Bledsoe debuts latest Civil War essay collection
“The focus of the book is to try to resolve a kind of tension that we as historians have sort of discovered in the fields of war history,” Assistant Professor of History Dr. Andrew Bledsoe said about his new book concerning the Civil War.
Photo by John David Clark
Assistant Professor of History Dr. Andrew Bledsoe recently debuted his latest book “Upon the Fields of Battle: Essays on the Military History of America’s Civil War (Conflicting Worlds: New Dimensions of the American Civil War)” at a reception held on Nov. 7.
Bledsoe’s newly published book is a collection of edited essays on the Civil War. Bledsoe served as a contributor and co-editor alongside Dr. Andy Lang of Mississippi State University.
“The focus of the book is to try to resolve a kind of tension that we as historians have sort of discovered in the fields of war history,” Bledsoe said.
President Paul Conn (left) and Dr. John Coats (right) at Bledsoe's book premiere and reception.
Photo by John David Clark
Professor of History Dr. John Coats highlighted the importance of Bledsoe and Lang’s process before publishing their book.
“They gathered together leading scholars to join them together in this enterprise to create this sort of new approach to doing Civil War history,” Coats said.
Chair of the Department of History, Political Science & Humanities Dr. Randy Wood said he wants to praise Bledsoe and Lang’s choice to create a new way of resolving tensions between military history and social history scholars.
“They are trying to re-fashion the discussion of military history in conjunction with social history,” Wood said. “They want to combine the two. … They are trying to do something new and the reviewers are really excited about this attempt.”
Although the book is a collection of essays by expert historians on the Civil War, Bledsoe said the book will appeal to anyone who is interested in history.
“I am excited for people to see that Civil War history is alive and well,” Bledsoe said.
For more information on Bledsoe’s work, contact him at abledsoe@leeuniversity.edu.
Bledsoe’s book is available for purchase on Amazon.
