Here we do what many historians are too prudent to risk and many Civil War buffs are afraid to touch: we talk about how history connects to today’s politics and culture!
- To Understand the Civil War, You Must Understand Grant. Though he stars in neither Gone with the Wind nor in Gettysburg, Grant was the general who won the Civil War, leveraging northern advantages enjoyed by half a dozen earlier Union commanders to achieve the victory that eluded them. And once you get into it, Grant’s story is just as entertaining as those of Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson or the now-famous Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain — but much more important to the outcome of the Civil War. Read about how Grant was the essential man of the Civil War…
- The Fight Over “Union” that Grant Led Prefigured Today’s Political Polarization. No, America is not at risk today of a second Civil War, as some pundits claim. Our political divides now are not sectional as in the 19th century, but ideological, economic and cultural. Yet, in recent years Americans have grown apart in a way not seen since the 1860s. We have lost sight of the value of the American Union, a concept well understood by Grant and his era. Read about Grant & Union…
- On Race and Civil Rights, What Grant Tried Was a Century Ahead of Its Time. As statues of Confederate generals come down in the name of racial equity, nobody’s talking about replacing them with statues of Grant, “America’s first civil rights president” according to one leading historian. But maybe they should be. Read about Grant and race & civil rights…