Because these texts are revised frequently, albeit for commercial reasons, authors are presented with opportunities to incorporate new research and fresh perspectives, if they see fit.
Unlike lower level texts that simplify the narrative, teach to the tests, and sway with the political winds, texts for college survey courses present distillations of the state of the art. (ii) My choice of college texts as a measure of conventional wisdom is purposive. To determine the core national narrative of the Founding Era as presently told, I examined twenty-three college textbooks displayed at the Organization of American Historians 2013 annual convention.
Her impeccable research, combined with her stature within the profession, positioned Maier to nudge the narrative – but did it move? We can gain some measure of how these respond (or don’t respond) to historical correction by examining the relative impact of Maier’s work. Although traditional narratives, particularly those of a nation’s founding, are not impervious to change, they prefer to stay put. She had no ideological agenda other than setting the record straight, but that is no easy feat. Maier deconstructed popular mythologies by reconstructing historical narratives, basing her work exclusively on contemporaneous sources. In four important books she wrote and rewrote the history of the nation’s founding, but how seriously have her findings been treated? Her New York Times obituary appeared under this banner: “Pauline Maier, Historian Who Described Jefferson as ‘Overrated,’ Dies at 75.” (i) A lifetime of work exploring the popular roots of revolution and nation-building was reduced to a catchy sound bite. Upon her untimely passing Pauline Maier has been much celebrated, and deservedly so.
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