Emotions in American History

The study of emotions has attracted anew the interest of scholars in various disciplines, igniting a lively public debate on the constructive and destructive power of emotions in society as well as within each of us. Most of the contributors to this volume do not hail from the United States but look at the nation from abroad. They explore the role of emotions in history and ask how that exploration changes what we know about national and international history, and in turn how that affects the methodological study of history. In particular they focus on emotions in American history between the 18th century and the present: in war, in social and political discourse, as well as in art and the media. In addition to case studies, the volume includes a review of their fields by senior scholars, who offer new insights regarding future research projects.

The study of emotions has attracted anew the interest of scholars in various disciplines, igniting a lively public debate on the constructive and destructive power of emotions in society as well as within each of us. Most of the contributors to this volume do not hail from the United States but look at the nation from abroad. They explore the role of emotions in history and ask how that exploration changes what we know about national and international history, and in turn how that affects the methodological study of history. In particular they focus on emotions in American history between the 18th century and the present: in war, in social and political discourse, as well as in art and the media. In addition to case studies, the volume includes a review of their fields by senior scholars, who offer new insights regarding future research projects.

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Notes on Contributors

Introduction: Emotions and History
Jessica C. E. Gienow-Hecht

Approaches to the Study of Human Emotions

Chapter 1. Emotions History in the United States: Goals, Methods and Promises
Peter Stearns

Chapter 2. Emotions and the History of Everyday Life
Alf Lüdtke

Emotions and War

Chapter 3. The Corruption of Civic Virtue by Emotion: Anti-imperialist Fears in the Debate on the Philippine-American War (1899-1902)
Fabian Hilfrich

Chapter 4. The Mobilization of Emotions: Propaganda and Social Violence on the American Home Front During World War One
Jörg Nagler

Chapter 5. Hanoi Jane, Vietnam Memory, and Emotions
Andreas Etges

Emotions Art and the Media

Chapter 6. ”Stop Them Damned Pictures...” - Political Cartoons, the Study of Emotions, and the Construction of the Anglo-American Relationship
Stefanie Schneider

Chapter 7. Emotions of Comparisons Perceptions of European anti-Americanism in U.S.-Magazines of the 1920s
Adelheid von Saldern

Chapter 8. Emotions and Nineteenth Century American Art
Bettina Friedl

Emotions and Society

Chapter 9. A Horrifying Experience? Public Executions and the Emotional Spectator in the New Republic
Jürgen Martschukat

Chapter 10. Emotions, American Society, and Discourses on Sexuality
Michael Hochgeschwender

Chapter 11. Does Every Vote Count In America? Emotions, Elections, and the Quest for Black Political Empowerment
Britta Waldschmidt-Nelson The View from the Other Side: Emotions and Psychology

Chapter 12. The Fortunes of Emotion in the Science of Psychology and in the History of Emotions
Horst Gundlach

Index