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| Format | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| Author, Analytic | Cassara, Ernest |
| Title, Analytic | Carl Schurz and the Writing of American History |
| Journal Title | Amerikastudien / American Studies |
| Date of Publication | 1988 |
| Volume ID | Jahrgang 33 |
| Issue ID | Heft 4 |
| Location in Work | 399-414 |
| Abstract | At the end of his service as Secretary of the Interior in 1881, Carl Schurz was invited to undertake a biography of the distinguished American politician Henry Clay. This article analyzes the extensive research involved in the project and the resulting two-volume work which appeared in 1887. Because of Schurz's thoroughness in providing background on the many issues in which the long-lived politician was involved, in reality the book was a history of the United States in the first half of the nineteenth century. Schurz was praised for his keen insight and for the balance he displayed in the book, as well as for his excellent writing style. His work holds up well, in comparison with the treatments of Clay that have appeared in the hundred years since its publication. This article also analyzes Schurz's masterful essay on Abraham Lincoln, whom he knew intimately and in whose administration he had served. After sketching the development of Lincoln in the rustic setting in which he grew to manhood, Schurz attempted to demonstrate that the very combination of the "uncouth" and the "lofty"--qualities considered by some to be disadvantageous in political life--led the people to place their faith in Lincoln and to fight with him to save the Union. The article also deals briefly with Schurz's other historical writings, especially his notable autobiography. In achieving recognition as a historian late in life, Schurz reached the goal which he had set for himself in his university years at Bonn. |
| Call Number | MKI P91-5 |
| MKI Terms | Schurz, Carl, 1829-1906/ |