Zócalo Public SquareAmerican History, Theology, and Three Competing Memories of the Civil War – Zócalo Public Square https://legacy.zocalopublicsquare.org Ideas Journalism With a Head and a Heart Mon, 21 Oct 2024 07:01:54 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 American History, Theology, and Three Competing Memories of the Civil War https://legacy.zocalopublicsquare.org/2019/05/07/american-history-theology-and-three-competing-memories-of-the-civil-war/ideas/interview/ https://legacy.zocalopublicsquare.org/2019/05/07/american-history-theology-and-three-competing-memories-of-the-civil-war/ideas/interview/#respond Tue, 07 May 2019 11:10:26 +0000 Interview by Gregory Rodriguez https://legacy.zocalopublicsquare.org/?p=101939 David W. Blight, a historian at Yale University who has written seven books and edited many more, stopped by Zócalo’s offices in December of 2018. Earlier that day, The New York Times had named his most recent book, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, one of the top ten books of the year. Blight said he was stunned when he heard the news, having worked on Douglass’ biography for most of his adult life. He added that he was surprised—and delighted—to realize how much Americans continue to care about reading history. He sat down with Zócalo Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Gregory Rodriguez to talk about his 2001 book Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory. They discussed the differences between memory and history, the three competing stories Americans tell about the Civil War, and why Walt Whitman is our death poet. This transcript has been edited for clarity and length.

The post American History, Theology, and Three Competing Memories of the Civil War appeared first on Zócalo Public Square.

]]> David W. Blight, a historian at Yale University who has written seven books and edited many more, stopped by Zócalo’s offices in December of 2018. Earlier that day, The New York Times had named his most recent book, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, one of the top ten books of the year. Blight said he was stunned when he heard the news, having worked on Douglass’ biography for most of his adult life. He added that he was surprised—and delighted—to realize how much Americans continue to care about reading history. He sat down with Zócalo Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Gregory Rodriguez to talk about his 2001 book Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory. They discussed the differences between memory and history, the three competing stories Americans tell about the Civil War, and why Walt Whitman is our death poet.

This transcript has been edited for clarity and length.

The post American History, Theology, and Three Competing Memories of the Civil War appeared first on Zócalo Public Square.

]]> https://legacy.zocalopublicsquare.org/2019/05/07/american-history-theology-and-three-competing-memories-of-the-civil-war/ideas/interview/feed/ 0