Lincoln Discussion Symposium

I just posted in the Lincoln and the 13th Amendment thread (under the “Books - Over 15,000 to Discuss” heading) about the fact that Christian Samito, one of our members, will be an upcoming guest on Civil War Talk Radio regarding his book Lincoln and the 13th Amendment. He is scheduled for November 4, 2015. I thought I would post a little more here about Civil War Talk Radio for those who are unfamiliar.

Civil War Talk Radio, now in about its 11th season, is an hour long, internet based talk radio show that airs weekly. The show is hosted by Gerry Prokopowicz of East Carolina University. Gerry is also a former director of the now defunct Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne, IN and is the author of Did Lincoln Own Slaves? And Other Frequently Asked Questions About Abraham Lincoln. I think he is also a member here but I don’t know if he has ever posted or if reads regularly.

Each week, Gerry interviews historians, authors, enthusiasts, and others about topics related to all aspects of the American Civil War. The shows can be listened to live on Wednesday nights at 7:00 pm EST or streamed later. They can be streamed from the show’s home on voiceamerica.com, on a website dedicated to the show - impedimentsofwar.org, or from itunes. Voice America usually has the archived shows up the earliest after live airing. I typically can’t listen to the live show and download from itunes, then listen to them on commute to and from work or when I am travelling. The shows are great and are largely responsible for my ever growing stack of books to read. I find the interviews with authors about their books great as they often give additional insights that you can’t always get from just the words on the page. Gerry, being a Lincoln scholar/enthusiast himself, regularly has Lincoln related items (and of course Lincoln often comes into play in discussions on the Civil War in general).

Recent Lincoln related shows include:
10/7/2015: Betty Brennan – Civil War Museum Design; includes segment on the Lincoln Heritage Museum, in Lincoln IL (which was recently visited by several of us on the Springfield trip)
9/9/2015: Jonathan W. White - Emancipation, The Union Army, and the Reelection of Abraham Lincoln
6/17/15: Michael Schein – John Surratt the Lincoln Assassin Who Got Away
2/11/15: David S. Reynolds – Lincoln’s Selected Writings
9/24/14: John Barr – Loathing Lincoln: An American Tradition from the Civil War to the Present


Here is the web address for the live show as well as archives
http://www.voiceamerica.com/show/2205/ci...talk-radio

Here is a website that tells a little more about Civil War Talk Radio as well as has show archives.
http://www.impedimentsofwar.org

Thanks so very, very much! Plus - these are downloadable- perfect for iPod or listening in the car on long trips!

Scott, many thanks for this posting! I have a copy of Did Lincoln Own Slaves? And Other Frequently Asked Questions About Abraham Lincoln and love it. The book has a lot of unique and valuable information including an image of an 1839 invitation to a Springfield cotillion party where Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd may have initially met. Offhand I do not think I own another book which includes this image.

(11-02-2015 01:54 PM)BettyO Wrote: [ -> ]Thanks so very, very much! Plus - these are downloadable- perfect for iPod or listening in the car on long trips!

You're welcome! And you are absolutely right Betty.

I typically download from itunes after the fact and listen just like you said. You can go to itunes store and in the search box type in civil war talk radio. The podcast is free - you can subscribe to it and new episodes will automatically download when they are ready.

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(11-02-2015 02:28 PM)RJNorton Wrote: [ -> ]Scott, many thanks for this posting! I have a copy of Did Lincoln Own Slaves? And Other Frequently Asked Questions About Abraham Lincoln and love it. The book has a lot of unique and valuable information including an image of an 1839 invitation to a Springfield cotillion party where Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd may have initially met. Offhand I do not think I own another book which includes this image.

My pleasure Roger. Gerry's book is very good and gives a nice overveiw of many Lincoln related topics. It is cited so one can have a starting point to look a little more deeply into topics addressed. I sent him an e-mail about our visit to the Lincoln Heritage Museum and he responsded thanking me and actually used some of the feedback I gave him in that week's show.

I might add that Gerry does a little different type of interview. It is not promotional in nature (like some of the puff pieces that I hear sometimes - no real substance). Gerry's is an informed interview (he actually reads the book that he is interviewing about each week). James Oakes (author of The Radical and the Republican, about Lincoln and Douglas as well as Freedom National about the nature of anti-slavery in the Republican Party) and I had a discussion about this while having breakfast at the Lincoln Forum Symposium a couple of years ago. He said he liked being on Gerry's show because Gerry has always read the book and asks very insightful questions that spur dialouge about the subject. As a listener, that is also something that I very much appreciate. I love the idea of a greater understanding through dialouge.

I would also note that many other Lincoln and Civil War authors/scholars, etc. including Harold Holzer, Frank Williams, Michael Burlingame, Mike Kauffman, James McPherson, Craig Symonds, Jack Davis, Dan Weinberg, John Marszalek, Ed Bearrs, and many many more have made appearances (some multiple times) over the years.

(11-02-2015 02:28 PM)RJNorton Wrote: [ -> ]Scott, many thanks for this posting! I have a copy of Did Lincoln Own Slaves? And Other Frequently Asked Questions About Abraham Lincoln and love it. The book has a lot of unique and valuable information including an image of an 1839 invitation to a Springfield cotillion party where Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd may have initially met. Offhand I do not think I own another book which includes this image.

Thanks, Roger for posting this - sounds like I must have it. I've come across the title but haven't looked further "into" it.

Eva, it is a neat book. It is of particular value to me when I receive Lincoln-related questions from students. For example if a kid asks, "How did Lincoln do on his bar exam?" I can go right to this book and find "He didn't take one." Dr. Prokopowicz writes that in those days "to receive a license to practice law in Illinois then, all you needed to do was to find members of the bar who would ask you a few questions and then vouch for your legal knowledge and "good moral character."

I discovered Gerry's book years ago and loved it. I have read it seceral times since. I have it on audiobook too.

I have sat on the board of advisers of The Lincoln Forum with Gerry, and he is an excellent and unassuming historian.

I really enjoyed doing this interview - for anyone interested, here is a link to it:

http://cdn.voiceamerica.com/voice/201034...110415.mp3

Here's a link to a link to the iTunes podcast for those interested. I'm going to try to dig in and listen to some of that stuff myself, but I have a hard time getting to podcasts. There are many I'm interested in, but they just seems to get pushed to that oh-so-crowded back burner. You'd think it would be no problem given that I take 5 mile walks multiple times a week which should be a perfect opportunity, but I just find that rock and roll music is a better companion


https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/civi...17292?mt=2