Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1994. [Vol. 2.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 22)
BOOK REVIEWS - Davis D. Joyce: D. W. Meinig: The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History. Volume 2: Continental America, 1800—1867. Yale University Press, 1993. 636 pp
DAVIS D JOYCE D. W. MEINIG: THE SHAPING OF AMERICA: A GEOGRAPHICAL PERSPECTIVE ON 500 YEARS OF HISTORY. VOLUME 2: CONTINENTAL AMERICA, 1800—1867. Yale University Press, 1993. 636 pp. Eric Foner, reviewing Howard Zinn's important 1980 book, A People's History of the United States, said that it involved "a reversal of perspective, a reshuffling of heroes and villains. The book bears the same relation to traditional texts as a photographic negative does to a print: the areas of darkness and light have been reversed." Meinig's work, while it basically should not be compared to Zinn's in any other way, is like it in the sense that it grabs you, shakes you, makes you think. Both the first volume, Atlantic America (1492—1800), published in 1986, and this volume, Continental America, did that for me —indeed, made me re-think major portions of the very American history that I am not only familiar with but have been teaching for a quarter of a century. Such books are too rare. Meinig is Maxwell Research Professor of Geography at Syracuse University (New York) . like many authors of such multi-volume works, he underestimated the number of pages he would need for his task; he now projects two additional volumes: Transcontinental America, 1850—1915, which he assures us is now "in preparation," and Global America, 1915— 1992. 173
