Tag Archives: Robert Penn Warren

Robert Penn Warren’s Reflections on Jefferson Davis’s Citizenship

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Chris Mackowski

As I mentioned in a post a couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity recently to pick up Robert Penn Warren’s short 1980 book Jefferson Davis Gets His Citizenship Back. It’s beautifully written, and Warren’s ambivalence about his native South … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Authors, Leadership--Confederate, Lincoln, Memory, Personalities, Slavery | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Robert Penn Warren, Jefferson Davis, and the Construction of a Monument

Posted on February 3, 2017 by Chris Mackowski

In his 1980 essay “Jefferson Davis Gets His Citizenship Back,” first printed in The New Yorker and later published as a short book, Robert Penn Warren reflected on the construction of a monument to former Confederate President Jefferson Davis. That … Continue reading →

Posted in Civil War in Pop Culture, Leadership--Confederate, Memory, Monuments | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Future of Civil War History: Steve Davis

Posted on June 10, 2016 by stephendavis

A couple of years ago I got a phone call during my day-job from a local TV reporter, Paul Crowley, who said he had gotten my name from the Atlanta History Center. Paul explained that the night before, his station, … Continue reading →

Posted in Memory | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

Telling History vs. Making Art: Fictions and Histories

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Chris Mackowski

Final part of a series “[H]istory and historical fiction,” says historian Paul Ashdown, “are alternate ways of telling stories about the past.”[1] In that context, Ulysses S. Grant spoke more truth than he realized when he said “Wars produce many … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Authors, Memory | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Telling History vs. Making Art: The ways we remember the war

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Chris Mackowski

Part two in a series “We may say that only at the moment when Lee handed Grant his sword was the Confederacy born,” wrote Robert Penn Warren during the Civil War’s centennial; “or to state matters another way, in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Authors, Memory, Personalities, Slavery | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Warren’s Legacy still asks urgent questions

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Chris Mackowski

As a Kentucky-born writer who lived most of his professional life in the North, Robert Penn Warren was deeply conflicted about the American Civil War. That ambivalence, and the tensions that sprang from it, haunt every section of his essential … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Authors, Memory | Tagged , | 1 Comment

American Oracle and the dangers of political fanaticism

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Chris Mackowski

Reading David Blight’s American Oracle this weekend, I’ve noticed a subtle, cautionary note that keeps playing itself as an occasional undertone. It reminds me again why the study of history has something to tell us about current events—and also that no one … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Authors, Memory, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments