Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

You can paste full URL like: https://x.com/threadreaderapp/status/1644127596119195649
or just the ID like: 1644127596119195649

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

  1. On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
  2. Click again on or Share Via icon
  3. Click on Copy Link to Tweet
  4. Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
  5. More info at Twitter Help
Adam Rothman Profile picture
@arothmanhistory
Aug 18, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X
I was struck by this passage about historians' love of contingency in this essay by @jbf1755 in @TheAtlantic. I have something to say about this idea of contingency... theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/… Image
Historians often invoke contingency to imply that nothing is inevitable. Things could have gone one way or another. The concept goes hand-in-hand with agency, that all things are possible. Except that all things are not possible...
As Marx famously wrote in the 18th Brumaire, "Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please..." The historians' task is to explain why things happened as they did. That isn't our only task, but it is an important one...
It's notable, then, that contingency has another, almost opposite meaning. To say that something is contingent is also to say that it depends on something else. For example, one could argue that the success of the American Revolution was contingent on aid from France...
I think this latter meaning of contingency - what does the course of history depend on? - is more important for historians than the idea of contingency-as-indeterminacy, and it is where all the juicy arguments about history are to be found. Ok, end of esoteric rant.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Adam Rothman

Adam Rothman Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @arothmanhistory

Adam Rothman Profile picture
Jun 12, 2022
Normally I would be tempted to tweet some annoying pig-related pun, but this story is too important, and the processes of modern industrial hog farming are too horrifying, to joke about. nyti.ms/3xrOAMl
"In the early 1970s, North Carolina had about 18,000 hog farms, with an average herd of about 75 hogs. Today, it has only 2,000 hog operations, with herds as large as 60,000 hogs."
"And the waste sprayed on fields often fell on the roofs of nearby houses, Addison writes, with “the soft pitter-patter of rain.”"
Read 5 tweets
Adam Rothman Profile picture
May 22, 2021
The article shows that support peaked in early June 2020 and has declined since, primarily among Republicans. Of course Republican politicians have demonized #BLM, but there is a deep problem with the concept of "racial justice" itself. A short thread: nyti.ms/34afsBf
My thinking is influenced by Racecraft by Barbara and Karen Fields. In an essay on Woodward's Origins of the New South, Barbara Fields writes, "'equality' and 'justice', once modified by 'racial', become euphemisms for their opposites." (Racecraft, 159) versobooks.com/books/1645-rac… Image
The racecraft in this NYT essay resides first in reifying racial categories - endorsing race with a false reality and abstracting it out of the social and political process that makes it seem real; and second in the folly and ambiguity of measuring "racial attitudes"...
Read 7 tweets
Adam Rothman Profile picture
Nov 30, 2020
James K. Polk
This is historical malpractice. Image
Ht @pashulman
Read 4 tweets
Adam Rothman Profile picture
Sep 22, 2020
Thank you to Thaddeus Russell for having me and Barbara Fields on #Unregistered. Please watch. We discuss the Hannah Fizer case, racecraft, and history.
Here's the episode. If you've never heard Barbara Fields speak about racecraft before, you are in for a treat and an education. @ThaddeusRussell #Unregistered
As a reminder of what sparked this conversation, here's the essay that Barbara Fields and I wrote for @DissentMag dissentmagazine.org/online_article…
Read 4 tweets
Adam Rothman Profile picture
Aug 26, 2020
Teaching a grad class for @GUHistory on the US to 1900 this semester. Just had an invigorating first class, despite being on Zoom. Always fun to get to know a new group of students. Let's go!
Kicked off the semester with *Our Declaration* by @dsallentess. All historians should reflect seriously on this line from the book: "While history can serve to help us understand many things much better, it can also function as a barrier to entry."
Book #2 in my grad class on US to 1900 is Robert Parkinson's The Common Cause, which shows how fears of slave revolt, Indian war, and foreign mercenaries inspired the patriot rebellion against Britian. Great on revolutionary-era information networks. uncpress.org/book/978146962…
Read 15 tweets
Adam Rothman Profile picture
Aug 8, 2020
RIP Bernard Bailyn, quite a historian. I would like to add one point about his contribution to the historiography of slavery...
In his landmark book, Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, published in 1967, Bailyn recognized the centrality of the idea of slavery in Anglo-American political thought... Image
Moreover, slavery was more than an abstract metaphor. The Revolution put tremendous pressure on actually existing colonial slavery, he argued. Here's Bailyn's conclusion to this part of the book... Image
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

Send Email!

:(