Schedule
Week 1, August 26-30: Tensions and the Politics of Slavery
Undergraduates and Graduates read, Guelzo, Fateful Lightning, 3-53
Graduates read, Larry Cebula, “How to Read a Book in One Hour”
UG/GRAD Due: Google Forms Check-In (hereafter listed as GF)
Week 2, September 2-6: Violence and the Coming of War
UG/Grad read, Guelzo, 54-113
Grad read, Varon, Disunion!
UG/GRAD Due: GF
GRAD: THOMAS Notes (Varon)
Week 3, September 9-13: John Brown’s Moment
UG/Grad read, Guelzo, 113-156
Grad read, Manning, What This Cruel War Was Over
UG/GRAD Due: GF
GRAD: THOMAS Notes (Manning)
Week 4, September 16-20: The War Begins
UG/Grad read, Guelzo, 156-200
UG, read, Bryan A. Banks, “The Unessay: A Creative and Audience-Focused Assignment,” Perspectives on History, Sept. 20, 2023, https://www.historians.org/research-and-publications/perspectives-on-history/september-2023/the-unessay-a-creative-and-audience-focused-assignment.
Grad read, Yarbrough, Choctaw Confederates or Cassidy, Michigan’s Co. K
UG/GRAD Due, GF
UG, Unessay Project Idea
Grad: THOMAS Notes (Yarbrough or Cassidy)
Week 5, September 23-27: Technological Innovation; Questions over Emancipation
UG/Grad read, Guelzo, 200-213
UG/GRAD Due, GF
UG: Review of Battle Lines (if you choose this book to review)
Week 6, September 30-October 4: Civil War West and Native Americans
UG/Grad, read Zander, “Lincoln’s Imagined West,” Civil War Monitor, April 1, 2024, https://www.civilwarmonitor.com/lincolns-imagined-west/
UG/GRAD Due, GF
Week 7, October 7-11: The Homefront and Presidential War Leadership
UG/Grad, read Guelzo, 213-272
Grad, read McCurry, Confederate Reckoning
UG/GRAD Due, GF
GRAD due, THOMAS notes (McCurry)
Week 8, October 14-18: 1863, A Year of Change
UG/Grad, read Guelzo, 232-277 and 313-356
UG/GRAD, due GF
UG, Manning Review (if you chose this book to review)
Week 9, October 21-25: The African American Civil War Experience
UG/Grad, read:
Steward Henderson, “African Americans in the Civil War,” American Battlefield Trust, October 27, 2020, https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/african-americans-civil-war.
Jim Percoco, “The United States Colored Troops,” American Battlefield Trust, https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/united-states-colored-troops.
Kevin Levin, “The Pernicious Myth of the ‘Loyal Slave’ Lives on in Confederate Memorials,” Smithsonian Magazine, August 17, 2017, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/pernicious-myth-loyal-slave-lives-confederate-memorials-180964546/.
UG/GRAD due, GF
Week 10, October 28-Nov. 1: 1864, the War’s Deadliest Year.
UG/Grad, read Guelzo, 389-464
Grad, read Faust, This Republic of Suffering
UG/Grad, due GF
UG, Review of Faust, This Republic of Suffering (if you’ve chosen this book)
GRAD, THOMAS Notes (Faust), Abstract of Final Historiographical Essay
Week 11, November 4-8: The War’s Conclusion--Did it really end?
UG/Grad, read Guelzo 454-497
UG/Grad, due GF
Grad, Book Review (of any of the monographs we’ve read this semester)
Week 12, November 11-15: Reconstruction and the Rise of the Lost Cause
UG/Grad, read Guelzo 497-513
UG/Grad, due GF
UG, Film Review
Grad, Newspaper Research Assignment
Week 13, November 18-22: Native Americans in the West
UG/Grad, read Guelzo 513-536; Read, Boyd Cothran and Ari Kelman, “How the Civil War Became the Indian Wars,” New York Times, May 25, 2015, https://archive.nytimes.com/opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/25/how-the-civil-war-became-the-indian-wars/.
UG/Grad, due GF
Week 14, November 25-29: Thanksgiving Break.
Use this time however you need to use it. Need to catch up on work, do it. Need to put everything aside and enjoy a few days off, do it.
Week 15, December 2-6: The Civil War in Public Memory
UG/Grad read, David W. Blight, “The Civil War in American Memory."
UG/GRAD: DUE, GF
UG: Unessay Project due
Zoom Meeting with Dr. Legg (5 minutes) or submit video recording of Unessay project
Week 16, December 9-14, FINALS WEEK
UG, Due December 2, Reflective Artist Statement
GRAD, Due December 2, Final Historiographical Essay