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The 1619 Project: A Critique by [Phillip W. Magness]

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Phillip W. Magness

The 1619 Project: A Critique Kindle Edition

by Phillip W. Magness (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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”When I first weighed in upon the New York Times’ 1619 Project, I was struck by its conflicted messaging. Comprising an entire magazine feature and a sizable advertising budget, the newspaper’s initiative conveyed a serious attempt to engage the public in an intellectual exchange about the history of slavery in the United States and its lingering harms to our social fabric. It also seemed to avoid the superficiality of many public history initiatives, which all too often reduce over 400 complex years of slavery’s history and legacy to sweeping generalizations. Instead, the Times promised detailed thematic explorations of topics ranging from the first slave ship’s arrival in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619 to the politics of race in the present day.

At the same time, however, certain 1619 Project essayists infused this worthy line of inquiry with a heavy stream of ideological advocacy. Times reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones announced this political intention openly, pairing progressive activism with the initiative’s stated educational purposes.

In assembling these essays, I make no claim of resolving what continues to be a vibrant and ongoing discussion. Neither should my work be viewed as the final arbiter of historical accuracy, though I do evaluate a number of factual and interpretive claims made by the project’s authors. Rather, the aim is to provide an accessible resource for readers wishing to navigate the scholarly disputes, offering my own interpretive take on claims pertaining to areas of history in which I have worked." -- Phil Magness

Phillip W. Magness is an economic historian specializing in the 19th century United States. He is the author of numerous works on the political and economic dimensions of slavery, the history of taxation, and the history of economic thought.

The American Institute for Economic Research in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, was founded in 1933 as the first independent voice for sound economics in the United States. Today it publishes ongoing research, hosts educational programs, publishes books, sponsors interns and scholars, and is home to the world-renowned Bastiat Society and the highly respected Sound Money Project. The American Institute for Economic Research is a 501c3 public charity.

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138 pages
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April 14, 2020
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0874S9KB8
Publisher ‏ : ‎ American Institute for Economic Research (April 14, 2020)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 14, 2020
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3559 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 138 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #30,109 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #14 in Economic History (Kindle Store)
- #73 in Economic History (Books)
- #167 in 19th Century History of the U.S.

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Gene Rhea Tucker

Good ammunition to fight back against the perversion that is the 1619 Project

Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2020

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4.5 out of 5 stars.

Phillip W. Magness of the conservative leaning American Institute for Economic Research has written several articles critiquing the much vaunted, and in reality much idiotic, 1619 Project by the <i>New York Times</i>. Here he collects those writings with a few more. Because some of these essays were first published in other venues, there is much overlap and repetition. Also, the original publications probably did not have footnotes, so footnotes seem to have been added. The footnotes are sloppily and inadequately done, and the citation style for economics is slipshod compared to the Chicago/Turabian standard in history. So, there is that. An editor could have been used, besides the odd footnotes, there were several minor errors in writing, spelling, punctuation, etc.

But, all said, these essays do mostly attack the 1619 Project on proper historical, historiographical, and economic grounds. The main gist is threefold, that the "New Historians of Capitalism" or NHC, those who say that modern capitalism was grounded, founded, and based on chattel slavery of African Americans: (1) do not properly define capitalism, because slavery is NOT capitalism, and they ignore slaveowners who detested free market capitalism; (2) some of the NHC writers use completely faulty economic and statistical evidence to make incorrect points about historical slavery and modern capitalism; and (3) the NHC historians ignore whole swathes of historiography on the economics of slavery, willfully ignorantly, (even to the point of denigrating Fogel and Engerman as "old white guys" who you needn't consider).

I disagree with the author's position on Lincoln and colonization. I think by the Spring of 1865 Lincoln was switching to giving black Americans citizenship and the men voting rights. He can both encourage colonization AND equality for the ones who don't want colonization. Anyway...

There are many good snippets of information here and there. It is good ammunition to fight back against the perversion that is the 1619 Project. Slavery was bad, and an important part of American history, but slavery is not what America is about. This book helps.

101 people found this helpful

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Publius Maximus

repetitive, spends way too much time trashing NHC instead of critiquing 1619 Project

Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2021

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This 132 page booklet isn’t so much a critique of the 1619 Project as it is a trashing of what the author calls “the New History of Capitalism” (NHC) generally, and Edward Baptist’s book, The Half Has Never Been Told, specifically. The author says that “the 1619 Project’s editors relied almost entirely on NHC scholars for its treatment of slavery’s economics” (page 104) so I he spends most of his time critiquing their work instead. For example, the largest chapter of the book (pages 69 to 100 – or about a quarter of the entire book) is called “A Comment on the ‘New’ History of Capitalism.” It doesn’t even mention the 1619 Project.

The book is a collection of essays, not a connected narrative. As a result, the same points get made over and over. And over. Yes, George Fitzhugh, “who was always considered something of a crank beyond the fire-eaters of the slave-owning political class,” (page 94) was not a fan of capitalism. Got it. No need to keep bringing it up – which Magness does four separate times. If you eliminated all the repetition in the book I don’t think the word count would rise to book level.

It should be noted that the Magness doesn’t critique the 1619 Project so much as he critiques the essays by Nikole Hannah-Jones and, especially, Matthew Desmond. He says nothing about the other essays so don’t expect a critique of those. Too busy bashing Edward Baptist over and over, I guess.

Magness states his complaint with the 1619 Project as follows: “The worthy historical task of documenting the horrors of American slavery has been cynically repurposed into an ideological attack on free-market capitalism.” (page 13) Also, the 1619 Project is “weaponizing the history of slavery…for the purpose of discrediting capitalism and free markets…” (page 29) OMG! These guys are criticizing “free market capitalism!” These complaints sound a lot like whining to me, especially after you’ve read them again and again.

If you’re looking for a review of The Half Has Never Been Told, written by a cheerleader for “free-market capitalism,” this is the book for you. If you want an actual critique of the 1619 Project you might want to look elsewhere.

66 people found this helpful

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James A. Farren

Excellent explanation of a very slanted program!

Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2020

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I would have give the publication five stars but for two issues:

1. The author repeated several points several times that had already been well established. Apparently the chapters were originally independent, self standing, articles. Of necessity, the original articles would review arguments that were made earlier. Still, the repetition was distracting.

2. The chapter titled “A Comment on the ‘New’ History of American Capitalism” was extremely esoteric & difficult to follow. I understand the work is “scholarly” but this chapter was a bit much.

67 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Debunking the shody scholarship that is the New History of Capitalism

Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2020

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The New York times is complicit in publishing this shoddy pseudoacademic distortion called the 1619 project. Well the 1619 project raises some serious issues it falls flat in its opinionated propaganda. The essays in this critique help to provide a more rational and objective assessment of these key issues

54 people found this helpful

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Michael F.

Scholarly and carefully balanced critique

Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2020

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This was not an easy read, but it was worth the effort. Magness spent a lot of time in relatively arcane discussions of economics and history, but his discussion was useful to understand the flaws in the 1619 project. He was careful to balance his criticisms with appreciation of the aspect that the 1619 journalists got right. Magness left me with a much better understanding, not only of the project, but of the NHC agenda and problems, as well. Well worth reading for a person seeking understanding.

44 people found this helpful

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liz

Shows the real facts

Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2020

Shows the real facts, not re-writing history. Very informative information from an excellent author and historian.

69 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Liked

Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2020

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