We all know James Longstreet - Robert E. Lee’s most trusted lieutenant who fell from grace in the postwar South. Having the audacity to criticize Lee in print, he wound up heartily attacked by Lost Cause warriors, shouldering the blame for the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg, and thus the war. And to make matters worse, he turned Republican. Oh my…if his popularity wasn’t already in question among most Reconstruction era white southerners, that pretty much did the trick. It’s no wonder there is scarcely a monument to be found honoring Lee’s “Warhorse” in all of former Rebeldom. I very much e ..read more

Hello all! Today I just want to share a story about my yearly Civil War field trip - and a little trip we all decided to take just because. But first, some context. Every spring, I take my Civil War class from Los Angeles to the D.C. area, which we use a home base for a series of adventures that take us to Richmond, Harper’s Ferry, Gettysburg, Antietam, and of course, Washington. Last year we were kicking around some ideas and decided to take a side trip and visit the grave of Stonewall Jackson’s arm. If you are not familiar with the story, Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson, one of the Conf ..read more

Greetings all! As I have noted recently on both Insta and TikTok, I read a ton of presidential biographies. I just like them - they are fun and if well written, worth investing the time to take on books often numbering in the zillions of pages. As a lifelong history student I find there is a lot to learn from a decent biography. One can learn about leadership and statecraft at the executive level, historical context (of course) , and the political dynamics within that context - especially how policy decisions of historical presidencies affected ordinary people. I’ve just finished a most excel ..read more

Greetings friends! How many books are there about Abraham Lincoln? I mean, I am not sure - but it is certainly more than any mortal could ever read. Just for a visual reference - take a look at the pic with the ginormous collection of books looming behind me. This is the Ford’s Theater Museum gift shop in Washington City - which boasts a tower of Lincoln books numbering in the thousands, or so it appears. But - there is always room for more. Case in point: way back in 2009, Michael Burlingame published an epic two-volume biography, Abraham Lincoln: A Life. But what’s even better than that, Jo ..read more

In class today we were discussing General Albert Sidney Johnston…and the hopes for victory that Confederates placed on his shoulders. Without question, Johnston was held in high regard by many due to his exceptional leadership skills and talent for strategy. His military experience and command of troops inspired confidence in the Confederate forces, marking him as a linchpin for early victories. Johnston's proficiency in devising tactical plans and his ability to inspire and lead soldiers created a sense of hope and possibility for the Confederates. But then…tragedy struck for the hopeful Reb ..read more

I was very excited when I received my copy of Stephen Goldman’s One More War to Fight: Union Veterans’ Battle for Equality through Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the Lost Cause. As you may know, years ago I published a book about Civil War veterans, Across the Bloody Chasm: The Culture of Commemoration Among Civil War Veterans, and I have remained interested in these guys ever since. In fact, I am currently working on a book on how Union veterans envisioned their fight in terms of American exceptionalism. So naturally, I was eager to dive into Goldman’s work. I’ll start by saying that I very m ..read more

Gary W. Gallagher, ed., Catton - The Army of the Potomac Trilogy (The Library of America, 2022). My grandparents gave me my first Civil War history book for Christmas in 1982 - it was Bruce Catton’s The Civil War - the narrative portion of the American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War, which was first published in 1960. We had ancestors who had served in the Confederate Army, and I had expressed an interest in the fight. As I pored over Catton’s words, I became even more enthralled with the story of the war: larger-than-life characters, a nation in peril, epic battles - what kid woul ..read more

Yes - you should buy this book. Greetings all! Those of you who tend to pay attention know that I teach at a Modern Orthodox Jewish High School. Soooooo, for my year-long class on the Civil War and Reconstruction I thought the kids would enjoy learning about Jews in the Civil War. Years ago, before I did the research that would provide the foundation for this unit, I didn’t know all that much about the Jewish experience in 19th-century America beyond the basics. There were somewhere in the neighborhood of 150,000 Jews in the United States in 1860, most of them were recent immigrants from coun ..read more

Hey all, I had the pleasure of appearing with John Heckman - aka The Tattooed Historian - on his YouTube live stream the other day. We each listed our top three history book picks for 2022, then John ran a viewer poll to see which picks the audience most wanted to read - you’ll have to watch to see who won…I’m not going to spoil it :) Fun was had by all…as you can plainly see. So I am looking forward to more of these sorts of shows in the future. And in case you’re really dying to get you hands on one (or all) of these books - here you go: My picks: Jewish Soldiers in the Civil War by Adam D ..read more

Steven Cowie, When Hell Came to Sharpsburg: The Battle of Antietam and Its Impact on the Civilians Who Called It Home (Savas Beatie, 2022). Here’s a question that I pose to my Civil War students early in the school year: what first comes to mind when we think of Civil War armies in action? They tend to bring up the vast numbers: men in blue and gray sweeping across fields of battle engaged in combat. Of course the bloodshed takes center stage - wrecked bodies and death on a scale that is difficult for students to imagine…try as they might. Many discuss the carnage beyond the physical to the p ..read more