Blog of the Week, Vol. 1, No. 9

Andrew Jackson

     Since my class is now studying the Age of Jackson I selected a blog that deals with this period of time. In this case I turn to Mark Cheatum's Jacksonian America: Society, Personality, and Politics which is at this location: Jacksonian America.

     Mark is a professor of history at Cumberland University and author of several books that deal with Andrew Jackson. His latest is Andrew Jackson: Southerner published by LSU Press. He is currently working on a project dealing with the papers of Martin Van Buren.

The Bank War

     It appears that this blog began in July of 2010 and has been in consistent operation since. Posting is somewhat erratic with long intervals between posts. The information is very good and interesting when posts are made. In my opinion, the blog is an information sharing portal that focuses on Mark's interests which is fulfilling his reason for the blog in the first place. It appears that lately Mark has had a lot more to deal with between research and teaching which has impacted the information coming through the blog. I can certainly relate to that!


     What I really like about the blog is going through the archives. This is not a well blogged period of American history.  Mark's blog fills a very large gap and as a result it meets a rather large need. As Mark is also a member of SHEAR (Society for Historians of the Early Republic) http://www.shear.org/ the blog also has some good information about its activities and work. The result is an informative blog and platform for sharing Mark's work. With the relative dearth of blogs covering this period, Mark's blog stands out.