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Why We Fight | Walter Edgar's Journal - Episode 1

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Dr. James McPherson discusses the reasons and motivations behind what made common soldiers ("Billy Yank" and "Johnny Reb") go fight in the Civil War. 

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South Carolina Public Radio / Walter Edgar's Journal / The Civil War At 150

The Civil War At 150 (Full Version)
 - Episode 8 The Spate of Civil War Literature | Walter Edgar's Journal

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Grades

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The Spate of Civil War Literature | Walter Edgar's Journal
Episode 3
Walter Edgar talks with Dr. McPherson about the increase in Civil War writings within the past thirty years. Writers have since expanded on aspects like civilian life, experiences for common soldiers...
The Civil War At 150 (Full Version)
 - Episode 8 Civil War

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Grades

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Civil War "Sensory History" | Walter Edgar's Journal
Episode 4
One of the new fields in Civil War history is what is known as “sensory history:” what people experienced, thought, smelled, tasted, heard, etc. Dr. James McPherson and Dr. Mark Smith discuss these...
The Civil War At 150 (Full Version)
 - Episode 8 Vicksburg, Famine, and Tastes | Walter Edgar's Journal

Audio

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
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Vicksburg, Famine, and Tastes | Walter Edgar's Journal
Episode 5
In this segment, Dr. Mark Smith discusses tastes, and what people typically ate during the Civil War. He uses Vicksburg, and foods, as examples to illustrate this aspect of sensory history.
Civil War "Sensory History" | Walter Edgar's Journal
 - Episode 4 The Civil War At 150 (Full Version)

Audio

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
The Civil War At 150 (Full Version)
Episode 8
Dr. James McPherson, professor emeritus of American History at Princeton University, won the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for Battle Cry of Freedom, which has since sold more than six hundred thousand copies...