Grape & Canister

Civil War News, Books, Videos, and an Otis pic

(Source: Netflix)

Movie Discussion

Mark your calendars. Our next movie night discussion will take place on Sunday, January 14 at 7PM EST. We are going to discuss the movie Ride With the Devil. This special event is open to Paid Subscribers Only. You will receive an email with a zoom link a few days prior to the event. The only thing you need to do is find the time to watch the movie. I am really looking forward to this discussion as this is one of my favorite Civil War movies.

News

The mayor of Jacksonville, Florida is drawing heat from the city council for removing the Confederate monument last week without its approval. The mayor has argued that she did not need to seek council permission owing to the use of private funds for the removal.

Republicans in Florida are hoping to prevent the further removal of Confederate monuments through passage of a new bill.

The news last week was dominated by Nikki Haley’s gaffe over a question about the cause of the Civil War. I am not going to rehash it. This cartoon pretty much sums it up for those of you who are unaware of this story.

Books

Jayne Anne Phillips, Night Watch (Knopf, 2023).

Howell Raines, Silent Cavalry: How Union Soldiers From Alabama Helped Sherman Burn Atlantat—And Then Got Written Out Of History (Crown, 2023).

Videos

A number of you have asked me about the Howell Raines book. I am about halfway through and enjoying it a great deal. Raines is an excellent writer and I especially appreciate the autobiographical thread throughout the book. It’s a reminder that adherence to the Lost Cause narrative has never been embraced completely. The book is an important reminder that there have always been competing narratives of the Civil War and the Confederacy in the South.

Here is an interview with Raines set against the backdrop of the removal of the Confederate monument in Arlington National Cemetery.

My friends John Heckman and Keith Harris share their picks for the best history books of 2023.

Garry Adelman discusses his favorite subject in this brief video.

Yale University recently held a panel discussion on the efforts of universities to come to terms with the history and legacy of slavery. The discussion was moderated by David Blight and features Leslie Harris, Craig Wilder, Rachel Swarns, and Scott Spillman.

David Blight and Eugence Robinson recently joined Lawrence O’Donnell to discuss whether the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution should prevent Donald Trump from running for president.

Otis