In Facing Facts, David Shi provides the most comprehensive history to date of the rise of realism in American culture. He vividly captures the character and sweep of this all-encompassing movement - ranging from Winslow Homer to the rise of the Ash Can school, from Whitman to Henry James to Theodore Dreiser. He begins with a look at the antebellum years, when idealistic themes were considered the only fit subject for art (Hawthorne wrote that "the grosser life is a dream, and the spiritual life is a reality"). Whitman's assault on these otherworldly standards coincided with sweeping changes...

Noted historian-cum-university president genially shares his discoveries; When David Emory Shi, a leading historian and writer, left the classrooms of Davidson College for the president's office of Furman University in 1994, he took with him his interest in the past, in people, and in the process of becoming educated. Determined to elude the academic ivory tower and the swamp of administration, Shi continued his study of the connections between past and present, self and society. He also became a popular speaker on topics of public interest as well as a newspaper columnist and radio...