I understand that the Internet and social media sites can be an empowering place.  It also has a powerful democratizing effect, which I value.  That doesn’t mean that everyone’s voice ought to be given equal weight.  Though it should be utilized with discretion, sometimes the most appropriate response is the back of the hand.  Here is a case where this applies.

This is for those of you who are convinced that the scholarship around the antebellum period, slavery, and secession is fundamentally misguided.  My response to you: I DON’T CARE!  That may seem a bit dismissive, but that is exactly what I mean to say.  I am not interested in what you learned from reading the Dixie Outfitters website, The South Was Right or one of  your other Pelican Press books.  I am also not interested in your assumptions about what motivates academic historians.  Your theories about how some vaguely defined political agenda influences research is of no interest to me.

I’ve read a pretty large chunk of the scholarly literature on slavery and secession and one thing that has been established over the past few decades is that the South’s “peculiar institution” is central to understanding secession and the Civil War.   The post photo includes just a small number of relevant books from my personal library.  It’s not meant to make you feel insecure, but to give you a sense of how I approach the study of history.  My understanding of this subject comes from reading these books, most of them written by professional historians.  I spend a great deal of time reading books and journals, not because I’ve become seduced by the academic world, but because these books constitute my education in this area of history.  You are going to have to do better if you hope to convince me that the broad interpretation that emerges from these studies is fundamentally flawed.

If critical scholarship is not your cup of tea, so be it.  Just please don’t expect me to take you seriously or imagine that I have any interest in your personal beliefs about Civil War history.  We are simply on different pages.  We have divergent ideas of what it means to engage in the study of history.  In the end it’s not a big deal.  You are free to discuss your personal beliefs on your own webpage or Facebook site or wherever you can find like-minded people.