Category Archives: History
‘Abraham Lincoln’s Wilderness Years’ Published
Abraham Lincoln spent a quarter of his life—from 1816 to 1830, ages 7 to 21—learning and growing in southwestern Indiana. Despite the importance of these formative years, Lincoln rarely discussed this period, and with his sudden, untimely death in 1865, mysterious gaps appear in recorded history. In Abraham Lincoln’s Wilderness Years, Joshua Claybourn collects and…
Lincoln: Divided We Stand
I’m pleased to take part as a featured expert in LINCOLN: DIVIDED WE STAND, a six-part CNN original series about Abraham Lincoln. Through a mix of expert interviews, cinematic recreations, rare artifacts, and never before broadcast photos and letters, LINCOLN: DIVIDED WE STAND will take viewers on a transcendent journey into the life and times…
Lincoln Log Podcast Launched
The Abraham Lincoln Association launched a new podcast titled Lincoln Log featuring conversations with leading historians and other officials about their stories, research, and wisdom. I will frequently serve as host, including as host of three initial episodes with David Blight, Michael Burlingame, and Allen Guelzo. Here’s a trailer for the new podcast.
ALA Lincoln Birthday Events
The Decay of Collective Memory
As a historian and Beatle fanatic this headline immediately caught my attention: “How We’ll Forget John Lennon.” In the story by Kevin Berger, he reports on fascinating paper by Cesar Hidalgo titled “The universal decay of collective memory and attention.” Hidalgo attempts to measure the way our cultural memory—for instance, the way a hit song…
Constitution Making in Indiana
In 1851 Indiana held a constitutional convention and the delegates wrote a totally new constitution to replace the one adopted in 1816 when Indiana became a state. This drastic step was made necessary because the earlier document prohibited piecemeal revision. The new document, ratified by voters in 1852, did allow for future amendment. However, only…
The Return of North & South Magazine
North & South is back. The magazine (“The Official Magazine of the Civil War Society”) previously operated from 1997 to 2013 as a staple in the Civil War historical community. Founder and editor Keith Poulter explained the return: With the disappearance of Blue & Gray magazine, I have been inundated with letters and phone calls…
Frontier Thesis
Frederick Jackson Turner’s “Frontier Thesis” which burst onto the scene with a famous essay in 1893 titled “The Significance of the Frontier in American History,” continues to impact the American view of history in fundamental ways. In it Turner argues the frontier shaped American democracy, independence, ingenuity, and optimism. In the process, the frontier also…
George W. Rains and the Augusta Powder Works
Ted Savas has a new two-part feature article in Civil War Times magazine that reflects some truly ground-breaking research focusing on George Washington Rains and the Augusta Powder Works, the South’s only major source of gunpowder during the Civil War. He writes at his blog, A Publisher’s Perspective: After years of careful study and in-depth…