ECW’s Thanks to Will Greene
We just wanted to say “Thanks” to historian A. Wilson Greene, executive director of Pamplin Historical Park in Petersburg, Virginia. During Pamplin’s 20th annual Civil War Symposium last month, Will gave Emerging Civil War a wonderful shout-out:
[O]n a positive note, there is a very vital and vibrant publishing movement going on right now called the Emerging Civil War. It started out as a blog and it has transitioned into a series of 20-25 books now, a growing amount of titles. We have an author on our staff right here, Edward Alexander, who is a participant in that. These are mostly, not entirely, but mostly young historians who come from a public history background as opposed to an academic history background. And I think our hope for the kind of traditional history that we have come to consume at historical sites rests in that particular movement among 15-20 of these young scholars who are rolling up their sleeves and taking up work that the fellas and gals from my generation now are giving up. So I do think there is some hope there.
You can https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpamplinhistoricalpark%2Fvideos%2F1134349709979351%2F&show_text=0&width=400” target=”_blank”>catch Will’s full talk here. His shout-out to ECW comes at the 18:25 mark.
What I love most is that ECW is multi-generational–not everyone is young, or old–we are sort of all over the board. Huzzah to us, however. I always hope that, someday, historians will be able to make a decent living and not have to put off this passion until they can “afford” it. My tax lady calls it my hobby, which brings tears to my eyes.
“Vital and vibrant” Nice words and well deserved thanks to our dedicated leaders and authors. But I’m glad youth is not a requirement.