Reminder: I will be sending out a zoom link to the email addresses of all paid subscribers for Sunday evening’s discussion about the movie GETTYSBURG, which will take place at 7PM EST.
I tried several drafts of a comment but deleted them all. They sounded preachy. I think the best you may be able to say is Robert Gould Shaw was a complex product of his times. His actions (leading a regiment of Black United States soldiers at a time when this was considered highly unusual) do not seem consistent with some of the things he said and appeared to think. He was a complex person of contradictions caught up in a time of great change to his culture. Making sense is I suppose part of the historians struggle (still sounds preachy).
wow I want that book, but how about a look at what the WASP officers said or thought about their Irish troops and German Troops also. I bet there was a fair amount of bigotry there too.
Thanks for the comment. You are absolutely right. In fact, Shaw reserved some of the same demeaning language for the Irish soldiers that he commanded while with the Second Massachusetts.
I tried several drafts of a comment but deleted them all. They sounded preachy. I think the best you may be able to say is Robert Gould Shaw was a complex product of his times. His actions (leading a regiment of Black United States soldiers at a time when this was considered highly unusual) do not seem consistent with some of the things he said and appeared to think. He was a complex person of contradictions caught up in a time of great change to his culture. Making sense is I suppose part of the historians struggle (still sounds preachy).
wow I want that book, but how about a look at what the WASP officers said or thought about their Irish troops and German Troops also. I bet there was a fair amount of bigotry there too.
Hi James,
Thanks for the comment. You are absolutely right. In fact, Shaw reserved some of the same demeaning language for the Irish soldiers that he commanded while with the Second Massachusetts.
This is going to be an excellent, thoughful book, with the secondary charactrers almost as interesting as the protagonist.
I hope so on both counts. Thanks for reading.