Jacksonian America: Society, Personality, and Politics
A historian's view of the Early American Republic
This year's conference was a good one. I had the pleasure of catching up with some of my favorite Mississippi State friends, including John and Jeanne Marszalek, Connie Lester, Tim Smith, and Jim Humphreys, as well as several friends and acquaintances at the MSU reception on Saturday night. I also had lunch with loyal blog …
Continue reading "SHA 2013: Final Thoughts"
I attended sessions honoring three men at this year's Southern. On Friday afternoon was a session celebrating John Boles' thirty years of editorial service to the Journal of Southern History. Ten former students and colleagues offered brief remarks and memories about Boles the individual and the editor. It was encouraging to hear about Boles' collegiality …
Continue reading "SHA 2013: John Boles, Eugene Genovese, and Bertram Wyatt-Brown"
One of the liveliest sessions I've ever attended was one yesterday afternoon on the question of whether military history should be central to the study of the Civil War. Carol Reardon presided, with Gary Gallagher, Lesley Gordon, and Jim Hogue offering their thoughts. Gallagher kept his remarks short in arguing that understanding the military aspects of the war was essential to …
Continue reading "SHA 2013: Is Military History Central to the Study of the Civil War?"
I don't know how much tweeting I'll be doing at this year's Southern, but if you're interested in the social media buzz, follow #2013SHA. (The SHA is switching up the hashtag this year to avoid conflict with other Twitter hashtags, including the one for the Singapore Hit Awards. Because no one needs the image of …
This year's Southern was a good one. I presented for the first time (after multiple attempts to convince past SHA program committees of my brilliance), heard some great scholarship on southern history, met a few new people (my fellow panelists and Paul Bergeron, for example), caught up with former acquaintances (the Mississippi State crew), swindled …
My colleague, Natalie Inman, likes to call obstacles "adventures." She would have enjoyed the "adventure" that was our panel this afternoon. The saga began when I tried to find the room our panel was scheduled for. Originally, we were in the Sheraton, but SHA representatives at the registration handed out room changes to the program. …
Continue reading "SHA 2011: New Perspectives on the Jacksonian South"
Today started off rocky. I was supposed to be at a focus group for Bedford/St. Martin's at 8:00 . . . or so I thought. It was actually 9:00, so that extra hour of sleep I would have liked because of the time change didn't happen. After the focus group, Joyce Harrison, Brian McKnight, John …
Continue reading "SHA 2011: Gender and Sectional Reconciliation in Late Nineteenth Century America"
By the time you read this post, I should be making my way to Baltimore for this year's Southern. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXTqr2ZkGn8 As time permits, I'll be tweeting (using #sha2011) and blogging from the conference. If you are so inclined, you might even read the paper I'll be presenting.
As I did for this past summer's SHEAR conference, I am posting for advance reading a .pdf of my paper, entitled "Slavery, Kinship, and Andrew Jackson's Presidential Campaign of 1828," for the upcoming Southern Historical Association meeting. It is part of the session, "New Perspectives on the Jacksonian South," scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 29, from …
Continue reading "Slavery, Kinship, and the 1828 Presidential Campaign"
No, not the kindergarten brand of teasing. I'm excited about presenting some of my Jackson research at this summer's SHEAR and this fall's Southern. At this year's SHEAR, which meets in Philadelphia, I'll be presenting a paper entitled, "Masculinity and Familial Relations in the Early Republic South: A Study of Andrew Jackson’s Advice to His …
