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Center And Peripheries: Locating Maine's History, Alan Taylor

Maine History

What is the place of Maine history? Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Alan Taylor uses the misfortunes of George Ulmer, commander of militia volunteers in Eastport during the War of 1812y, to argue that historians should refocus their view of the past by paying attention to places traditionally deemed “marginal” or “peripheral” to the larger story of American history. Professor Taylor points out that, as a borderland, Maine has long been an international crossroads—an area of dense cultural and economic interaction—and, therefore, should be at the center of our quest for understanding past experience. A professor of history at the University of …