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Remembering the Civil War

Gettysburg | Photo by Britt Reints, CC via Flickr, http://bit.ly/2zOg9Cr

Tuesday, we’re talking about the history versus the memory of the Civil War. Yale historian David Blight says there’s a lot of misunderstanding about the period, but getting it right matters because the stories we tell about who we were then define who are now.

RadioWest divider.

Tuesday, we’re talking about history versus memory of the Civil War. Last month, retired Marine Corps General and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly called the Confederacy’s Robert E. Lee an honorable man and said the war that ripped apart the nation was simply a failure to compromise. But Yale historian David Blight says that version of the past doesn’t match historic fact. And he argues it matters that we get it right, because the stories we tell about who we were then define who we are now.

  • David Blight is a Professor of American History at Yale University. Visit his website davidwblight.comto read his articles and essays on public memory and the Civil War. His many books are available through Indie bookstores and through Amazon.
Doug Fabrizio has been reporting for KUER News since 1987, and became News Director in 1993. In 2001, he became host and executive producer of KUER's RadioWest, a one hour conversation/call-in show on KUER 90.1 in Salt Lake City. He has gained a reputation for his thoughtful style. He has interviewed everyone from Isabel Allende to the Dalai Lama, and from Madeleine Albright to Desmond Tutu. His interview skills landed him a spot as a guest host of the national NPR program, "Talk of the Nation." He has won numerous awards for his reporting and for his work with RadioWest and KUED's Utah NOW from such organizations as the Society of Professional Journalists, the Utah Broadcasters Association, the Public Radio News Directors Association and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.