Our conversation with Elizabeth Varon, the Langbourne M. Williams Professor of American History at the University of Virginia and author of “Appomattox: Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War” published by Oxford University Press. In the interview, Dr. Varon touches on the deeper contested meaning of the iconic surrender at Appomattox Court House. She explains how such feelings spread within the respective armies and onto the homefront. In doing so, Varon argues, the war effectively ended at Appomattox, but battles over what the war truly meant to the likes of Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, and others was far from over.
You May Also Like
Behind The Lines
An Interview with Peter Carmichael (2015)
Our conversation with Peter Carmichael, the Director of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College. In this interview, Dr. Carmichael touches on some of the events and speakers at this…
Behind The Lines
An Interview with Chris Wheeler
Our conversation with Chris Wheeler, the writer, producer, and director of “Civil War: The Untold Story,” a new five part mini series premiering on PBS nationwide in April 2014. In…
Behind The Lines
An Interview with CWI’s Peter Carmichael
Our conversation with Peter Carmichael, the Robert C. Fluhrer Professor of Civil War Studies and Director of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College. Pete offers his thoughts on the…
Behind The Lines
An Interview with Kathryn Shively Meier
Our conversation with Kathryn Shively Meier, an assistant professor of history at Virginia Commonwealth University and author of “Nature’s Civil War: Common Soldiers and the Environment in 1862 Virginia,” published…