Environmental History and the Civil War with Judkin Browning and Timothy Silver
I am very happy to welcome Drs. Judkin Browning and Timothy Silver to the show…especially since I’ve got big plans to more thoroughly investigate environmental history in my own classroom…their new book – An Environmental History of the Civil War is gonna really help me work with my students to underscore the relationship between the environment and humanity…and today I’m speaking with Judkin and Tim about some of the bigger ideas presented in their extremely engaging book.
Judkin Browning is professor of military history at Appalachian State University. He is author of Shifting Loyalties: The Union Occupation of Eastern North Carolina, and The Seven Days' Battles, 1862: The War Begins Anew .
Tim Silver is professor of environmental history at Appalachian State University. He is the author of A New Face on the Countryside: Indians, Colonists, and Slaves in South Atlantic Forests, 1500-1800 and Mount Mitchell and the Black Mountains: An Environmental History of the Highest Peaks in Eastern America.
Here what we discussed:
The unique way the authors organized this book
How teachers might use this book to explore environmental issues and history beyond surface discussions of weather and such.
Animals - yes they had a historical experience too and both shaped and were shaped by the environment
Big issues in the Far West during the war that we often leave out of the story
Corpses - both human an animal and what happens to the environment when corpses begin to putrefy
The Wilderness and the Gettysburg battlefields. What they look like then, now, and how the NPS works to recreate the landscape
In the wake of giant armies: the lasting environmental impact of war
You can find Tim and Judkin on Facebook. Check them out and keep up to date on what’s going on in their respective fields…and of course, buy the BOOK and we can keep the conversation going! AND…don’t forget to subscribe to The Rogue Historian Podcast on Apple Podcasts or your favorite app so you never ever ever ever miss a show. That would be dumb.