I came across this little tidbit in today’s NYT’s Media and Advertising Section. Apparently, American Heritage’s special issue on Abraham Lincoln includes an advertisement for the Bradford Exchange’s Civil War ring, which features a Confederate flag. I’m not quite sure what the editor finds so troubling about this or why it was necessary to include [...]
November 2008
This coming trimester I will be teaching two sections of a course I am calling Civil War Memory. This is the first time that I’ve taught an elective course on the subject, and, as you can imagine, I am very much looking forward to it. Most of the students who are taking the course just [...]
Yesterday, I briefly touched on some of my concerns surrounding a commemorative talk that I am scheduled to deliver in December for the anniversary of the battle of Fredericksburg. Part of the reason I find it so difficult to commemorate a Civil War battle has to do with my tendency to interpret the war years [...]
I don’t mind admitting that I am just a little nervous about the upcoming commemorative speech that I will give in Fredericksburg on December 14. I’ve never delivered such a speech before. It’s much easier to present a traditional conference paper where the speaker at least appears to be detached from the subject at hand. A [...]
I am honored to accept this distinguished award from the good people at The First Freedom. Unfortunately, if it were not for one of my readers I would not have known about this honor. Let’s see, I would like to thank my mom, dad…
Thanks to James Oakes, Matthew Pinsker, and Brian Dirck for attempting to apply the breaks to the overused and abused Goodwinian meme, “Team of Rivals.” Oakes: For one thing, there was nothing new in what Lincoln did. By tradition, presidents-elect reserved a cabinet position, often secretary of state, for the leading rival in their party. [...]
“You have a situation where we’ve let other people define us, and in the past haven’t spoken out as strongly as we should about other groups who have usurped the use of our flag,” Michael K. Williams, commander of the Gilmor Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans in response to the decision by Johns [...]