The American Yawp

Abstract

In an increasingly digital world in which pedagogical trends are de-emphasizing rote learning and professors are increasingly turning toward active-learning exercises, scholars are fleeing traditional textbooks. Yet for those that still yearn for the safe tether of a synthetic text, as either narrative backbone or occasional reference material, The American Yawp offers a free and online, collaboratively built, open American history textbook designed for college-level history courses. Unchecked by profit motives or business models, and free from for-profit educational organizations, The American Yawp is by scholars, for scholars. All contributors"experienced college-level instructors"volunteer their expertise to help democratize the American past for twenty-first century classrooms.

Many American history textbooks struggle to encapsulate American history. Some organize around themes "The American Promise, The Story of American Freedom" while others surrender to the impossibility of synthesis and retreat toward generality "America's History, The American People. But in the oft-cited lines of the American poet Walt Whitman we find as good an organizing principle as any other:"I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable," he wrote, "I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world." Long before Whitman and long after, Americans have sung something collectively amid the deafening roar of their many individual voices. Here we find both, chorus and cacophony, together, as one. Always free, always open, this textbook offers the story of that barbaric, untranslatable American yawp.

The American Yawp constructs a coherent and accessible narrative from all the best of recent historical scholarship. Without losing sight of politics and power, it incorporates transnational perspectives, integrates diverse voices, recovers narratives of resistance, and explores the complex process of cultural creation. It looks for America in crowded slave cabins, bustling markets, congested tenements, and marbled halls. It navigates between maternity wards, prisons, streets, bars, and boardrooms. Whitman"s America, like ours, cut across the narrow boundaries that strangle many narratives. Balancing academic rigor with popular readability, The American Yawp offers a multi-layered, democratic alternative to the American past.

Over 300 contributors collaborated during the 2013-2014 academic year to produce text and images appropriate for college-level American history courses. A team of editors then streamlined material for an open beta launch during the 2014-2015 academic year, during which time the project will be open for use and users can offer feedback as they work through the project themselves. After another round of editing, the Yawp will be "published" in time for the 2015-2016 academic year. Text and visuals will be available online at www.AmericanYawp.com and offline as a free, downloadable e-book. A second, concurrent phase will then launch to broaden the project by incorporating additional media, interactive materials, and pedagogical resources, while allowing for a "living" project that engages emerging pedagogical trends and harnesses the collaborative potential of twenty-first century scholarship.'