The decision to delay the premiere of Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln until after November 6 is a facile attempt to disassociate it from the presidential election. It’s unavoidable and doomed to give us a skewed view not only of our own political climate, but that of the 1860s as well. Hurricane Sandy may have caused unprecedented [...]
Abraham Lincoln
Like many of you I am looking forward to seeing Speilberg’s film, Lincoln. There is quite a buzz, which I hope translates into a good showing at the box office. As long as we don’t get carried away with critiquing the film along the narrow lines of historical accuracy we should be just fine. I [...]
I am calling for a year-long moratorium on Civil War publishing from my favorite historians. There is just too much to read. Give us a chance to catch up. William J. Cooper, We Have the War Upon Us: The Onset of the Civil War, November 1860-April 1861 (Knopf, 2012). Guy R. Hasegawa, Mending Broken Soldiers: [...]
I had no idea that there is now a chapter of Flaggers in North Carolina. It would be a stretch to draw any type of formal connection with the Flaggers in Virginia. It’s the same inane rhetoric about a subject they apparently know very little about. In this case, it’s a new exhibit about Lincoln [...]
There is an incredibly rich body of scholarship focused on explaining the outcome of the Civil War, but pastor John Hagee takes a slightly different approach. Lincoln’s proclamation for a national day of fasting was signed in March 1863. I think Hagee needs to explain why it took another two years for Lee to finally [...]
That on the first day of January in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any state, or designated part of a state, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive [...]
Boyd Harris of the University of Mississippi left this comment today in response to my posting of the official trailer for Steven Spielberg’s upcoming movie, Lincoln. I’ve been saying for a month that this is going to be the Passion of the Christ for historians. Blocks of seats bought by academics and us browbeating our [...]
As always thanks for purchasing books and other products through my Amazon Associate account. My commissions come in the form of book credits, which allows me to purchase two or three books for free. Frances M. Clarke, War Stories: Suffering and Sacrifice in the Civil War North, (University of Chicago Press, 2011). William J. Cooper, [...]
