MSUās Lang receives Library Journalās prestigious starred review for new Civil War book
Contact: Sarah Nicholas
STARKVILLE, Miss.āA Ļć½¶Ö±²„ Civil War expert and associate professor of history received a starred review in Library Journal for his newest publication, described by the periodical as a ābrilliant bookā that depicts how āthe Civil War-era generation struggled to give form and forceā to American ideas of liberty.
Andrew F. Langās book, āA Contest of Civilizations: Exposing the Crisis of American Exceptionalism in the Civil War Eraā (2021), is the final installment of UNC Pressās landmark series, the āLittlefield History of the Civil War Era.ā
āThe book explores a controversial yet long-standing dogma of national identityāAmerican exceptionalismāwhich holds that the U.S. was founded as the exception to monarchical tyranny and aristocratic privilege,ā Lang said.
The book explains how 19th-century Americans āquestioned whether the Union could chart a distinct course in human affairs when slaveholders, abolitionists, free people of color and enslaved African Americansā had differing definitions of nationhood.
āThe powerful institution of slavery severed the way 19th-century Americans understood the U.S. as the worldās ālast, best hopeā of political liberty and economic mobility,ā Lang said. āThis book is relevant to 2021 because it is not merely about American history. Generations of Americans have imagined the U.S. as a unique nation in the world, a republic whose origins rest on individual liberty. But as the book demonstrates, the American experience is not so clear cut, often riddled with paradox, contradictions, triumphs and shortcomings.ā
Library Journal, a publication founded in 1876 to review library-related materials, said in its starred review of the book, āLangās tour de force is a compelling and essential read. He shows how Americansā self-anointed claim of exceptionalism was, and is, premised on a supposed consensus on libertyās meaning that never was and perhaps will never be. Vital reading for all.ā
Lang said the book serves as a reminder that āthe enduring ideals of equality and liberty establish standards for all generations to strive for a more perfect Union.ā
āThe nationās fate depends on an energetic, committed citizenry to uphold and preserve the enduring ethics of American life, lest those principles wither from our own neglect,ā Lang said.
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Lang is the recipient of the 2020 Beverly B. and Gordon W. Gulmon Deans Eminent Scholar in the Humanities honor and the 2018 William E. Parrish Faculty Teaching Award at MSU.
Lang also is a 2018 recipient of the Tom Watson Brown Book Award, presented annually by the Society of Civil War Historians to an author whose work provides original contributions to the understanding of the Civil War time period, for his 2017 LSU Press publication, āIn the Wake of War: Military Occupation, Emancipation, and Civil War America.ā
Langās research at Ļć½¶Ö±²„focuses on how 19th-century Americans understood and created warfare, particularly during the Civil War Era.
A 2013 Rice doctoral graduate in history, Lang received a masterās degree in 2008 and bachelorās degree in 2005, both in history from the University of North Texas.
MSUās College of Arts and Sciences includes more than 5,200 students, 323 full-time faculty members, nine doctoral programs, 15 masterās programsĢżand 27 undergraduate academic majors offered in 14 departments.ĢżIt also is home to the most diverse units for research and scholarly activities, including natural and physical sciences, social and behavioral sciences, and the humanities.ĢżFor more details about the College of Arts and Sciences or the history department, visit or .Ģż ĢżĢż
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