These essays provide a rich portrait of how the self and its deepest commitments have driven some of the most important, vital scholarship of the last fifty years." --Georgia Historical Quarterly ... the writing is highly readable and informative for a non-academic audience curious about how history is written." --Magill Book Reviews To provide a context for understanding current race relations and the goals of the civil rights movement, the editors asked distinguished scholars to reflect upon their careers and how personal experiences have influenced their scholarship. Prominent historians Dan T. Carter, Eric Foner, Darlene Clark Hine, Jacqueline Jones, David Levering Lewis, Leon F. Litwack, Mark D. Naison, and George B. Tindall answered the call.