Question of the Week: 1/20-1/26/20
How did you become interested in the Civil War? Did an aspect of history and pop culture play a role in your introduction?
How did you become interested in the Civil War? Did an aspect of history and pop culture play a role in your introduction?
I did a paper on Custer in my undergraduate program and you can’t follow him without getting into the CW. Since then I have this disease where 95% of my reading is non fiction.
Yes, pop culture played a part. I was 11 when “The Blue and The Gray” first aired, and that was what got me started. I was given a copy of the American Heritage Picture History not long after that, and I was hooked.
Joel Manuel
Baton Rouge, LA
I got my interest from reading the edition of the World Book Encyclopedia set we had when I was a real young kid. Also, my elementary school years contained quite a bit of Civil War subject matter.
As a child, I learned that Abraham Lincoln was from Kentucky. I am too, so that caught my interest and naturally led to my interest in the war.
I also wrote a paper about Gettysburg while in high school and that research and writing solidified my fascination about the war
I’ve always had a passion for history. When I was in middle school, our history class covered the Civil War and my teacher brought a book that tells about odd and peculiar stories from the war (the title escapes me). I asked to borrow it and read it from cover to cover. I was introduced to the Ken Burns series in high school, which made a big impression on me. My interest in the era had been lukewarm after that until the summer of 2018. I write historical fiction and I decided to dive back into Civil War studies by concocting a story about a soldier (fictional) who was in the 7th Georgia Infantry at Antietam. After I took a deeper look into the military and social aspects of the conflict, I was hooked even more than before. My first trip to a Virginia battlefield that fall sealed it for me. So, it was a mix of pop culture and other influences.
Off topic here, but I don’t really have anywhere else to go at present. I have contacted ECW’s admin via their listed ‘channels’ to no avail so far. I asked if they have quit sending out the email notifications of their postings? They still have the sign-ups for their newsletter, but I do not receive any nowdays. Did something change as of the New Year? I was getting them for a few years, now nothing. I haven’t made any changes on my end, so….here I am. Any help here?
Thanks..
If the Kurz & Allison Civil War battle prints are pop culture, than yes. As a 4 and 5 year old that was the only book I wanted from the my small town public library.