The first weekend of the NCAA tournament is done and dusted, and while Cinderellas like Dayton and Tennessee are making their way to regional finals, so the best early American history books since 2000 are getting ready for their equivalent of the showdown at Madison Square Garden. As befits such a grand stage, there are some marquee matchups. Who will prevail? As ever, your votes will decide! Continue reading
Category Archives: March Madness
Junto March Madness 2014: Round 2, Brackets 3 and 4
Yesterday, your favorite books on Atlantic, Native American, and religious history all slugged it out against each other. Today it’s the turn of histories of race and politics. Will Francois Furstenberg score an upset over T.H. Breen? Will Vincent or Christopher triumph in the battle of the Browns? And can Michael Jarvis extend his run as the lowest remaining seed? Your votes will decide it all! Continue reading
Junto March Madness 2014: Round 2, Brackets 1 and 2
You’ve had a day to contemplate Round 1 results, mourn or celebrate the state of your brackets, and think about your next choices. And now it’s time for Round 2. Continue reading
Junto March Madness 2014: Round One Results
The first round of Junto March Madness has now concluded, with most of the favorites progressing through to the next round. You can find full results below the jump… Continue reading
Junto March Madness 2014: Round 1, Brackets 3 and 4
Welcome to day two of voting! Your votes will decide who gets another shot at Junto glory. Continue reading
Junto March Madness 2014: Round 1, Brackets 1 and 2
The brackets have been compiled, the notes have been consulted. More importantly, you have had all weekend to consider the match-ups. Now all we wait for is your votes to decide who progresses to the next round. Continue reading
Junto March Madness 2014: The Unveiling of the Bracket
Today is the day you’ve all been waiting for with eager anticipation—the official unveiling of the Junto’s March Madness bracket! Thank you to all who nominated books over the last couple of days—this whole project wouldn’t have been possible without you.
As with last year, we had an overwhelming response to our call for nominations, with over 150 books nominated, and over half of those receiving multiple nominations or seconds. Constructing the bracket from such a list was a difficult—each of us had to see books we wanted in the tournament fall by the wayside.
Junto March Madness 2014: Call For Nominations
Last week, we announced our plans for “Junto March Madness 2014” – a bracket tournament pitting our readers’ favorite early American history books published since 2000 against each other. Today, we begin the Call for Nominations. Check out the rules below and then add your nominations and seconds in the Comments section. Then, by the power of The Junto‘s bracketologists, we’ll compile the tournament brackets, and open it up for your votes starting next Monday. Continue reading
Junto March Madness: Take Two!
The calendar has worked its way round to March, and here at The Junto that can only mean one thing: Junto March Madness is back! The principle is simple: we ask our readers to nominate books about early American history, then we pair them off against each other, until there’s only one book left standing. Last year’s tournament can be found here: Edmund Morgan’s American Slavery, American Freedom ultimately proved victorious.
This year, we’re going to be doing the same thing, only with a twist: entrants to the tournament will be limited to books published since 2000. Last time around, we noticed a tendency to reward older, more established books. We wanted to bring the same liveliness of discussion to more recent works, and to highlight recent work that deserves the prominence of old favorites. We’ll be asking for nominations next week, but we wanted to give you some advance notice so you could start thinking of the books you wanted to receive full consideration. Continue reading
Junto March Madness: Some Reflections
Colonial historians celebrating Morgan’s victory.
The final outcome of the Junto March Madness wasn’t really a surprise. Edmund Morgan’s American Slavery: American Freedom was the most heavily nominated book when we compiled the bracket, and no challenger really came close to defeating it as it stormed through the tournament like a juggernaut. Morgan’s easy victory invites reflection on why the book remains such a well-loved classic. Today, I am going to offer a few preliminary thoughts as to what we can can learn from the tournament, with all usual caveats about the unscientific nature of the process still in force. Continue reading
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