Assessing Glatthaar’s General Lee’s Army at the SHA

I just booked my room and registered for this year’s meeting of the Southern Historical Association, which meets in Charlotte, North Carolina from November 4-7. It’s by far my favorite conference of the year as it comes at just the point when I can use a couple of days away from school and it gives me a chance to catch up with good friends.  Perhaps I will even be able to check in with the publisher to get an update on my Crater manuscript.  The panels are always interesting but I am especially looking forward to one on Joseph Glatthaar’s General Lee’s Army.  I’ve blogged about it here at Civil War Memory over the past year and I can’t say enough good things about it.  Not only is it an excellent synthesis of recent scholarship, but Glatthaar’s analysis of key topics such as slavery, morale, discipline, religion and even black Confederates make this volume indispensable.  An independent study with one of my students has given me the opportunity to go through it again.

POINTS OF DEPARTURE: REFLECTIONS ON JOSEPH A. GLATTHAAR’S GENERAL LEE’S ARMY

Presiding: John Coski, Museum of the Confederacy

General Lee’s Army and General Lee: How Does Glatthaar Fit into a Contentious Historiography on the Rebel Chieftain? — Gary W. Gallagher, University of Virginia

The High-Water Mark of Social History: The Methodology of Glatthaar’s “General Lee’s Army” — Peter S. Carmichael, Gettysburg College

“They Are One in Reality & All of the Country”: Blending Battlefront and Home Front — Jacqueline Glass Campbell, Francis Marion University

Author’s Response: Joseph A. Glatthaar, University of North Caroline, Chapel Hill

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5 comments… add one
  • Lee White Oct 30, 2010 @ 10:40

    Im going to make it this year as well, really looking forward to this panel.

  • Jared Frederick Oct 13, 2010 @ 20:37

    Kevin, I will be at the SHA conference as well. I look forward to finally meeting you in person.
    Jared

    • Kevin Levin Oct 14, 2010 @ 1:04

      See you in Charlotte.

  • Colin Woodward Oct 11, 2010 @ 4:43

    It’s a great book, and Glatthaar deserves the accolades. However, I noticed the SHA conference program listed the title wrong, as “General Lee’s Armies.” What’d somebody say once about baseball, you go 5 for 5 and they spell your name wrong in the paper the next day?

  • MississippiLawyer Oct 10, 2010 @ 19:18

    Other than Shelby Foote’s mega-work, this is easily my favorite CW book.

    A MUST read for every student of the war.

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