Trouble with Minna

Hendrik Hartog is Class of 1921 Bicentennial Professor in the History of American Law and Liberty, Emeritus at Princeton University and author of Public Property and Private Power.

“Representative of the best of modern historical scholarship. . . . The volume will undoubtedly be of interest to scholars, educated laity, atheist, agnostic, and religionist alike.”- American Historical Review“Appelbaum’s narrative is vigorous, and her analysis of the ways in which Francis has been read and contested is convincing.”- Church History and Religious Culture“Achieves success as both a work of careful scholarship and a delightful read.”- Choice“Makes an important contribution to American history of religion and to the field of Franciscan studies. . . . A must-read for historians of American religion and the Franciscan tradition alike.”- American Catholic Studies“A cultural history of how the medieval monk has been represented in U.S. culture over the past two hundred years.”- Journal of American History“An entertaining read [that] helps us separate the real figure from folklore- Francis the popular icon from Francis the man.”- Episcopal Journal“This well-researched biography is recommended as a case study of how the perceptions of historical individuals change over the course of time to fit and speak to contemporary issues.”- Library Journal “This vivid exploration of an important topic is a must-read for anyone interested in higher education and HBCUs in particular.”- Library Journal, starred review“Favors . . . details the integral role of black colleges in nurturing 'communitas' and the 'unwritten second curriculum' . . . which spearheaded activism among African Americans from the nadir of race relations (after Reconstruction) to the present day . . . Favors describes the second curriculum and communitas not as a subversive plot against American democracy, but instead as a beacon of hope for all people. Given recent spates of racial unrest across the nation and on college campuses, this book delivers a counter-narrative that is at once historic and prescient.”- CHOICE“A welcome addition to the history of higher education and the contemporary scholarship on student activism, social movements, and leadership. . . . A powerful reminder that black colleges were not just a consequence of de jure segregation. They have been, and continue to be, a symbolic space that affirms the humanity and agency of black youth.”- Academe “Traces the shifting arguments made by the workers and the politicians who sought to transform an agency that was fiercely opposed to transformation.”- Kelefa Sanneh, The New Yorker“It is this history of segregation, and of resistance to it, that Goldberg chronicles masterfully, from firehouse fistfights to fraternal organizations to federal litigation.”- Gotham Center for New York History“Works hard to remind us, powerfully at times, about black firefighters' courage, persistent struggle against discrimination, and efforts to work the system for greater racial equity.”- Journal of American History“A welcome contribution to literature on race and labor in American cities. . . . Goldberg reminds us how central public employment has been to the economic and political struggles of African Americans over the past century.”- Journal of African American History“Provides a relentless display of facts, figures, and insights in narrating this black labor resistance to intransigent white supremacy. He does so with an able collection of archival evidence, oral histories, and a survey of secondary literature, all told as a gripping story that includes some memorable individuals and concludes with a qualified upbeat ending--at least for now.”- American Historical Review “Hartog resists the impulse prevalent in the historiography of northern emancipation to keep moral score; he neither celebrates nor castigates gradual abolitionism. Rather, Hartog follows the smoke of litigation to find fires that shed light on fraught human experiences. Subsequent historians of northern slavery's terminal era will learn from his thoughtful approach to a legal regime designed paradoxically to dismantle and to maintain the status quo.”- Journal of the Civil War Era“Hartog's line-blurring has taken a novel tack by demonstrating how antebellum slavery in New Jersey was hardly the monolithic 'unfreedom' we have come to accept . . . . The Trouble with Minna makes a robust addition to a historiographical field which ultimately reveals the historical coexistence and codependence of capitalism and slavery.”- Law & Social Inquiry“Contributes significantly to our understanding of how the law worked during the emancipation era.”- Journal of American History