Thanks again to all of you who helped with suggesting a title for my Crater book. It needed something that conveyed the overall theme of race and memory without coming off as too academic. As I mentioned to a friend last night, I want this book to appeal to folks who rarely look at anything beyond a stiff interpretation of Gettysburg. Here are a few more titles that friends have suggested: “Big Hole in the Ground,” “A Change in the Landscape: Race, Politics, and Memory at the Battle of the Crater,” “Crawling From the Wreckage,” “The Crater of Race,” and “Lies White People Tell.” My wife suggested that I call it, “First in Flight: A Southern History of a Different Kind”.
After serious consideration I decided to go with, “Murder Remembered as War: The Battle of the Crater”. Thanks to Peter Carmichael for the suggestion. It’s relatively short, to the point, and I like that it completely avoids the academic jargon. My wife is finishing proofreading the ms. in time for delivery tomorrow.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Peter’s title was very good. However what about:
Hell’s Divot
or
Fuck, What a Hole!
Let’s try to keep it clean, Matt. I already had to reprimand my wife for her bad taste in choosing a title.
Grand news!!
It has been a pleasure watching this project develop.
Now looking forward to actual publication.
I expect a very worthwhile read.
Thanks Richard.
Love the title! Peter gives great advice (I guess it’s too late to change it to: “It’s Raining Confederates”)
You are as bad as my wife.
I’d love to meet her; I like the way her mind works. Think about the title change for the 2nd edition. We could do a little promotional video, after we secure the rights to use the music from the song, “It’s Raining Men” & come up with the right lyrics (In order to scan properly, we’d probably have to change the title/chorus to “It’s Raining Rebs”
Nice and concise, but I think “It’s Raining Rebels” scans better.
David-Great suggestion!!! I modified it still further. I think I hear a single about to be recorded!
Good choice.