日志

纽约伊利运河-他这样分析历史

已有 257 次阅读2024-9-4 11:15 |个人分类:American Art (History)|系统分类:转帖-知识

https://www.amazon.com/Stairway-Empire-Lockport-Excelsior-Editions/dp/1438425287/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2MGHD983F4NEA&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.FADAJOsBD0vTTIpGxTQ8cGuJkb2WzZ9qRhdtPgzxEgH-6PRJdDUDccRazgohBfCRUUi5e1zQ811y6pSZ8mdbbCOfO7q6AqhbD38Yw7A_Yo-8ODU_dNWpYWkjdIpN4T6G9Aq3z0VqPeTH7A6Im4z6SS_cSxd9ZpZmzmN7h77V6ky0Ho8jvu-D8zq8sSpRqWLdjkzKIIIb-djCLAcKxMhZ5nXHz8AuPj3z4Cw12QuXQ3U.6uN7k__fFerge3hmhZ83qoIguZjVq3Ja3HJcHQVEt6k&dib_tag=se&keywords=Stairway+to+empire&qid=1725418867&sprefix=stairway+to+empire%2Caps%2C116&sr=8-1

Patrick McGreevy is Professor of History and Director of the Center for American Studies and Research at the American University of Beirut. He is the author of Imagining Niagara: The Meaning and Making of Niagara Falls

Stairway to Empire: Lockport, the Erie Canal, and the Shaping of America (Excelsior Editions)

这本书以非凡的视角，展现了Lockport NY 的构思和定位所经历的智力斗争、炸开数英里的石灰岩并在 60 英尺高的悬崖上

建造一系列船闸所经历的体力斗争以及将不同阶级和种族的人融合为工人和公民的社会斗争。作者是Lockport NY本地人，

但这本书远比当地爱好者对历史的美化要深刻得多。麦格里维的视野主要集中在运河的建设上，但他也包括了运河如何将资源丰富的

美国心脏地带与纽约市的转口港连接起来，以及由此产生的经济和社会影响。帝国是关于资源开采的，在伊利运河之前，资源开采是

通过独木舟、河流和陆路运输进行的。一旦伊利湖与哈德逊河相连，那个古朴的独木舟阶段就结束了，运河变成了 19 世纪 20 年代

的高速公路，一根双向吸管，吸出天然和农产品，同时吹入来自欧洲的各种消费品。

我知道许多读者对傲慢的学者将基于 CRT 的觉醒框架强加于他们所分析的任何东西感到不满。这导致一些读者在遇到以任何形式进行的

历史种族评估时会退缩。称之为反冲。我理解你的感受，但你不想犯把孩子和洗澡水一起倒掉的错误。麦格里维在需要的时候会加入种族分析，

在 19 世纪 20 年代的纽约州北部，有时需要这样做！然而，他更倾向于关注阶级差异，而不是痴迷于种族主义。这样，他就成为了当前过度

种族化身份分析的解毒剂，他专注于社会阶层，而不是皮肤表型，将其作为许多社会结果的决定因素。这并不是说种族不平等是一个需要考虑

的历史因素，但在这个种族痴迷的时代，看到阶级得到同样重视，令人耳目一新。

如果有人认为这本书没什么新意，只是对以前做过的事情的重新整理，那么我怀疑他们并没有真正仔细阅读过。强烈推荐！

This book is a remarkable look at the intellectual struggle to conceive of and locate Lockport; the physical struggle to blast through miles of limestone and construct a flight of locks up a 60-foot cliff; and the social struggle to blend people of different classes and ethnicities first into workers and then citizens. The author is a Lockport native but this is much deeper than glorifying history done by a local buff. McGreevy’s scope is mostly on the construction of the canal, but he also includes how the canal joined the resource-rich American heartland to the entrepôt harbor of New York City, and the economic and social ramifications of that. Empire is all about resource extraction, which prior to the Erie Canal had been done in canoes using rivers and portages. Once Lake Erie was linked to the Hudson River, that quaint canoe phase was over, and the canal became an 1820s superhighway, a two-way straw sucking out natural and agricultural products while blowing in all sorts of consumer goods from Europe.

I get that resentment has built up among many readers over how arrogant academics force a CRT-based Woke framework on anything they analyze. This causes some readers to recoil the moment they encounter historical racial evaluation undertaken in any form. Call it blowback. I feel ya, but you don’t want to make the mistake of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. McGreevy includes racial analysis when needed, and in Upstate New York in the 1820s, it is sometimes needed! Yet, he tends to focus more on class differences than obsessing on racialism. In this way he is an antidote to current over-racialized identity analysis, instead concentrating on social class rather than skin phenotype as a determining factor in many social outcomes. This is not to dismiss racial injustice as an historical element to be considered, but it is refreshing in these racially-obsessed times to see class given just as much importance.
If someone thinks this book is nothing new, just a rehash of what’s been done before, then I suspect they didn’t really give it a close read. HIGHLY recommended!

帕特里克·麦格里维 (Patrick McGreevy) 的《帝国阶梯》 (Stairway to Empire) 触及了种族主题，特别是在围绕伊利运河建设的劳动力和社会动态背景下。

在他的分析中，麦格里维承认在运河上工作的劳动力具有多样性，包括爱尔兰移民、非裔美国人和其他边缘群体。运河的建设是一项大规模的工程，严重依赖这些群体的劳动，他们经常面临恶劣的条件、低工资和歧视。

麦格里维讨论了种族和民族如何影响当时的社会等级制度。例如，爱尔兰劳工经常被本土出生的人口视为劣等，而非裔美国人面临的种族主义和排斥程度甚至更高。尽管他们为运河建设做出了重大贡献，但这些群体经常被边缘化，被排除在运河给其他人带来的经济利益之外。

此外，麦格里维强调了运河及其相关的经济增长如何加剧了现有的种族和社会不平等。运河创造的财富往往流向白人盎格鲁撒克逊新教徒，而非白人和移民群体则在社会和经济上都处于边缘地位。

总之，麦格里维认为种族是伊利运河故事中的关键因素，它塑造了运河建设和运营的劳动力动态以及更广泛的社会和经济成果。种族和少数民族的剥削和边缘化对于理解这一关键基础设施项目对美国历史的全面影响至关重要。

Patrick McGreevy's "Stairway to Empire" touches on the theme of race, particularly in the context of labor and social dynamics surrounding the construction of the Erie Canal.

In his analysis, McGreevy acknowledges the diversity of the labor force that worked on the canal, including Irish immigrants, African Americans, and other marginalized groups. The construction of the canal was a massive undertaking that relied heavily on the labor of these groups, who often faced harsh conditions, low wages, and discrimination.

McGreevy discusses how race and ethnicity influenced the social hierarchy of the time. Irish laborers, for example, were often viewed as inferior by the native-born population, and African Americans faced even greater levels of racism and exclusion. Despite their significant contributions to the construction of the canal, these groups were frequently marginalized and excluded from the economic benefits that the canal brought to others.

Moreover, McGreevy highlights how the canal and its associated economic growth reinforced existing racial and social inequalities. The wealth generated by the canal tended to flow to white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants, while non-white and immigrant groups remained on the periphery, both socially and economically.

In summary, McGreevy sees race as a crucial factor in the story of the Erie Canal, shaping both the labor dynamics and the broader social and economic outcomes of the canal's construction and operation. The exploitation and marginalization of racial and ethnic minorities are integral to understanding the full impact of this key infrastructure project in American history.