I see where my posting of a short exchange of views in three part harmony on Fox has sparked a discussion at Kevin Levin’s Civil War Memory over exactly how to engage such folks in debate. Kevin asserts:
While those of us familiar with this Lincoln scholarship might enjoy a good laugh, we would do well to keep in mind that DiLorenzo and Woods are probably influencing the general public more through their publications and activism than all of the recent scholarly studies combined.
(this post originally appeared in somewhat different form on Civil Warriors, November 13, 2009; note that the blog in question is a multiauthor or group blog, and I’m replying to one of the bloggers, whose views may or may not be shared by his colleagues)
The blogosphere’s an interesting place. Really. Anyone can gain a measure of legitimacy by setting up a blog or posting reviews on Amazon or making comments on websites. In an age of ever-opening information and access, everyman can be his own historian, as Carl Becker once put it … and everywoman as well.
As they say, you can’t make this sort of stuff up. Scholarship as conspiracy, scholars as myth makers, and truth telling from that “fair and balanced” network.
Amazing. Simply amazing.
By now it should be clear to everyone that questions abound concerning the National Archives, Thomas P. Lowry, and the case of the tampered Lincoln document.
Perhaps it was just as well Continue reading
There has been some buzz lately about a new book that takes yet another look at Abraham Lincoln’s continuing interest in “colonization,” meaning the relocation of African Americans outside the United States. Contrary to what is sometimes asserted, Continue reading
It’s been exactly a month since the National Archives announced that Thomas P. Lowry had confessed to altering the date on a Lincoln document so as to make it appear that the president signed the document on April 14, 1865, hours before John Wilkes Booth shot him at Ford’s Theater. You’ll remember that Lowry recanted his confession. The story would have gone away had it not been for a certain historian’s commentary on the piece in the New York Times. There were people who were astonished by the report of Lowry’s behavior, and there were some people who stood up for him.
If you would like to save the sixteenth president, click here.
Will someone explain to me why Tennessee Ernie Ford recorded a version of “Marching Through Georgia”? Was it because he was born in East Tennessee, a haven of Unionists?
Bet you didn’t know that earlier this month folks celebrated the 200th anniversary of the birth of Horace Greeley.
Here is Abraham Lincoln meeting Frederick Douglass. In truth, the remainder of the film is more interesting than one might first think.
And, for those of you who’ve never heard Thomas DiLorenzo, here’s an interview he did on C-SPAN. Even more curious are some of the statements of Judge Andrew Napolitano, who thinks that the Emancipation Proclamation established slavery in the border states (and that’s for starters).
Enjoy (and comment if you feel so moved).
For those of you who are coin collectors or who have a fascination with our seventeenth president, I’m here to tell you that today is the day that the Andrew Johnson $1 coin is available for purchase … in rolls of $25, and for a bit more than that, of course.
Sometimes we overlook important stuff.
Somehow not too many people paid attention to the fact that recently Continue reading
Crossroads 