New Directions in United States Family History

This book addresses issues of religion, politics, and the shifting relationship between the family and the state. It offers a nuanced look at how scholars are engaging with family history in the first quarter of the twenty-first century: the sources they use, the questions they ask, and the new perspectives they bring to this work.

This book provides students with a brief, accessible introduction to new scholarship in US family history, from the colonial era to the present. Designed for classroom use, chapters address issues of religion, politics, and the shifting relationship between the family and the state. They offer a nuanced look at how scholars are engaging with family history in the first quarter of the twenty-first century: the sources they use, the questions they ask, the themes they consider, and the new perspectives they bring to this work. Each chapter provides a richly contextualized snapshot of a variety of families in various times and places with particular emphasis on the perspectives of African American, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian American, poor, working-class, and queer families. Taken together, these reveal many new directions in the field of family history, illuminating key aspects of the development of American families from a variety of viewpoints. Demonstrating the ongoing political significance of the family across time and place in US history, as well as the continued resilience and resourcefulness of families, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of gender, sexuality, marriage, childhood, feminism, imperialism, religion, and politics in the United States.