New to the Civil War Memory Library, 06/21

David RieffWilliam A. Link and James J. Broomall eds., Rethinking American Emancipation: Legacies of Slavery and the Quest for Black Freedom (Cambridge University Press, 2016).

Carol Reardon and Tom Vossler, A Field Guide to Antietam: Experiencing the Battlefield through Its History, Places, and People (University of North Carolina Press, 2016).

David Rieff, In Praise of Forgetting: Historical Memory and Its Ironies (Yale University Press, 2016).

Robert K. Sutton and John A. Latschar eds., The Reconstruction Era (Eastern National, 2016).

Wendy Warren, New England Bound: Slavery and Colonization in Early America (Liveright, 2016).

Chad Williams, Kidida E. Williams, and Keisha N. Blain eds., Charleston Syllabus: Readings on Race, Racism, and Racial Violence (University of Georgia Press, 2016).

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3 comments… add one
  • Patrick Jennings Jun 22, 2016 @ 7:01

    I enjoyed David Rieff’s book very much. He makes some remarkable points and it feeds well into what I tell my students when they toss Santayana out there like a poor man’s simply philosophy…”History does not repeat itself, humans do.” Rieff’s best effort is discussing the importance of not layering modern morality on historical problems.

    • Kevin Levin Jun 22, 2016 @ 7:04

      It is quite good and I appreciate his references to the American Civil War as examples where the relationship between history, memory and nation building (maintenance) become problematic. He is certainly impressed with Caroline Janney’s scholarship. Have another chapter to still read.

  • David Kent Jun 22, 2016 @ 5:13

    I’ve been reading quite a bit lately about the naval battles on the Mississippi river, and what those fellows did was amazing. It seems to me that the portion of the war that went on there is somewhat overlooked by history. I can understand the greater appeal for people to concentrate on the land battles in the east, but what the U.S. Navy did on the rivers was incredible. Also, when people hear the term “Amphibious assault, or Landing”, they naturally think of d day, or the Pacific war in WW2, and for good reason. But, there were many of those in the civil war too. Most likely, more than anyone would believe. I believe one thing the south forgot about, although they tried to make one of their own, was………don’t mess with the U.S. Navy!

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