| |
| author |
Jordan M. Reed
| | title |
Imagining The American Pageant: Thomas A. Bailey and the Creation of the Mid-Twentieth Century History Textbook
| | abstract |
This dissertation explores how the carefully cultivated style of Thomas A. Bailey's
textbook authorship ultimately made his texts successful. It begins exploring his foundations as
textbook author and how his stylistic tendencies started to form in his childhood, college
education, and early career as historian and education. The dissertation then examines Bailey's
first textbook, A Diplomatic History of the American People, and how it successfully supplanted
Samuel Flagg Bemis's more traditional textbook in the field and gained a large number of
enthusiastic readers. After, it examines how the traditional college textbook market was upended
during World War II. The resulting market became one that was ideally suited for Bailey's style
of authorship. During the 1940s and 1950s, Bailey's own historical work became more oriented
towards the problems of the postwar world and his mission to educate citizens grew more
apparent in his writing. This, when combined with his style of writing and presentation, resulted
in a philosophy of textbook style and presentation ideally suited for the 1950s textbook market.
Because of this, he was pursued by many publishers to write a general survey text in American
history. This text became The American Pageant and it was deliberately developed by Bailey
and his publisher to place his style of authorship and illustration front-and-center. The resulting
book was widely adopted and Bailey quickly became the leader in the college American history
survey textbook market, earning him a number of fans--students, historians, and educators. Of
course, through all of this Bailey's stylized approach to textbook authorship remained
controversial among readers. With this tension, and the feedback provided to Bailey, his writing
was deliberately molded for the textbook market. Bailey's legacy in textbook authorship is long
and extends to the twenty-first century and the recent seventeenth edition of The American
Pageant.
| | school |
The Caspersen School of Graduate Studies, Drew University
| | degree |
Ph.D. (2019)
|
| advisor |
Jonathan Rose
|
| committee |
Robert Townsend
Patrick McGuinn
Beth Luey
|
| full text | JMReed.pdf - requires Drew uLogin |
| |
