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Civil War

The Author’s Corner with Richard Carwardine

Rachel Petroziello   |  January 30, 2025

Richard Carwardine is Rhodes Professor of American History Emeritus and Distinguished Fellow at the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford. This interview is based on his new book, Righteous Strife: How Warring Religious Nationalists Forged Lincoln’s Union (Knopf, […]

The Author’s Corner with Jeffrey Boutwell

Rachel Petroziello   |  January 29, 2025

Jeffrey Boutwell is a retired independent historian with a B.A. in History from Yale and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This interview is based on his new book, Boutwell: Radical Republican and Champion of […]

The Author’s Corner with Lindsey Bestebreurtje

Rachel Petroziello   |  January 7, 2025

Lindsey Bestebreurtje is a Curatorial Assistant with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. This interview is based on her new book, Built by the People Themselves: African American Community Development in Arlington, Virginia, from the Civil […]

What the Emancipation Proclamation did

John Fea   |  January 2, 2025

The Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863. It was an executive order stating that all enslaved people in the rebellious states were free and would be recognized and maintained as such by the Union government. Here is […]

The Author’s Corner with Mark A. Neels

Rachel Petroziello   |  December 20, 2024

Mark A. Neels is a History Teacher at Chaminade College Preparatory School. This interview is based on his new book, Lincoln’s Conservative Advisor: Attorney General Edward Bates (Southern Illinois University Press, 2024). JF: What led you to write Lincoln’s Conservative Advisor? […]

The Author’s Corner with Ian T. Iverson

Rachel Petroziello   |  October 28, 2024

Ian T. Iverson is Associate Editor of the John Dickinson Writings Project. This interview is based on his new book, Holding the Political Center in Illinois: Conservatism and Union on the Brink of the Civil War (Kent State University Press, […]

The Author’s Corner with Jonathan Lande

Rachel Petroziello   |  October 22, 2024

Jonathan Lande is Assistant Professor of History at Purdue University. This interview is based on his new book, Freedom Soldiers: The Emancipation of Black Soldiers in Civil War Camps, Courts, and Prisons (Oxford University Press, 2024). JF: What led you […]

The Author’s Corner with Kenneth S. Sacks

Rachel Petroziello   |  October 18, 2024

Kenneth S. Sacks is Professor of History and Classics at Brown University. This interview is based on his new book, Emerson’s Civil Wars: Spirit and Society in the Age of Abolition (Cambridge University Press, 2024). JF: What led you to […]

The Author’s Corner with Andrew Sillen

Rachel Petroziello   |  October 11, 2024

Andrew Sillen is a visiting research scholar in the Department of Anthropology at Rutgers University and a former Professor of Paleoanthropology and the Founding Director of Development at the University of Cape Town as well as the Vice President of […]

The Author’s Corner with Court Carney

Rachel Petroziello   |  September 17, 2024

Court Carney is Professor of History at Stephen F. Austin State University. This interview is based on his new book, Reckoning with the Devil: Nathan Bedford Forrest in Myth and Memory (LSU Press, 2024). JF: What led you to writeĀ Reckoning […]

The Author’s Corner with Vanessa Meikle Schulman

Rachel Petroziello   |  September 13, 2024

Vanessa Meikle Schulman is Associate Professor of Art History at George Mason University. This interview is based on her new book, Art during Wartime: Painting Everyday Life in the Civil War North (University of Massachusetts Press, 2024). JF: What led […]

The Author’s Corner with James Tejani

Rachel Petroziello   |  August 27, 2024

James Tejani is Associate Professor of History at California Polytechnic State University. This interview is based on his new book, A Machine to Move Ocean and Earth: The Making of the Port of Los Angeles and America (W. W. Norton […]

The Author’s Corner with Frank W. Garmon Jr.

Rachel Petroziello   |  August 26, 2024

Frank W. Garmon Jr. is Assistant Professor in the Department of Leadership and American Studies at Christopher Newport University. This interview is based on his new book, A Wonderful Career in Crime: Charles Cowlam’s Masquerades in the Civil War Era […]

Civil War historian Peter Carmichael, RIP

John Fea   |  July 24, 2024

So sad to his hear this. Peter Carmichael was the Robert C. Fluhrer Professor of Civil War Studies and Director of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College. He was 58. Here is his obituary from The Gettysburg Times: Peter […]

The Author’s Corner with Gaines M. Foster

Rachel Petroziello   |  June 19, 2024

Gaines M. Foster is Murphy J. Foster Professor of History Emeritus at Louisiana State University. This interview is based on his new book, The Limits of the Lost Cause: Essays on Civil War Memory (LSU Press, 2024). JF: What led […]

The Author’s Corner with Michael J. Megelsh

Rachel Petroziello   |  March 8, 2024

Michael J. Megelsh is Assistant Professor of History at Blue Mountain Christian University. This interview is based on his new book, Adelbert Ames, the Civil War, and the Creation of Modern America (The Kent State University Press, 2024). JF: What […]

“Trump should be thrown off the ballot.” Historians convince E.J. Dionne

John Fea   |  February 5, 2024

When the Colorado–14th Amendment ballot case broke, Washington Post columnist and public intellectual E.J. Dionne was skeptical. He was among those who thought that Trump should stay on the ballot in Colorado and let the people decide whether he should […]

Doug Wilson: The Civil War was fought over “federalism” and “decentralized power”

John Fea   |  January 15, 2024

Over the Christmas holiday, GOP presidential candidate and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley got in hot water for this: Over at The Guardian, Steve Phillips asks why we are still debating the cause of the Civil War. A taste: […]

It is dangerous “when the side that loses the debate cannot accept the result”

John Fea   |  December 2, 2023

Yale historian David Blight from a 15-year-old lecture on the Dred Scott case and John Brown:

The Author’s Corner with Yael Sternhell

Rachel Petroziello   |  November 20, 2023

Yael Sternhell is Professor in the Department of History and Department of English and American Studies at Tel Aviv University. This interview is based on her new book, War on Record: The Archive and the Afterlife of the Civil War […]

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