The War Outside My Window with Janet E. Croon
Greetings all! I am very excited to welcome Janet E. Croon to The Rogue Historian. Jan holds a bachelor’s degree in political science, modern European History, and Russian language and area studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, and a master’s degree in International studies from the University of Dayton. She taught international baccalaureate history for nearly two decades for Fairfax county public schools and developed a deep interest in the Civil War by living in Northern Virginia. Today we will be discussing her book: The War Outside My Window: The Civil War Diary of LeRoy Wiley Gresham, 1860-1865. As you may know, I reviewed this book some time ago HERE and the accompanying comprehensive curriculum guide HERE - and enjoyed them both very much…so I am glad I could chat with Jan about some of the details of LeRoy’s life. We discuss:
The origin story…how Jan discovered the Gresham diaries
Should we dismiss assumptions when reading this account?
Reading a diary for perspective
The underlying tragedy of the narrative - LeRoy is slowly and painfully dying (but he doesn’t know it…)
Confederate nationalism
The ebb and flow of civilian morale and the connections between the home front and the battlefield
The enslaved people that populate the story
His thoughts on some leaders…you’ll recognize the names :)
Death and dying during the Civil War and Drew Gilpin Faust’s This Republic of Suffering
Military knowledge and the insights of a young man
Peering in to the private lives of people who had no intentions of making their lives public knowledge
Have a listen…
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With compliments,
Keith