3. Nearly 50 years after his death, Hofstadter continues to shape how educated Americans understand things like social darwinism, populism, conspiracy theories, and anti-intellectualism. Alas, he was wrong about almost everything.
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4. Hofstadter's influence is easily explained: he was a very fine prose stylist (especially for an academic historian) & his centrist politics appeals to elite journalists & politicians.
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5. As a Cold War liberal who flourished in the 1940-1960s, Hofstadter was the leading "consensus historian," emphasizing the durability & pervasiveness of small-l liberal though (defined broadly to include centrist Republicans)
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6. The problem with Hofstadter's consensus view is that he could only see any deviation away from mainstream 1950s American politics as pathological.
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7. Aside from his ideology, other thing about Hofstadter was he didn't do much archival research (due to allergies & general poor health). So he relied heavily on secondary literature, which he eloquently synthesized.
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8. Repeatedly, those subsequent historians who did do archival research found that Hofstadter's work was filled with glib & often flat out wrong generalizations.
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9. A few examples. Hofstadter: social darwinism was philosophy of plutocrats. Robert Bannister: there really no coherent philosophy & many political traditions selectively used Darwin.
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10. Hofstadter: Populists were bigoted, rural loons out of touch with modernity. Nugent/Goodwyn & many others: populists no more bigoted than elites they opposed & they had detailed, intelligent response to real problems.
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11.Hofstadter: McCarthyism grew out of populist tradition. Michael Rogin & others; Cold War liberalism prepared groundwork for McCarthyism & McCarthy himself supported by mid-western business elite.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
Interesting how in each example, you simply present the more recent historians as if their work obviously surpasses Hof's when, in fact, one could conclude they merely fit better with later historiographical trends and fads.
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No, what's key is that they all bolster their points with a body of archival research that Hofstadter just didn't do.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
It's never just a matter of archival research. (I never pegged you as a naive empiricist.) It's judgment about what matters, how to interpret it, etc. Hof saw broad themes in American history, and he's still read because of that vision, and despite corrections that add nuance.
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