The second portion of On
the Fringes recounts Curtin's numerous research trips to the Caribbean
and to Africa including an interview with Ghanian leader Kwame Nkrumah.
Curtin also describes the search for and acquisition of his first teaching
job at Swarthmore, discusses his employment at Wisconsin and Johns Hopkins,
reflects on the creation of a program in Comparative Tropical History
(Wisconsin) and involvement with an Atlantic Studies program (Johns
Hopkins). describes his role as president of the American Historical
Association and African Studies Association, notes the controversy over
his figures related to the Atlantic slave trade, and details the travels
to conferences during the twilight of his academic career. Also
worthy of note is Curtin's affiliation with the ASA's Oral Data Committee
project that archived a number of African oral traditions.
Philip
Curtin's career straddled important moments in the evolution of the
historical profession in the United States especially as this evolution
witnessed the rise of African Studies programs and the emergence of
world history and Atlantic history as formal academic fields.
Not only did Curtin's career span important moments in the profession,
his seasoned thoughts provide a great deal of material on which graduates
students coming of scholarly age at the beginning of the twenty-first
century may reflect.
Observations
worthy of note include Curtin's (undergraduate) discovery that œthe
proper subject of history is the process of change in human societies
in general ' not just change in the society you happen to belong to"
(47), the evolution and development of Curtin's historical interests
(from British imperial history and Latin America to African history
to Atlantic history to world history and the numerous subfields in between),
and the engaging reflections on teaching both undergraduates and graduate
students. Rather than pit one against the other; Curtin notes
that balancing act, or healthy tension, among teaching, research, and
writing. Though he does not sufficiently explain this observation,
commenting on his move from Wisconsin to Johns Hopkins Curtin writes,
œI found that the Hopkins teaching load resulted in about the right
balance of contact with students in order to give perspective to my
research" (176). This is something, it seems, that graduate students
and professors at the earliest stages of their academic careers might
do well to hear more about, although, perhaps, Curtin displays keen
wisdom by not elaborating on this point as the best learning often comes
with experience. Curtin is also frank about certain aspects of
his personal life as he describes the changes in his œdomestic arrangements"
(92) during the course of his academic career. Not only must one
strike a balance between teaching and research/writing, but also, as
Curtin subtly suggests negotiate the complexities of academic and personal/family
life.
Finally,
Curtin also comments (only briefly) on the process of writing.
In addition to his advisor, Curtin submitted a draft of his dissertation
to an editor at Harvard University Press for comment and critique.
Though Harvard University Press did not publish Curtin's dissertation,
he did receive crucial feedback: œIt was not enough that she [editor
Chase Duffy] was a severe critic; she also showed me that it was not
enough merely to put down what you knew ' that you should try to think
of what readers might want to know and tell them putting the search
for clarity ahead of literary flourishes" (62). These reflections
echo those of fellow historian William H. McNeill whose The Pursuit
of Truth: A Historian's Memoir appeared the same year as Curtin's.
About the process of writing McNeill notes: œIts main importance for
me was that in preparing the typescript for publication, I was surprised
to discover how much I could improve my prose by systematically converting
sentences from passive to active voice. This simple editorial
device also clarified my own thinking by attaching a definite subject
to every verb. This was, I believe, the first time I set out systematically
to revise my writing and strive for clarity and conciseness, instead
of being satisfied with whatever came first to mind. It is a habit
worth cultivating, and, I trust, improved the clarity and grace of all
my subsequent publications" (95).
While
Curtin's memoir is well worth the read, the only blemishes come with
three typos (pp. 64, 67, 156; mistakes both surprising and unnerving
for work associated with such an eminent historian (and surely an editorial
oversight). Nevertheless, historians of tomorrow will benefit
greatly from engaging the past through the life and times of Philip
Curtin.