Phil, please bear in mind that it's Not just southern racists; the radical extremists are indeed a multi-faction coalition funded by wanna' be autocrats in the commerce/business community. It's the leadership arms that are the brains and money that should be the bullseye of the target; less so the followers who are misled. Civil war was like that too for the most part.
Yes, D4N, I agree. But let's remember that racism is not only in the south of the U.S., but all over our country. And that's not just the U.S. It's all over the world.
Wholeheartedly agree Richard. I'm on record in this space and others, stating bias in all it's forms, ethnic, gender, etc., pick one, are widespread across our country and world. I've also recently made the statement here and elsewhere that 'most' folks don't know, aren't aware, and have never considered the concept of "inherent bias" - what it is, much less considered self honestly what inherent bias' they might hold themselves.
Indeed. The Confederates of Robert E. Lee carry on across the South, stripping the Emancipated every chance they get, and professors of Civil War history and Reformation failure consistently ignore the exquisite agony of the slave children bought and sold on the Slave Block in towns across the South as they feature the migraine of a drinker after whom a scotch is named and the fancy clothing of a white racist who pulverized his people and others to defend our nationтАЩs original sin.
It was a bad day for a man with a hangover. It was a bad century for the people neither general cared about - and their lives were ignored in the wake of the so-called Reformation by slave lords and white rapists whose legacy persist in DeSantis, Hawkey, Graham and Trump to the delight of Nashville racist whites and their descendants to this day ..
But letтАЩs focus on the clothing of Lee and Grant, not the national sin of slavery and the continuing sin of fascism buried, hidden in our callings in FOX News and white nationalist politics that sicken white American campuses, the House and Senate and StatesтАЩ governments red and black - as voter suppression and libraries stripped and endowment funds are devoted to protecting our prejudiced rights and freedoms while ignoring and abusing the non-white community across America.
S B Lewis--I hear you. But I cringe at what I perceive to be a disparagement of Professor Richardson for her description and telling of this significant moment in our history. You are a good writer, but I strongly disagree with your implication that HCR is one of the professors who тАЬconsistently ignore the exquisite agony of the slave children bought and sold on the Slave Block in towns across the South as they feature the migraine of a drinker after whom a scotch is named and the fancy clothing of a white racist who pulverized his people and others to defend our nationтАЩs original sin.тАЭ
We learn--anything we learn--in manageable parts. This letter does that for me in a way that lets me see the picture bigger. What you say is ignored, she attends other days. I didnтАЩt have her for my history teacher when I was young, but I am grateful to have her now.
I liked this Community so much better when I didn't have to see Sandy's daily misogynistic and repetitive comments about the author of the Letter. Regardless of the Letters content, he always was disparaging about Heather. Sandy why don't you just start your own Substack . You can write everyday about how much you don't like Heather, Boston College, Exeter School and your other constant talking points.
Sandy is part of the soul of this substack. Life has vitriol as well as poetry here. His is the jab in the butt that reminds us we have a long long long way to go. You and I Linda will not live to see it happen. Heather understands and so should we.
Pat I would have to disagree. I have been in this Community since pretty much the beginning. Never did I see fit to personally degrade Heather. I never saw it proper to state without substance what Heather does with her money. I would never associate what Boston College does as policy to Heather. Nor would I ever degrade her Education or professional standing.
He can go on and on about what he thinks makes the world go round.
The line in the sand is drawn when he personally degrades Heather for attention. I won't have it.
'The line in the sand...I won't have it.' I felt aggression in your words, Linda. It appeared to me a reflection of the hatred that is storming us. Knowing of the centuries of exploitation, oppression and murder of innocent people by the US and personally witnessing such sins against humanity effects us all. Balance is sometimes very difficult to achieve, particularly when you draw a line in the sand with someone you find fault with.
I did not realize that this was that Sandy Lewis who changed his name. Actually, I had always thought that that Sandy was female and bitter because of the successes of Heather.
Part of the problem, part of the solution: which are you :: which is HCR? Racism is ubiquitous. Fight it with everything youтАЩve got, or cave in. Boston College is clearly part of something that will NOT solve the problem: Dear Heather is Boston College professor of history. SheтАЩs not Professor Tim Snyder. Cannot speak from the same pulpit. Knows dates and dogma. Ignores what matters. As do ALL university presidents today. Fascism is quiet till the blood flows, till the lynching begins... Intolerance is SOP in admissions offices everywhere. And all know that.
