Blogs
Hulk Lawyer has been a sensation over the last month. He “is” an invented “Black Confederate” who debuted at a Board of Education meetings. Strange days indeed.
Kevin Levin comments on the new Lincoln bio series on the History Channel.
Nick Sacco discusses a new report on history education. He is particularly interested in ways historic sites can use the paper.
The blog Muster has a great article by historian Jonathan White on how Hollywood has depicted Abraham Lincoln’s interactions with African Americans. The same blog has a good piece on how European newspapers covered the disputed Election of 1876.
Irish in the American Civil War has a link to a talk on Irish songs of the Civil War.
The Civil War Monitor offers a list of the five best books on Civil War Memory.
Al Mackey has a useful essay on evaluating online historical sources in an age of disinformation.
Podcasts
Civil War Talk Radio led off the month with a great interview with DeAnne Blanton, co-author of “They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the Civil War.” If you have read about women who fought in the war, you have likely come across her work.
Jonathan White, author of “A House Built By Slaves: African American Visitors to the Lincoln White House” and “To Address You as My Friend: African Americans Letters to Abraham Lincoln,” stopped by Civil War Talk Radio to discuss these two new books.
Meg Groeling discusses her fine new book on Elmer Ellsworth, “First Fallen: The Life of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, the Norths First Civil War Hero,” in this interview.
Gerry Prokopowicz, host of Civil War Talk Radio, ended the month with an interview with Jacqueline Budell, Archives Specialist at the National Archives.
Book Reviews
Rebel Salvation: Pardon and Amnesty of Confederates in Tennessee by Kathleen Zebley Liulevicius was reviewed by the Civil War Monitor. The pardon process is a misunderstood one today and the review says this book “is an important contribution to our understanding of the contested notions of peace that developed across the South in the wake of the Civil War.”
The same site also reviews My Work among the Freedmen: The Civil War and Reconstruction Letters of Harriet M. Buss edited by Jonathan W. White and Lydia J. Davis, a teacher at a Freedmen’s school. According to the review: “Jonathan White and Lydia Davis have a done a fine job introducing readers to Harriet Buss and her world. The editorial work is excellent, both in the introductions to each section of letters and in the annotations. Unlike many edited collections, this one has a thorough subject index that will assist a wide range of researchers. At the same time, My Work Among the Freedmen is simply worth reading to meet Harriet Buss and her students.”
Louisiana was one of several states that saw issues of election fraud raised in 1876. A new look at how the vote was counted and miscounted in the state is out. According to a review in The Monitor, Bulldozed and Betrayed: Louisiana and the Stolen Elections of 1876 by Adam Fairclough:
is an absolutely marvelous book. Fairclough skillfully guides readers through numerous twists and turns, outsized personalities, and charges and counter-charges of fraud, conspiracy, and skullduggery. He makes important contributions to the historical literature about one of the most controversial elections in U.S. history and about the U.S. after the Compromise of 1877. The contemporary relevance of the material in this book is striking, particularly as Congress investigates the failed coup d’état on January 6, 2021. It is impossible not to be captivated by this well-researched and splendidly written book. Bulldozed and Betrayed will appeal to both scholarly and general audiences and it deserves a wide readership.
The Monitor also reviews a new book on the Confederate invasion of Maryland in 1862. Their Maryland: The Army of Northern Virginia from the Potomac Crossing to Sharpsburg in September 1862 by Alexander B. Rossino gets a mixed review: Rossino’s questioning of timeworn claims puts old sources in a new light and provocatively advances the book while engaging the reader. The interpretation is nonetheless often heavy-handed. Causal reductionism sometimes obscures the complex events and decisions leading up to the battle of Antietam.
Sneak Preview
I am starting a new monthly podcast on the Civil War and Reconstruction. The first Episode looks at Confederate General Pat Cleburne and the “Black Confederates.” These podcasts will be a half-hour long, so you can listen to a whole episode on the way to work.
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Great podcast, Pat!
Hey, thanks.