Historian Stephanie McCurry Honored with Merle Curti and Avery O. Craven Book Awards

Stephanie McCurry, Professor of History, has been selected by the Organization of American Historians (OAH) to receive the 2011 Merle Curti Award, which is given annually for the best book published in American social or American intellectual history, and the Avery O. Craven Award, which is given annually for the most original book on the coming of the Civil War, the Civil War years, or the era of Reconstruction, with the exception of works of purely military history. OAH president David A. Hollinger and president-elect Alice Kessler-Harris presented the awards in Houston, Texas, on March 19 during the 104th annual meeting of the organization.

McCurry's book, Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South reframes historical debates about the Confederacy and the Civil War. Asking how the Confederacy functioned as a fledgling state, McCurry identifies the Confederate project as an allegedly "democratic" nation-state of white men founded on the explicit ideology of exploitation and enslavement of the majority of the population, namely, slaves and women. Employing the international frameworks of subaltern and agrarian studies in her analysis of the political behavior of the rural poor, McCurry brings into focus hitherto invisible or unexamined actions of poor women and slaves. Exploring how the Confederacy functioned in war, and focusing on the actions of male and female slaves and white women, McCurry shows how the Confederacy collapsed because of the internal contradictions of its founding project as well as the external pressures brought to bear by the Union army. The Confederacy's failure to allow for the political influence and impact of subaltern groups created a model of the nation-state that was inherently unsustainable.

Founded in 1907, OAH is the largest learned society and professional organization dedicated to the teaching and study of the American past. OAH promotes excellence in the scholarship, teaching and presentation of American history, and encourages wide discussion of historical questions and equitable treatment of all practitioners of history. Members in the U.S. and abroad include college and university professors; students; precollegiate teachers; archivists, museum curators, and other public historians employed in government and the private sector.

Read more about Confederate Reckoning on SAS Frontiers.