ABSTRACT
The historiography of nineteenth-century America, like that of the nation's history more broadly, has changed in dramatic and profound ways in recent decades, carving out entirely new fields, adding immeasurably to the complexity of our work, and redefining even our most fundamental understandings of the past. The revolution in nineteenth-century American historiography on race and racism has been dramatic indeed, but one could easily point to seismic shifts in other fields and subfields like the history of women and gender, Native Americans, LGBTQ Americans, and the new and growing areas of transnational and global studies. The historiographies of intensely researched topics like politics and the Civil War would have taken months to master, but every so often, a prominent historian of political culture or the sectional crisis like Edward Pessen or Ronald Formisano would publish a historiographical essay that walked readers through recent trends, "catching up" those who remained primarily interested in other fields.
