An Intellectual Biography of Historian Frank Tannenbaum (1893-1969)

FAIN: FEL-272945-21

Barbara Sue Weinstein
New York University (New York, NY 10012-1019)

Research and writing leading to an intellectual biography of Frank Tannenbaum (1893-1969), an influential scholar of Latin American history and longtime professor at Columbia University.

My project is an intellectual biography of the historian, criminologist, and social critic Frank Tannenbaum. Best known for his 1946 book Slave and Citizen, a pioneering discussion of race in the Americas, Tannenbaum contributed to an extraordinary range of scholarly and political debates, and authored foundational texts on the Mexican Revolution and on criminal identity. My study of his life and work focuses on the connections between his early years as an anarchist militant, which led to his spending 12 months in prison before attending college, and the originality and range of his scholarly production. I suggest that even after he moved into a position as a professor of Latin American history at Columbia and began shifting to the right on the political spectrum, these early experiences as an activist and auto-didact informed his intellectual perspective and allowed him to formulate highly original arguments that had a profound impact on several different fields of research.

Associated Products

How to Become a Historian of Latin America: The Extraordinary Career of Frank Tannenbaum (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: How to Become a Historian of Latin America: The Extraordinary Career of Frank Tannenbaum
Author: Barbara Weinstein
Abstract: Frank Tannenbaum is now best-known for his pioneering contributions to the field of Latin American history. But in a number of different ways, he was a highly unusual candidate for this scholarly distinction. A relatively poor Yiddish-speaking immigrant who spent a year in prison before ever attending college, Tannenbaum displayed little interest in Latin America during his early years of engagement with the world of scholarship. His first three books had nothing to do with Latin America, and his first two proposals for a dissertation in Economics (not History) were focused on crime and labor relations. How then did Tannenbaum end up becoming a leading historian of Latin America? I argue here that his fascination with the Mexican Revolution, the appeal of a less racially stratified society, and his personal experience working as a correspondent in Mexico City during the 1920s served to shift his interest in a Latin American direction. Finally, the unexpected opportunity to join the Columbia history faculty consolidated his identity as a historian of Latin America but did not erase his interest in other fields.
Date: 01/08/2023
Conference Name: American Historical Association meetings/Conference on Latin American History

Frank Tannenbaum: de heroi da classe trabalhadora a soldado da Guerra Fria (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Frank Tannenbaum: de heroi da classe trabalhadora a soldado da Guerra Fria
Author: Barbara Weinstein
Abstract: This paper discusses the intellectual and political trajectory of historian and social theorist Frank Tannenbaum, with an emphasis on the factors that led to his shift from being militant in the anarcho-syndicalist movement associated with the Wobblies to a Cold War liberal. Central to this paper is my argument that Tannenbaum certainly moved to the right on a number of questions but retained his radical and critical views with regard to questions of incarceration and criminality.
Date: 11/08/2022
Conference Name: Encontro Mundos do Trabalho, Salvador da Bahia, Brazil

The Uses of a Radical Past: Frank Tannenbaum—Anarchist, Social Critic, and Historian of Latin America (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: The Uses of a Radical Past: Frank Tannenbaum—Anarchist, Social Critic, and Historian of Latin America
Abstract: This lecture traced the trajectory of Frank Tannenbaum from his days as a "notorious" Wobbly militant to his later years as an Ivy-League academic and Cold War liberal. I argue that despite his shift to the right politically, he remained a highly unconventional intellectual and his work continued to reflect the influence both of his personal experiences as a young radical, and his engagement with certain anarchist thinkers.
Author: Barbara Weinstein
Date: 11/03/2022
Location: University of Pittsburgh, annual E.P. Thompson Lecture

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