Posted on 07/10/2013 11:09:26 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Civil War commemorations and re-enactors are practically synonymous, but as the Gettysburg hoopla began last week, the Director of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College said very publicly the commemoration would be better without all the men in blue and gray pretending to be soldiers.
On June 29, the Wall Street Journal ran a story that said, "Peter Carmichael, a professor of history at Gettysburg College, calls re-enactments an 'unfortunate distraction' from a deeper understanding of the Civil War, including the motivations of those who fought and its legacy."
Later that same night, Carmichael quoted himself to me at the media reception in Gettysburg sponsored by the college: "unfortunate distraction."
Across town, in a field of canvas dog tents next to the Pennsylvania Monument, Tom Downes told me, "A lot of guys in this camp have probably done more research than a lot of academics - they just haven't written a book: they wanted to know what kind of cartridge box was used in 1862 in Virginia."
Downes, 63, has been re-enacting for 33 years. He's the founder of the 8th Ohio re-enactment group and leader of the National Regiment, one of the two re-enactment organizations the National Park Service asked to do Living History demonstrations on the battlefield during the July 1-3 commemoration.....
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.pennlive.com ...
Someone need to tell that clown Carmichael to go to Hell.
Re-enactors probably have better scholarly knowledge of the Civil War and do a better job passing on the conditions and nature of the men who fought than any academic.
After researching the real Lincoln, I think all of these academics are frauds. I call it the Lincoln fairly tale. Reconstructed BS....
On the other hand total war lead to a position of relative advantage for the US after WWII.
US did have some significant debts, and a deformed tax system that continued to hinder growth until the 1980s.
certainly the legal provisions for those who built the pyramids were different from those of the antebellum south.
Perhaps you mean ‘elitist’ rather than ‘enlist’?
Sorry. Its elitist
Exactly.
It would be interesting for you to elaborate your views re: Darryl Green.
You're going to have to be more specific.
Assuming the poster's telling the truth about knowing Carmichael (always iffy on the Internet) it sounds like some wires got crossed somewhere or someone has an ax to grind.
Carmichael may be a typical professor -- leans to the left, arrogant, snobbish, not as smart as he thinks he is -- but Marxist is probably going too far. It doesn't come out in the Amazon or H-Net reviews of his two books.
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