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Reading The Civil War Assignment Fall 2

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Reading The Civil War Assignment Fall 2
Hist 1301 Dr. C.A. Cody Fall 2014

Reading the Civil War Story from Some Different Angles

I have been using this assignment for a couple of semesters and students seem to appreciate thinking about some new approaches to the Civil War. In class I will talk about events leading up to the war, do some of the usual battles, and discuss the reasons for the Union victory. This assignment, however, will bring additional perspectives on the war for students, by looking at the war from three new angles.

The purpose of this assignment and in class exam is for students to closely read three articles and with the articles in front of them answer a series of questions about their reading. Students will also compose a short essay about one or more of the readings.

The three essays are:

“’Numbers on Top of Numbers’: Counting the Civil War Dead,” by Drew Gilpin Faust. This essay appeared in The Journal of Military History, Vol. 70, No. 4 (Oct., 2006), pp. 995-1009. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4138192?origin=JSTOR-pdf

This essay was the 2006 George C. Marshall Lecture in Military History. Besides working as a historian, Dr. Faust is the current President of Harvard University.

“In the Absence of Scarcity: The Civil War Prosperity of Houston, Texas,” by Paul Levengood. This essay appeared in The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. 101, No. 4 (April, 1998), pp. 401-426. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30239127?origin=JSTOR-pdf

Dr. Levengood received his Ph.D. from Rice University in 1999 and currently is the President and CEO of the Virginia Historical Society.

“The Other Civil War: Lincoln and the Indians,” by David A. Nichols. This essay appeared in Minnesota History, Vol. 44, No. 1 (Spring, 1974), pp. 2-15. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20178286?origin=JSTOR-pdf
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