SB Lewis, what is your real beef? Is it simply that because she teaches at Boston College or is it that she hasnтАЩt Tim SnyderтАЩs background in horror (Russian prison camps, etc.)? I have followed Professor Snyder since 2010 and learning American history since 1940. Both historians have their style, but I find not
Virginia My response to SB Lewis is PSHAW. Some of his posts I find interesting. However, his elitist disparaging of Heather I find disgraceful. Perhaps I have the elitist credentials that SB glorifies: Yale, Penn, MIT and a book that garnered the prime review in The Economist.
HeatherтАЩs scholarship is marvelous, as evidenced in her LIAA and her highly regarded books. That she is a professor at Boston College I find irrelevant.
My dear friend David McCullough won two Pulitzers and only taught a single course for a semester. [He was a classmate of mine at Yale.]
I discovered Professor Snyder in 2011 when I read BLOODLANDS. It was magnificent and obliged me to recast my teaching of the Holocaust (I was a history professor 1992-2013). Since then I have followed him on NY Review of Books, his book on tyranny, and his Substack blog.
I place Heather and Snyder in my Pantheon of Great Historians. I would also include James Fallows, another must read Substacker. I first discovered Fallows at The Washington Monthly about 1969. I neither know nor care about his тАШelitistтАЩ pedigree. His books have been excellent.
SB Lewis can not hold an historical candle to Richardson, Snyder, or Fallows.
You made me smile. Spent half my life in academia, know the ruffling feathers, one-point-of-view crowd. тАЬBloodlandsтАЭ was also my introduction to Timothy Snyder, whose appearance at the Chicago Humanities Festival was a continuation. I cherish him and HCR for different reasons, but their devotion to democracy is the same and both are proving it in these turbulent times.
True historians are never part of a problem or part of a solution. True historians do not take sides. it is not the right of a historian to take a side. It is the duty of a historian to give an honest account of moments in history for future generations to determine actions to take.
You make good points about the reality of yesterday and today. But as you are a regular reader of HCR, your attack on this one weekend produced letter seems odd at best. You know where the Professor comes from, what she teaches, what she writes books about and the positions she takes in all these letters.
Perhaps you could write your own letters almost every day, teach history courses, and write acclaimed books. Be sure to include all the horrors of the nation in each letter. We'll be anxious to read them.
Our "teacher" took the time on a Saturday night to make a simple ironic observation. I don't understand your mission here.
What a comedown! What a bucket of water over what HCR wrote above about Grant. You manage to miss the positive, the lesson, you are so sunk in the negative, the sour mood of now. Grant was an extraordinary leader who knew that feeding the starving Southern troops would help to bring them, hopefully the South, around, and might change their hearts. This was the next battle- one fought by Grant's example of good will after defeat. After all this was a battle for the soul of the nation, not for the North. This is still the battle. Republicans have yet to be defeated and to surrender. I don't even know if they know what they are fighting for, or as the hoisted MTG says, a divorce. We are still in a civil war battle with the remnants.Typing at home doesn't do it. This foul sentiment and this woeful response is well dispersed enough to keep fissures and wounds bleed bright red in these channels. Some healing gestures might work. Biden at least is trying.And the rest? It's "us and them" and complaints furthering that and that's what sells and gets "likes". There is a time to lay down arms to at least wish for healing, something better, at least for a moment!
If you have read all of Dr. RichardsonтАЩs Letters, you know that all these issues get addressed, in a daily topic with a narrow focus. If you have not read the rest of these Letters, please go back and read them all. I expect you will begin to feel as grateful as many of us do, for her erudition and dedication to this project, which has grown far beyond what she expected. That said, I know people (cowboys, mainly, all male) who say I was born 150 years too late. That was a bad century for almost everyone.
Those who choose the sword must surely realize that a step back upon occasion is both welcome and necessary. Thank you Sandy for your pain. As I have been stabbed multiple times I came to realize the best swordsmen know when to leave their blade sheathed. And when to brandish.
If only the confederates would consider surrendering again to cure our collective headache.
Phil, please bear in mind that it's Not just southern racists; the radical extremists are indeed a multi-faction coalition funded by wanna' be autocrats in the commerce/business community. It's the leadership arms that are the brains and money that should be the bullseye of the target; less so the followers who are misled. Civil war was like that too for the most part.
Of course. I didn't specify the South. There are seditionists everywhere.
Yes, D4N, I agree. But let's remember that racism is not only in the south of the U.S., but all over our country. And that's not just the U.S. It's all over the world.
