A Faithful Account of the Race

“Highly recommended.” — CHOICE

“The book’s immense strength lies in its breadth and expansiveness. In conducting a chronological examination . . . Hall is able to present a wide range of understudied texts. . . . Critically important to the development and evolution of African American historiography.” — Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography

“The distinctive contributions of A Faithful Account of the Race is not that it considers black understandings of the black experience, but that it selects one set of these black historical writings and weaves them into a 120-year story of the ways in which African Americans thought about black people in history, both as actors and as the subjects of action. . . . [An] excellent book.” — North Carolina Historical Review

“A fine first book. . . . It is persuasively argued and succeeds in enhancing our understanding of the development of early black history. . . . Clearly organized. . . . Well written. . . . Its subject of nineteenth-century black history texts is thoroughly researched.” — H-Net Reviews

“Hall takes his subjects seriously as thinkers and historians and places them in the context of their time, rather than judging them according to modern standards of historical scholarship or analyzing them through the lens of modern racial concerns. . . . Fascinating and illuminating. . . . By demonstrating the richness and complexity of nineteenth-century African-American historical writing, Hall contributes to our understanding of American historiography and intellectual history.” — Journal of American History

“Extensively researched and well written, this monograph does more than establish the credibility of nineteenth-century black historical writings. Hall successfully locates the professionalization of black history within a continuum that stretches back to the early republic.” — American Historical Review

“Stephen G. Hall provides a solid introduction to early African American historical writing, reflecting a reverence for, and a mastery of, his subject.” — Journal of Southern History

“Provocative, groundbreaking, interdisciplinary historical methodology.” — African American Review

“With his insightful book as a starting point, Stephen Hall is pointing us in the right direction.” — American Nineteenth Century History

“A Faithful Account of the Race is a definitive study of nineteenth-century African American historical writing. Hall’s contribution to the field is original, deeply informed, and much needed. No other book covers such a wide range of historians and texts, and no one else has yet covered so much territory so well. A stunning achievement, an important and timely book that challenges much of the conventional wisdom.” — John Ernest, author of Chaotic Justice: Rethinking African American Literary History