| Description |
1 online resource (xii, 280 pages) : illustrations |
| Contents |
Introduction -- Providence and the Scandal of Missionary Failure -- Providential History -- Professionalizing Providence -- Selling Providence -- Debunking Providence -- After Providence |
| Summary |
"In 1847, Protestant missionary Marcus Whitman was killed after a disastrous eleven-year effort to evangelize the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest. By 1897, Whitman was a national hero, celebrated in textbooks, monuments, and historical scholarship as the 'Savior of Oregon.' But his fame was based on a tall tale--one that was about to be exposed. Sarah Koenig traces the rise and fall of Protestant missionary Marcus Whitman's legend, revealing two patterns in the development of American history. On the one hand is providential history, marked by the conviction that God is an active agent in human history and that historical work can reveal patterns of divine will. On the other hand is objective history, which arose from the efforts of Catholics and other racial and religious outsiders to resist providentialists' pejorative descriptions of non-Protestants and nonwhites. Koenig examines how these competing visions continue to shape understandings of the American past and the nature of historical truth."-- Provided by publisher |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Sarah Koenig is assistant professor of history at Ramapo College. She earned her joint Ph.D. in History and Religious Studies from Yale University |
|
Print version record |
| Subject |
Whitman, Marcus, 1802-1847.
|
| SUBJECT |
Whitman, Marcus, 1802-1847 fast |
| Subject |
Providence and government of God.
|
|
Protestantism -- United States -- History
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|
HISTORY / United States / 19th Century
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|
Historiography
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|
Protestantism
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Providence and government of God
|
| SUBJECT |
Oregon Territory -- History. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85095431
|
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United States -- Historiography.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140129
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| Subject |
United States
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United States -- Oregon Territory
|
| Genre/Form |
History
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| ISBN |
9780300258585 |
|
0300258585 |
|
