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University of California Press

About the Book

What do archaeological excavations in Annapolis, Maryland, reveal about daily life in the city's history? Considering artifacts such as ceramics, spirit bundles, printer's type, and landscapes, this engaging, generously illustrated, and original study illuminates the lives of the city's residents—walking, seeing, reading, talking, eating, and living together in freedom and in oppression for more than three hundred years. Interpreting the results of one of the most innovative projects in American archaeology, The Archaeology of Liberty in an American Capital speaks powerfully to the struggle for liberty among African Americans and the poor.

About the Author

Mark P. Leone is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is coauthor, with Neil A. Silberman, of Invisible America (1995), and coeditor, with Parker B. Potter, of Recovery of Meaning: Historical Archaeology in the Eastern United States (1988), among other books.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations and Tables
Preface

1. The Importance of Knowing Annapolis
2. The Research Design
3. Landscapes of Power
4. The Rise of Popular Opinion
5. Time and Work Discipline
6. From Althusser and Lukács to Habermas: Archaeology in Public in Annapolis
7. African America
8. What Do We Know?
Appendix

Works Cited
Index

Reviews

“An ambitious book that has been thought out deeply and at length. . . . The most important book on historical archaeology in a generation.”
American Antiquity
“[This] fresh look at Annapolis, above and below ground, opens up one of America’s oldest worlds.”
Baltimore Sun
“One of the most innovative and successful long-term research projects in the country . . . this volume reports on its findings clearly and concisely. . . . This book will set the standard for years to come.”
American Journal Of Archaeology
"The Archaeology of Liberty in an American Capital is the work of a mature scholar reporting on one of the most important, large-scale, and long-range projects in contemporary American archaeology."—Randall McGuire, author of The Archaeology of Inequality

"Many would argue the Mark Leone is the most distinguished practitioner of historical archaeology in the United States, and one of the most prominent in the world."—Thomas C. Patterson, coeditor of Making Alternative Histories

Awards

  • 2008 James Deetz Book Award 2007, Society for Historical Archaeology