The Civil War Tag

hi everyone I hope you're having a great week I am here to do the civil war tag which is created by Alan over at big hard books and Classics and I was taged by VIN over at Revenant reads so we'll go ahead straight in with the prompts the first one is what is your favorite Civil War novel so um I don't tend to read a lot of fiction in relation to the Civil War um but one that I did read recently and this seems to be a favorite uh of a lot of people that I have seen do this tag um is Steven cranes The Red Badge of Courage and if you're not familiar it's about a young man who feels like he has to prove himself um to himself and to others and the only way that he can do that and earn honor um and glory is by going off to war and returning wounded um so he can say that he fought bravely and courageously um it seemed less about you know choosing sides or fight fighting for a cause but more about that honor and glory and as he quickly finds out um war is horrifying terrifying and and gruesome and um you know it's not as rosy as he pictured um but yeah one of the books that I do plan on reading and this isn't a part of the prompt but I'm going to throw it in anyways um the one that I want to read uh probably in January is actually in alternative history and it is Ward Moors uh bring the Jubilee um and this is basically a book about what would have happened uh it it's a look at what would have happened if the South had actually won the Civil War so I'm quite uh keen on reading that it it almost feels a bit or it sounds a bit like Philip dicks the man in the High Castle um which is what would have happened if the access powers had won and partitioned America um but yeah it very much gave me um man in the High Castle Vibe so I do really want to read that but anyways moving on to the next prompt um number two what is your favorite Civil War non-fiction um so if you know me uh my whale house is very much prehistory and medieval history I don't tend to read a lot of non-fiction um that is more recent however I do occasionally like to read the audiography on um Civil War um figures and one of the ones that I read recently was a biography on Abraham Lincoln called rise to Greatness and I should have come more prepared but the author's name I believe is David vandre um and this is just a look at Abraham's um just a couple of years while he was in office just before he came to office and then I think just shortly before um Gettysburg and what I liked about this while it's well known that Abraham Lincoln was prone to depression there was a lot of tragedy in his life with his you know his sons passing away um one before he came into office one who passed away while he was in office um you know the the relationship that he had with Mary Todd Lincoln um all of these factors it almost seemed like and and the fact that he you know he's a country bumpkin lawyer um from the Midwest so you know it almost seemed like he had absolutely no business uniting the country and um being the leader that he was um so it's it's really a look at all of these factors and his psyche um and just the the crap that he had to deal with while he was in office it almost seemed like mlen mlen was you know actively trying to prevent the union from succeeding um you know just all of these things that he had to deal with on top of all of the personal stuff that he was going through um but what you know the the the unifying um characteristics of his personality that actually um made him such a brilliant leader and um able to not always not not necessarily um just compromise um but look for Solutions um so I really did enjoy this book for that reason um so yes moving on to the next prompt um what state do you live in so I don't live in the states anymore um I am based in the UK however I am from the state of Maryland which um I mean in terms of Civil War history Maryland was in the thick of it um I think think the perception of Maryland um that is held by both marylanders and non-m marylanders today is very different of what it was in the past or very recently in the past actually and and the perception that I'm talking about is whether or not Maryland is a Southern state or if it's a Northern State a lot of marylanders today will say that it's a Mid-Atlantic State and I think neolocality has a lot to do with this a lot of people move into the state um for um you know particular set of jobs particularly around the Washington DC area um but it wasn't until very recently that this idea has formed um Maryland historically was viewed as a Southern state marylanders view them viewed themselves culturally as Southerners you know we're below the Mason Dixon line that is the The Divide between the North and South but um you know even more than that I think a lot of people in Maryland forget that Maryland was a slaveholding state um I mean let's not forget that Frederick Douglas and Harriet Tubman were both from Maryland um and had to flee slavery from you know in Maryland so this idea that um Maryland is not a Southern state is very different from um the idea that people held in the past um and I just wanted to bring that up because um you know Maryland during the Civil War um there it was such a divided opinion because of its unique position between the North and South there were a lot of people who were um you know sympathetic to the union and there were a lot of people who were very very sympathetic to the the southern cause um so you know um where I am from in Maryland it is five minutes from the Virginia border um and the town that I'm from the cemetery that's there you can see headstones of men um who had fought on the union side and men who had fought on the Confederate side and they relatives so it was very much a war between Brothers a war between neighbors a a war between cousins and it was you know the pain and suffering that the war had caused there you know is just so apparent um where I'm from and it's written on the headstones um but you know in terms of what you can see in Maryland these days um just if you wanted to to do you know a civil war tour I I mean I had such a you know my parents were very encouraging of you know us learning history and they always took us to Gettysburg every summer I live very close to Harper's Ferry um antium the Battle of monoy um I live very close to Frederick which was occupied by both the union and Confederates um at different points so um yeah just a a great place to to grow up if if you're very interested in um Civil War history but anyways I'll move on to the next prompt um did you ever own a Confederate or rebel flag um no no one in my family has um no one in my family does um there were some houses in my um area that definitely did um Fly the Confederate flag as I mentioned it you know the unfortunately I think unfortunately um it's you know because of our unique position um you know between the North and South um there are still some sympathetic um you know people who view the Confederate flag as a symbol you know they try to glorify it um but yeah anyways I just I don't I don't like what it stands for um and I will never own one um number five how do you feel about Confederate State memorabilia and I think this is in relation to statues um I don't think they Reserve any place in um public spaces I do think that they need to be removed um while I do appreciate that they are part of a particular place's history um the you know the the definition of a statue the the whole purpose of a statue is to glorify or memorialize a figure and if we keep these statues of Confederate soldiers in public spaces then the what we're saying saying is that um you know we are glorifying or um honoring what they have done and I don't think those ideas have any place in a progressive Society um so yeah I don't think that they should be destroyed again I am an archaeologist and I think objects are very important tools for learning history um I do think that it would be much better if they were moved to museums where um that where they teach um people about the Civil War and very recent history um and you know where there's that particular Narrative of um uh unfortunately just how how long it's taken or is taking to really um get over the Civil War um it's but yeah anyways I'll move on to the next question before I Babble on um how do you feel about the renaming of ships and military bases uh named after Confederate generals again um um these places are named after Confederate generals or were to glorify or honor them um and I do believe that it would be much better if they were renamed um I don't think that um history should be Rewritten I don't think that um by renaming these places that we are forgetting history again I think it's very important to keep in mind where we come from and how we got here but I think by keeping um the names as they are um we're sending a very clear message um particularly to the black community that um you know it it just it doesn't make sense if as I say for living in a progressive Society if um we we keep those names some people might have very differing opinions from me um and I would be very interested in hearing your opinions um uh you know if you want to have a very polite discussion in the comments uh section uh down below we can have a very respectful uh discussion uh but I'd be very interested in hearing what you all have to say um so I do encourage you to do this tag and if you're not from the United States of America I think some of these questions um while they are very us specific I think you can tailor them to your own country if you want to share your thoughts and opinions about a civil war that has happened in your own country so I encourage anyone to do this tag um but anyways these are the answers to the civil war tag um thank you Alan for creating this and thank you VIN for tagging me um but until next time book bye