‘HUCK’S RAFT’ GARNERS
BEST HISTORY BOOK HONORS FOR UH’S STEVEN MINTZ
Professor to Receive Merle Curti Award During OAH’s 98th Annual
National Meeting
HOUSTON, April 1, 2005 – The Organization of American Historians
(OAH) has named University of Houston Professor of History Steven
Mintz the recipient of the Merle Curti Award for the book “Huck’s
Raft: A History of American Childhood.”
The Curti Award recognizes the best book published in American
social, intellectual, or cultural history. OAH President James O.
Horton and President-Elect Vicki L. Ruiz will present the award
to Mintz during its 98th annual meeting April 2 in San José,
Calif.
“Huck’s Raft” provides the first comprehensive
history of American childhood encompassing both the child’s
and the adult’s tumultuous early years of life.
Reviews have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post,
The Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News,
Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist and Library Journal Reviews,
among others.
The Washington Post calls Huck’s Raft “a rich and stimulating
book, revealing how much childhood has changed over the centuries
and how much some things never change.”
The book is also the recipient of the Association of American Publishers’
R.R. Hawkins Award for the Outstanding Scholarly Book of 2004.
Mintz is director of the American Cultures Program at UH. A leading
authority on the history of the family, he has written extensively
on reform, slavery and film history. He is a pioneer in the use
of application of new technologies to the study of history and a
former vice president of H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online.
Mintz is co-chair of the Council on Contemporary Families and a
member of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History board.
He currently directs two U.S. Department of Education “Teaching
American History” grants.
The 2005 Curti Award committee members were Lois E. Horton, George
Mason University; Richard Latner, Tulane University, Committee Chair;
Joanne Pope Melish, University of Kentucky; Jane Rhodes, University
of California, San Diego; and David Wrobel, University of Nevada,
Las Vegas.
Founded in 1907, the OAH is the largest professional society dedicated
to the teaching and study of the American past. The organization
promotes excellence in the scholarship, teaching, and presentation
of American history and encourages wide discussion of historical
questions and equitable treatment of all practitioners of history.
Members in the U.S. and abroad include college and university professors;
students; precollegiate teachers; archivists, museum curators and
other public historians employed in government and the private sector.
For information about OAH, go to http://www.oah.org.
About the University of Houston
The University of Houston, Texas’ premier metropolitan research
and teaching institution, is home to more than 40 research centers
and institutes and sponsors more than 300 partnerships with corporate,
civic and governmental entities. UH, the most diverse research university
in the country, stands at the forefront of education, research and
service with more than 35,000 students
For more information about UH visit the universitys Newsroom at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom.
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