Reviews
Van Atta produces an incredibly readable and engaging work perfect for classroom use or as a refresher for those historians who need a compact summation of the latest scholarship surrounding this important historical moment in the early nation.
In this engaging work, Van Atta... provides an in-depth analysis of the 1820 Missouri Compromise, a seminal event on the road to the Civil War...
Wolf by the Ears should be valued by scholars seeking a quick overview of antebellum American political history. More than just short, yet comprehensive, Van Atta’s account is comprehensible, which should make it especially valuable to students, who should welcome its inclusion on course syllabi.
Van Atta expertly outlines the intellectual and ideological ramifications of slavery's expansion—which can often become quite complex and convoluted—with an engaging style...This text is particularly suited for college students, nonspecialists, and those wanting a refresher on the sectional conflict of the antebellum period.
Van Atta has written the clearest narrative of the Missouri crisis to date. students and scholars alike will profit from reading this brief yet thorough survey of a seminal moment in the history of the early republic.
The meticulous translation and excellent editorial annotations make this a deeply valuable scholarly contribution.
John R Van Atta has written a fine synthesis on the Missouri crisis that incorporates some of the best scholarship in the field. It serves as a wonderful introduction to the subject.
Students and specialists have long needed a study of the Missouri Compromise that would take advantage of recent scholarship and lift the subject beyond the fine-grained detail of political and legislative negotiation. In Wolf by the Ears, Van Atta does both and more, analyzing the Missouri question in ways that put the entire issue into the broadest possible context. His wider lens not only produces a refreshing contribution to the history of the Early Republic but to the entire antebellum era. An excellent book.
Book Details
Preface
Acknowledgments
Prologue
1. Origins
2. The West
3. Impasse
4. Compromises
5. Aftermath
Epilogue
Notes
Essay on Sources
Index