Wholeheartedly agree Richard. I'm on record in this space and others, stating bias in all it's forms, ethnic, gender, etc., pick one, are widespread across our country and world. I've also recently made the statement here and elsewhere that 'most' folks don't know, aren't aware, and have never considered the concept of "inherent bias" - what it is, much less considered self honestly what inherent bias' they might hold themselves.
It's all over the world, like Putin invading the Ukraine & threaten other nations, like threaten to bomb Stonehenge. He's BS INSANE.
Indeed. The Confederates of Robert E. Lee carry on across the South, stripping the Emancipated every chance they get, and professors of Civil War history and Reformation failure consistently ignore the exquisite agony of the slave children bought and sold on the Slave Block in towns across the South as they feature the migraine of a drinker after whom a scotch is named and the fancy clothing of a white racist who pulverized his people and others to defend our nationтАЩs original sin.
It was a bad day for a man with a hangover. It was a bad century for the people neither general cared about - and their lives were ignored in the wake of the so-called Reformation by slave lords and white rapists whose legacy persist in DeSantis, Hawkey, Graham and Trump to the delight of Nashville racist whites and their descendants to this day ..
But letтАЩs focus on the clothing of Lee and Grant, not the national sin of slavery and the continuing sin of fascism buried, hidden in our callings in FOX News and white nationalist politics that sicken white American campuses, the House and Senate and StatesтАЩ governments red and black - as voter suppression and libraries stripped and endowment funds are devoted to protecting our prejudiced rights and freedoms while ignoring and abusing the non-white community across America.
S B Lewis--I hear you. But I cringe at what I perceive to be a disparagement of Professor Richardson for her description and telling of this significant moment in our history. You are a good writer, but I strongly disagree with your implication that HCR is one of the professors who тАЬconsistently ignore the exquisite agony of the slave children bought and sold on the Slave Block in towns across the South as they feature the migraine of a drinker after whom a scotch is named and the fancy clothing of a white racist who pulverized his people and others to defend our nationтАЩs original sin.тАЭ
We learn--anything we learn--in manageable parts. This letter does that for me in a way that lets me see the picture bigger. What you say is ignored, she attends other days. I didnтАЩt have her for my history teacher when I was young, but I am grateful to have her now.
I liked this Community so much better when I didn't have to see Sandy's daily misogynistic and repetitive comments about the author of the Letter. Regardless of the Letters content, he always was disparaging about Heather. Sandy why don't you just start your own Substack . You can write everyday about how much you don't like Heather, Boston College, Exeter School and your other constant talking points.
Sandy is part of the soul of this substack. Life has vitriol as well as poetry here. His is the jab in the butt that reminds us we have a long long long way to go. You and I Linda will not live to see it happen. Heather understands and so should we.
Pat I would have to disagree. I have been in this Community since pretty much the beginning. Never did I see fit to personally degrade Heather. I never saw it proper to state without substance what Heather does with her money. I would never associate what Boston College does as policy to Heather. Nor would I ever degrade her Education or professional standing.
He can go on and on about what he thinks makes the world go round.
The line in the sand is drawn when he personally degrades Heather for attention. I won't have it.
Comprende
'The line in the sand...I won't have it.' I felt aggression in your words, Linda. It appeared to me a reflection of the hatred that is storming us. Knowing of the centuries of exploitation, oppression and murder of innocent people by the US and personally witnessing such sins against humanity effects us all. Balance is sometimes very difficult to achieve, particularly when you draw a line in the sand with someone you find fault with.
I did not realize that this was that Sandy Lewis who changed his name. Actually, I had always thought that that Sandy was female and bitter because of the successes of Heather.
Dear Linda, my sympathies. Sandy
Cringe? YouтАЩre not affected by the issue.
I cringe, here.
Sorry. ...I find both historians useful, each in a different way.
Part of the problem, part of the solution: which are you :: which is HCR? Racism is ubiquitous. Fight it with everything youтАЩve got, or cave in. Boston College is clearly part of something that will NOT solve the problem: Dear Heather is Boston College professor of history. SheтАЩs not Professor Tim Snyder. Cannot speak from the same pulpit. Knows dates and dogma. Ignores what matters. As do ALL university presidents today. Fascism is quiet till the blood flows, till the lynching begins... Intolerance is SOP in admissions offices everywhere. And all know that.
