criticisms I have heard make me less engaging....Long story short, what I'm asking is: What tactics have you guys found to be effective to engage a book with an open mind even if your initial response or the popular response from others is negative?
Lord knows I had pre-conceived notions before I read Marx, now i cant get his historic framework out of my head. I think your concern just goes with the territory and is not limited to academia. Whether you're speaking of history books, carnival rides, or Miley Cyrus songs, you will never engage the material in a vacuum. At the same time I feel this is our challenge as students and historians, right? Take all critiques with a grain of salt until you educate yourself, then build from there through discussion. Yet, we are still human and whether a book is either hyped as being too good or too flawed is bound to cloud our judgment when we read in some manner. The key is being aware of this going in and not letting your brain trick itself. Plus discussion boards and classrooms can be great equalizers as well. I, for one, knew nothing of this book but as I read it in tandem with reading these posts, both seem to be influencing how I regard the other without my intending it to,and not just in one direction...oh no, did I just agree with Genovese's main argument without meaning to?
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