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Does Civil War Memory Deliver Content or Controversy?

by Kevin Levin on December 6, 2012 · 30 comments · Follow me on

in Civil War Culture

It’s been a while since I posted about blogging, but Robert Moore’s recent post on the distinction between content and controversy blogs, along with Brooks Simpson’s response, have moved me to offer a few observations.  First, the distinction itself makes very little sense to me, especially when you take a broader look at the blogosphere.  [...]

The Skyping Classroom

by Kevin Levin on October 21, 2012 · 0 comments · Follow me on

in Teaching

Last Wednesday I spent a good 45 minutes Skyping with Modupe Labode’s public history class at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. The class is focused specifically on the Civil War and public history and includes both undergraduate and graduate students. Students were required to read the first chapter of my Crater book, but we managed to [...]

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I Believe in a Silent Rational Majority

by Kevin Levin on September 29, 2012 · 18 comments · Follow me on

in Civil War Culture

Today I read a Facebook update from a history professor, who is dealing with the fallout over a recent essay on Antietam that he published in the Wall Street Journal. Like everything else he writes, it was a thoughtful essay, but it should come as no surprise to those of you familiar with sites with [...]

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RIP Marc Ferguson

by Kevin Levin on September 22, 2012 · 15 comments · Follow me on

in Battlefield Interpretation, Uncategorized

Over the years I’ve come to consider a small number of you as part of my online family.  I read your comments with great interest and I’ve learned a great deal as a result.  Our online communities are all too often shaped by the worst elements in our society such as ignorance, hatred, and  dishonesty.  [...]

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Preserving Civil War Memory at Gettysburg College

by Kevin Levin on September 5, 2012 · 5 comments · Follow me on

in Civil War Culture, Memory, Teaching

Calling all digital historians and archivists: If after reading this you have any suggestions please leave them in the comments section.  I will make sure they get passed on to the right people.  Thanks. Imagine signing on as the Systems and Emerging Technologies Librarian and being told that the library recently purchased two blogs.  For [...]

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Turning Likes and Followers Into Sales

by Kevin Levin on June 16, 2012 · 2 comments · Follow me on

in Uncategorized

A good friend of mine recently set up a Facebook page for her forthcoming book on the role of Christianity in shaping the concept of race in early Virginia.  She asked friends on Facebook as well as her Twitter followers to go ahead and “like” the page and within a couple of days had reached [...]

The following video was uploaded to YouTube a couple of days ago.  I know nothing about the woman who produced it, but I think it is a wonderful example of how the Web2.0 world has shaped the Civil War Sesquicentennial.  As opposed to the centennial years, when relatively few historical institutions exercised control over how [...]

Over the past few days I’ve been putting together some thoughts for a panel on the Civil War sesquicentennial that I am taking part in this coming April at the annual meeting of the OAH in Milwaukee.  I shared my proposal a few months ago and am now trying to fill in some of the [...]

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