Confederate Historiography with Robert Baumgartner
I will talk about history books all freakin' day. This is why I am especially happy to welcome Bob to the show. I noticed recently that he was giving a talk on three significant authors and their contributions to Confederate historiography...so naturally, I had to have him on the show. Under the microscope today: Douglas Southall Freeman, T. Harry Williams, and C. Vann Woodward.
Of course, we discuss Freeman's R. E. Lee: A Biography and Lee's Lieutenants. We also take on Williams's P.G.T. Beauregard: Napoleon in Gray and Lincoln and His Generals and Woodward's Origins of the New South and The Strange Career of Jim Crow.
But that's not all...we get down to brass tacks on:
The "stream of consciousness of history"
Accessibility in historical writing
Those writers who (may or may not) worship their subjects
Confederate history and the Civil War centennial
The legacy of the Confederate war in 20th-century historiography
Challenging existing conventions in mid-century Civil War history
How our subjects have stood the test of time
And I always like to get at least one book recommendation from my guests...Bob obliges with two:
All That Makes a Man: Love and Ambition in the Civil War South by Stephen W. Berry II
Neptune: The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings by Craig L. Symonds
Get your get its! And while you're at it, you can follow Bob on the usual social suspects...Facebook and Twitter. So you had better get to it :)
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