Tackach, James 1953- (James M. Tackach)

PERSONAL:

Born June 15, 1953, in Passaic, NJ; son of George (in sales) and Loretta (in sales) Tackach. Ethnicity: "Polish/Hungarian American." Education: Montclair State College, B.A. (cum laude), 1976; University of Rhode Island, M.A., 1978, Ph.D., 1986. Politics: "Registered Democrat." Hobbies and other interests: Baseball, fly fishing.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of English, Roger Williams University, 1 Old Ferry Rd., Bristol, RI 02809. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Roger Williams University, Bristol, RI, professor of English, 1981—, director of Writing Center, 1981-87. Worked as private communications consultant, 1979-88; also conference participant.

MEMBER:

National Education Association, American Literature Association, Hemingway Society, Abraham Lincoln Association, Lincoln Forum, Society for American Baseball Research, Trout Unlimited, Lincoln Group of Boston, Sigma Tau Delta, Phi Kappa Phi.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Honor book citation, New Jersey Council for the Humanities, 2003, for Lincoln's Moral Vision: The Second Inaugural Address; winner of On the Water fiction contest, 2004, for the short story "Grabbing Peter"; Carter G. Woodson Book Award, secondary level, National Council for the Social Studies, 2004, for Early Black Reformers.

WRITINGS:

YOUNG ADULT NONFICTION

Baseball Legends: Roy Campanella, Chelsea House (New York, NY), 1991.

Baseball Legends: Hank Aaron, Chelsea House (New York, NY), 1992.

The Importance of James Baldwin, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 1997.

Brown v. Board of Education, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 1998.

The Trial of John Brown: Radical Abolitionist, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 1998.

The Emancipation Proclamation: Abolishing Slavery in the South, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 1999.

Uncle Tom's Cabin: Indictment of Slavery, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 2000.

(Editor) Slave Narratives, Greenhaven Press (San Diego, CA), 2000.

The Civil Rights Movement, Greenhaven Press (San Diego, CA), 2001.

(Editor) The Battle of Gettysburg, Greenhaven Press (San Diego, CA), 2002.

The Abolition of American Slavery, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 2002.

(Editor) Early Black Reformers, Greenhaven Press (San Diego, CA), 2003.

(Editor) The Civil War, Greenhaven Press (San Diego, CA), 2004.

(Editor) The Abolitionist Movement, Greenhaven Press (Farmington Hills, MI), 2005.

OTHER

Historic Homes of America, Portland House (New York, NY), 1990.

Great American Hotels, Smithmark (New York, NY), 1991.

(With Joshua B. Stein) The Fields of Summer: America's Great Ballparks and the Players Who Triumphed in Them, Crescent Books (New York, NY), 1992.

(Editor) Lincoln's Moral Vision: The Second Inaugural Address, University Press of Mississippi (Jackson, MI), 2002.

Contributor to books, including Teaching a "New Canon"? Students, Teachers, and Texts in the College Literature Classroom, edited by Bruce A. Goebel and James C. Hall, National Council of Teachers of English (Urbana, IL), 1995; Identities and Issues in Literature, edited by David Peck, Salem Press (Pasadena, CA), 1997; Short Stories in the Classroom, edited by Carole L. Hamilton and Peter Kratzke, National Council of Teachers of English (Urbana, IL), 1999; The Sixties in America, Salem Press (Pasadena, CA), 1999; and The Fifties in America, edited by John C. Super, Salem Press (Pasadena, CA), 2005. Contributor of articles, short stories, poetry, and reviews to periodicals, including Intercom, Saul Bellow Journal, Spitball: Literary Baseball, America's Civil War, National Pastine, Baseball Research Journal, Americana, Old Mill News, Sports History, and Narragansett Times.

SIDELIGHTS:

"Teaching in a university English department is my primary occupation," James Tackach once commented. "Writing is primarily a summer activity, after I have emptied my briefcase of student papers and cleared my desk of university-related reports and memos. I write very quickly—during a productive day I can generate more than 4,000 words—but I need large chunks of time for writing, something that a busy academic schedule of class sessions, class preparation, paper-grading, and committee meetings rarely allows.

