Hey all - so I am very happy to end 2019 on a positive note with my podcast, The Rogue Historian. It’s been a fantastic year..and the show has grown a great deal - thanks to listeners such as yourself.
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Foner notes the flaws of the Reconstruction Amendments but lauds the Second Founding as a praiseworthy legal accomplishment in terms of moving towards realizing ideals
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Richard Bell’s new book is a beautifully crafted narrative tracing the story of five young boys - free African Americans from Philadelphia - who were kidnapped and sold into slavery in the 1820s
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The authors of this extraordinarily well-researched volume are at their best in reviewing all of the options before Meade in the aftermath of the Union victory at Gettysburg.
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Black people - their voices, their aspiration, their actions - take center stage in Gates’s book, and rightfully so.
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Pfarr’s mission is to “critically reassess” the Longstreet-at-Gettysburg evidence in order to evaluate whether or not the claims against “Lee’s Warhorse” hold water.
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Oh…and if you are really interested, yes - that is a Lawrence Welk coffee mug in the picture. It was my Grandma’s so don’t judge.
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Wukovits follows Hellcat aviators from Air Group 88 through training, life aboard the USS Yorktown, their first taste of combat, and the final few minutes of World War II in the Pacific Theater.
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But this one is an particularly welcome addition to my ever-growing library. To begin, the authors do a beautiful job of contextualizing the Peach Orchard fight on July 2…
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Kirkwood provides an engaging narrative investigating the George Spangler Farm as the hospital site for the Union XI and II Corps beginning on July 1.
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Some time ago, I transcribed all the letters - written from August 1863 to June 1865 - with the intention of publishing an edited and annotated volumes sometime in the future. What I wound up doing, something quite innovative I must say…
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I read this book straight through with increased interest at every turn of the page…and I don’t want to spoil the intricacies of the ending. Let’s just say that Gayle used the “I was just kidding” defense and well…he was not among those on the gallows when justice was finally served...so go figure.
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In the midst of all the much-derided construction and the ever-changing landscape of our great city there is plenty of history that remains intact…or just beneath the surface…or in this case, rusted and overgrown with chaparral.
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We should not read to confirm our personal biases (yes, we all have them…like it or not) but rather to listen, learn, and inquire.
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One lesson I try to impart in the classroom is this: a hallmark of intellectual honesty and integrity is acknowledging that you might be wrong.
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I recently had the distinct pleasure to appear on John Heckman’s podcast: The Tattooed Historian Show. We had a great talk about traditional v. non-traditional paths in academia, Twitter and other social media platforms, living history, and ways to reach more people who love the discipline
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The questions and other activities in this comprehensive guide are challenging to be sure, but what better way is there to teach the Civil War than by challenging students to think about perspective and to negotiate some of the more uncomfortable issues with primary sources?
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Like many, my first introduction to his writing was assigned: Confederates in the Attic - required reading years ago for a UCLA undergraduate course on the Civil War. His words resonated with me especially as a southerner with ancestral ties to the Confederacy.
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I know it isn’t such a big deal to find a Civil War veteran in a local cemetery in some parts of the country - but it is something of a novelty here in Hollywood.
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