Andrew Burstein Mary Francis Barnard Professor of 19th-Century American History Discipline: 19th-Century United States, Early American Republic Jefferson’s Secrets is a portrait of Thomas Jefferson in the years after his retirement from the presidency, 1809-1826.  Drawing significantly on previously unpublished material, it addresses questions about the ex-president's personal and political legacies:  How did Jefferson confront his own mortality?  What were his views on religion and the possibility of an afterlife?  Did he love his slave Sally Hemings, as the positive DNA test of 1998 has suggested to many, or did she merely satisfy his physical needs -- or is there a richer explanation, based on medical and sexual knowledge and the particular moral considerations of Jefferson's generation?  And finally, how did Thomas Jefferson wish to be remembered?  In this book, Professor Burstein ambitiously explores the imagination of an American icon.

The Passions of Andrew Jackson (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003) details the seventh president’s stormy relationship with the world of early America. It emphasizes his earthiness and bravado, his formative years on the violent trans-Appalachian frontier, his ambition to be a leader of men, and his obsessive belief that a moneyed elite in eastern cities oppressed “ordinary” citizens like those with whom he had grown up. It shows that Jackson was a democrat in name only, impatient with those who disagreed honestly. Friendship, for him, was generally based on a principle of “due subordination,” much as he had come to expect of junior officers during his years as a U.S. army major general.

 

Jay Geller Discipline: Modern Europe, Germany, Jewish History Professor Jay Geller, the Department’s specialist in German history, has just published a new book, Jews in Post-Holocaust Germany.  The story of the reestablishment of Jewish life in Germany after the Holocaust and the relations between the German-Jewish community and German political and social leaders, this new book draws on recently opened archives and new sources.  Professor Geller has previewed this work at conferences in Washington, New Orleans, London, Vienna, and Bonn.  Jews in Post-Holocaust Germany is published in simultaneous hardback and paperback editions by Cambridge University Press.

Andrew Wood Discipline: Latin America, Mexico, Canada, Comparative Urban History, Cultural History Professor Andrew Wood is editor of a  volume on the unique culture that permeates the US-Mexican border region.  The book focuses on housing, travel, entertainment, crime, film, food, border agents, and religion.  Professor Wood, a specialist in the history of Mexico, is also working on an interactive CD to feature photographs and the music of Carnival in Veracruz, Mexico, and an exciting biography of Augustin Lara and the culture and politics of post-revolutionary Mexico.  Link to: www.scholarly.com