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Civil War

The Author’s Corner with Victoria E. Ott

Rachel Petroziello   |  January 20, 2023

Victoria E. Ott is James A. Wood Professor of American History and the coordinator of Gender and Women’s Studies at Birmingham-Southern College. This interview is based on her new book, The Failure of Our Fathers: Family, Gender, and Power in...

The Author’s Corner with Jacqueline Jones

Rachel Petroziello   |  January 13, 2023

Jacqueline Jones is Ellen C. Temple Professor of Women’s History Emerita at the University of Texas at Austin. This interview is based on her new book, No Right to an Honest Living: The Struggles of Boston’s Black Workers in the...

The Author’s Corner with John Rodrigue

Rachel Petroziello   |  December 23, 2022

John Rodrigue is Lawrence and Theresa Salameno Professor in the Department of History at Stonehill College. This interview is based on his new book, Freedom’s Crescent: The Civil War and the Destruction of Slavery in the Lower Mississippi Valley (Cambridge...

David Blight: “Dred Scott was the point of no return”

John Fea   |  December 21, 2022

I hope you get some time this week to read Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Blight’s piece at The New York Times Magazine, “Was the Civil War Inevitable?” Blight reflects on the 1850s, particularly the Dred Scott case, and wonders if...

The A.P. Hill statue near Richmond comes down

John Fea   |  December 14, 2022

The statue of the Confederate general was Richmond’s last city-owned Confederate statue. Here is a taste of Paul Waldman’s piece at The Washington Post: The Lost Cause is dying with a whimper. For that, thank the committed activists who made...

Allen Guelzo and Jon Meacham at Gettysburg’s Remembrance Day Ceremony

John Fea   |  November 22, 2022

It wasn’t just about Confederates reenactors. Watch:...

Confederates at Gettysburg

John Fea   |  November 21, 2022

I was going to take some students in my Civil War America course to Gettysburg this weekend. They were excited about going to the cemetery and reading the Gettysburg Address on November 19, the day it was delivered by Lincoln...

The Author’s Corner with Adam D. Mendelsohn

Rachel Petroziello   |  November 16, 2022

Adam D. Mendelsohn is Associate Professor of Historical Studies at the University of Cape Town. This interview is based on his new book, Jewish Soldiers in the Civil War: The Union Army (NYU Press, 2022). JF: What led you to...

The Author’s Corner with Catherine V. Bateson

Rachel Petroziello   |  November 4, 2022

Catherine V. Bateson is Associate Lecturer of American History and American Studies Chief Examiner at the University of Kent. This interview is based on her new book, Irish American Civil War Songs: Identity, Loyalty, and Nationhood (LSU Press, 2022). JF:...

The Author’s Corner with Evan C. Rothera

Rachel Petroziello   |  November 2, 2022

Evan C. Rothera is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Arkansas, Fort Smith. This interview is based on his new book, Civil Wars and Reconstructions in the Americas: The United States, Mexico, and Argentina, 1860–1880 (LSU Press, 2022)....

William Tecumseh Sherman: emancipator of the enslaved

John Fea   |  November 1, 2022

Here is historian Bennett Parten at Zocalo Public Square: Americans get Sherman’s March all wrong. Ask anyone who’s seen Gone with the Wind, and they’ll tell you that U.S. General William T. Sherman’s roughly 250-mile march from Atlanta to Savannah marked...

Historian Jeremi Suri on Abraham Lincoln’s funeral

John Fea   |  October 25, 2022

Here is an excerpt of Suri’s new book Civil War By Other Means. It is published at Lit Hub: The reverence for the slain president grew in coming days. On April 19, a horse-drawn hearse carried Lincoln’s body to the...

Slavery was the cause of the American Civil War

John Fea   |  October 8, 2022

Most historians agree with the title of this post. So do many Americans. But there are others who still claim that the Civil War was about something other than slavery. Watch: Yesterday I showed this video to my Civil War...

The Author’s Corner with Megan Bever

Rachel Petroziello   |  October 7, 2022

Megan Bever is Associate Professor of History and Chair of the Social Sciences Department at Missouri Southern State University. This interview is based on her new book, At War with King Alcohol: Debating Drinking and Masculinity in the Civil War...

Eric Foner: “We can’t accept the principle that the way to judge a course of study is by how much money you will make.”

John Fea   |  September 19, 2022

Eric Foner reflects on his life as a historian in this interview with Nawal Arjini at New York Review of Books. A taste: Nawal Arjini: How did you come to specialize in Civil War history? Eric Foner: When I was in college in...

The Author’s Corner with Jesse Olsavsky

Rachel Petroziello   |  August 29, 2022

Jesse Olsavsky is Assistant Professor of History at Duke Kunshan University. This interview is based on his new book, The Most Absolute Abolition: Runaways, Vigilance Committees, and the Rise of Revolutionary Abolitionism, 1835–1861 (LSU Press, 2022). JF: What led you to...

What Liz Cheney forgot to mention on Tuesday night about U.S. Grant and the end of the Civil War

John Fea   |  August 18, 2022

On Tuesday night, Liz Cheney referenced General Ulysses S. Grant’s leadership of the Union army in 1864: In May of 1864, after years of war, and a string of reluctant Union generals, Ulysses S. Grant met General Lee’s forces at...

Tom Nichols: “The United States now faces a different kind of violence, from people who believe in nothing…”

John Fea   |  August 17, 2022

Political scientist Tom Nichols largely rejects the comparison between our current age and the United States Civil War. As he puts it, “at least the Civil war…was about something.” Here is a taste of his piece at The Atlantic: The...

The Author’s Corner with Brad R. Clampitt

Rachel Petroziello   |  July 15, 2022

Brad R. Clampitt is Professor of History at East Central University. This interview is based on his new book, Lost Causes: Confederate Demobilization and the Making of Veteran Identity (LSU Press, 2022). JF: What led you to write Lost Causes?...

The Author’s Corner with Anna Koivusalo

Rachel Petroziello   |  July 1, 2022

Anna Koivusalo is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Philosophy, History and Art Studies at the University of Helsinki. This interview is based on her new book, The Man Who Started the Civil War: James Chesnut, Honor, and Emotion...

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