"My writing interests are varied. I have published in many genres (travel, history, sports, humor, short fiction, poetry, literary criticism, personal narrative) and for a variety of audiences (young adults, general readers, academics).

"I have been writing professionally for more than twenty years. My first published article resulted from a call from the deputy sports editor of the New York Times, who was interested in a point that I had made in a letter to the editor. To get my work into print, I search for columns open to freelancers in publications that I read, and I have also used Writer's Market. Some of my assignments come through word of mouth—an editor calls after hearing from another editor that I might be willing to tackle a certain project."

More recently Tackach told CA: "During the past few years, my writing has taken a more scholarly and academic turn. The book Lincoln's Moral Vision: The Second Inaugural Address was published by the University Press of Mississippi, and I have subsequently published articles in several academic and scholarly journals. My scholarly interests include Abraham Lincoln and the literature of slavery."

As the author of several short historical monographs for young people, Tackach is credited with presenting a wealth of information in a clear and interesting style that is useful for students writing reports as well as for general interest readers. In Brown v. Board of Education, for example, Tackach surveys the history of the civil rights movement in the United States beginning with the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution in 1865, and emphasizing the rise of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the work of lawyer (later Supreme Court justice) Thurgood Marshall. The author then discusses how the courts were able to eventually win the battle against educational injustice. "Tackach gives a compelling account of the Brown decision," and makes effective use of sidebars to provide additional information, according to Randy Meyer in Booklist. In a similar vein, The Emancipation Proclamation: Abolishing Slavery in the South focuses on an important moment in the history of civil rights in the United States, offering background information on slavery and the American Civil War and discussing the legacy of the Proclamation.

The Trial of John Brown: Radical Abolitionist provides another piece in the puzzle of the history of the American civil rights movement. John Brown was a radical abolitionist whose raid on Harper's Ferry is considered to have launched the Civil War. Brown was eventually tried and executed for his crimes. Tackach puts Brown's ideas in the context of mid-eighteenth-century America and discusses the man's upbringing and religious beliefs as they impacted his passion for the abolitionist movement. Allison Trent Bernstein praised The Trial of John Brown in a School Library Journal review as "a concise, organized look" at Brown, the circumstances that gave rise to his historic raid, and its aftermath. The Abolition of American Slavery introduces the issues to younger readers, from the origin of slavery in the Jamestown colony to its twentieth-century legacy in the form of segregation, racist violence, and civil rights initiatives.

Tackach is also the author of The Importance of James Baldwin, a biographical treatment of the twentieth-century African-American author best known for his novel Go Tell It on the Mountain and the autobiographical essays collected in The Fire Next Time. A leader in the civil rights movement of the middle of the twentieth century, Baldwin's impact on the arts and society is assessed "with honesty and integrity," according to Peter O. Sieruta in Horn Book.

Tackach also edits collections of writings by other authors in his chosen fields of interest. Slave Narratives includes, not only the original commentaries of slaves and former slaves, but historical background of the authors and their times, as well as the impact of these authors on contemporary literary figures. The Battle of Gettysburg contains excerpts from diaries and other accounts of Civil War soldiers who were on the battlefield, augmented by commentary from interpreters on both sides of the historical dialogue. The commentaries address specific themes, such as why the Confederate army was defeated. In similar fashion, The Civil War offers multiple viewpoints on the war and its aftermath.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, October 15, 1997, Randy Meyer, review of Brown v. Board of Education, p. 396; June 1, 1999, Carolyn Phelan, review of The Emancipation Proclamation: Abolishing Slavery in the South, p. 1805; May 1, 2002, Carolyn Phelan, review of The Battle of Gettysburg, p. 1516.

Horn Book, spring, 1997, Peter O. Sieruta, review of The Importance of James Baldwin, p. 157.

School Library Journal, February, 1997, Carrol McCarthy, review of The Importance of James Baldwin, p. 123; August, 1998, Allison Trent Bernstein, review of The Trial of John Brown: Radical Abolitionist, p. 184; June, 2001, Elizabeth M. Reardon, review of Slave Narratives, p. 181; September, 2002, Elaine Fort Weischedel, review of The Abolition of American Slavery, p. 254; January, 2005, Patricia Ann Owens, review of The Civil War, p. 156.