SB Lewis, what is your real beef? Is it simply that because she teaches at Boston College or is it that she hasnтАЩt Tim SnyderтАЩs background in horror (Russian prison camps, etc.)? I have followed Professor Snyder since 2010 and learning American history since 1940. Both historians have their style, but I find not
Virginia My response to SB Lewis is PSHAW. Some of his posts I find interesting. However, his elitist disparaging of Heather I find disgraceful. Perhaps I have the elitist credentials that SB glorifies: Yale, Penn, MIT and a book that garnered the prime review in The Economist.
HeatherтАЩs scholarship is marvelous, as evidenced in her LIAA and her highly regarded books. That she is a professor at Boston College I find irrelevant.
My dear friend David McCullough won two Pulitzers and only taught a single course for a semester. [He was a classmate of mine at Yale.]
I discovered Professor Snyder in 2011 when I read BLOODLANDS. It was magnificent and obliged me to recast my teaching of the Holocaust (I was a history professor 1992-2013). Since then I have followed him on NY Review of Books, his book on tyranny, and his Substack blog.
I place Heather and Snyder in my Pantheon of Great Historians. I would also include James Fallows, another must read Substacker. I first discovered Fallows at The Washington Monthly about 1969. I neither know nor care about his тАШelitistтАЩ pedigree. His books have been excellent.
SB Lewis can not hold an historical candle to Richardson, Snyder, or Fallows.
Again PSHAW.
You made me smile. Spent half my life in academia, know the ruffling feathers, one-point-of-view crowd. тАЬBloodlandsтАЭ was also my introduction to Timothy Snyder, whose appearance at the Chicago Humanities Festival was a continuation. I cherish him and HCR for different reasons, but their devotion to democracy is the same and both are proving it in these turbulent times.
Thank you for PSHAW!
True historians are never part of a problem or part of a solution. True historians do not take sides. it is not the right of a historian to take a side. It is the duty of a historian to give an honest account of moments in history for future generations to determine actions to take.
SB,
You make good points about the reality of yesterday and today. But as you are a regular reader of HCR, your attack on this one weekend produced letter seems odd at best. You know where the Professor comes from, what she teaches, what she writes books about and the positions she takes in all these letters.
Perhaps you could write your own letters almost every day, teach history courses, and write acclaimed books. Be sure to include all the horrors of the nation in each letter. We'll be anxious to read them.
Our "teacher" took the time on a Saturday night to make a simple ironic observation. I don't understand your mission here.
'Lighten up, just enjoy life, smile more, laugh more, and don't get so worked up about things.'
Kenneth Branagh
Nice quote, Fern!
Wake up, walk the dog, grab a coffee. Read, get worked up. Vent a bit. Feel better after joining the national conversation and blowing off some steam.
Then I have a wonderful day, Just about every day. Hope you do, as well.
Sometimes a rebuke prolongs the sour taste. Cheers, Bill!
What a comedown! What a bucket of water over what HCR wrote above about Grant. You manage to miss the positive, the lesson, you are so sunk in the negative, the sour mood of now. Grant was an extraordinary leader who knew that feeding the starving Southern troops would help to bring them, hopefully the South, around, and might change their hearts. This was the next battle- one fought by Grant's example of good will after defeat. After all this was a battle for the soul of the nation, not for the North. This is still the battle. Republicans have yet to be defeated and to surrender. I don't even know if they know what they are fighting for, or as the hoisted MTG says, a divorce. We are still in a civil war battle with the remnants.Typing at home doesn't do it. This foul sentiment and this woeful response is well dispersed enough to keep fissures and wounds bleed bright red in these channels. Some healing gestures might work. Biden at least is trying.And the rest? It's "us and them" and complaints furthering that and that's what sells and gets "likes". There is a time to lay down arms to at least wish for healing, something better, at least for a moment!
If you have read all of Dr. RichardsonтАЩs Letters, you know that all these issues get addressed, in a daily topic with a narrow focus. If you have not read the rest of these Letters, please go back and read them all. I expect you will begin to feel as grateful as many of us do, for her erudition and dedication to this project, which has grown far beyond what she expected. That said, I know people (cowboys, mainly, all male) who say I was born 150 years too late. That was a bad century for almost everyone.
Those who choose the sword must surely realize that a step back upon occasion is both welcome and necessary. Thank you Sandy for your pain. As I have been stabbed multiple times I came to realize the best swordsmen know when to leave their blade sheathed. And when to brandish.
Spot on.
Your writing has changed from the stream of consciousness style. I appreciate it.
Or at least remember history as it was, not as it is easier for them to believe it was.
Amen!