On November 15, 2023, retired U.S. Army brigadier general Ty Seidule will discuss his book Robert E. Lee and Me as part of the History Is Lunch series.
Blending history and memoir, Seidule’s work examines the Confederacy’s goal of subjugation and enslavement of Black Americans and directly challenges the idea of honoring those who labored to preserve that system and committed treason in their failed attempt to achieve it.
“I grew up revering Robert E. Lee as the greatest man to ever live and believing the Confederates were underdogs who lost the Civil War with honor,” said Seidule, the former head of the West Point history department. “The facts of the Civil War have remained buried beneath layers of myth and lies, and that has created a cultural gulf that separates millions of Americans to this day.”
James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom, wrote of Robert E. Lee and Me: “In this profoundly moving memoir distinguished by moral courage and intellectual integrity, Ty Seidule chronicles his agonizing journey of discovery … Everyone interested in the Civil War and its continuing importance in American culture should read this unflinchingly honest book.”
Brigadier General Ty Seidule, U.S. Army (Retired) is a visiting professor of history at Hamilton College in Clinton, NY and professor emeritus of history at West Point. He served as vice chair for the Congressional Naming Commission that was tasked to rename Department of Defense assets that honor Confederates. Seidule’s book Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner’s Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause was named a best book of 2021 by NPR, Forbes, and other news outlets. He is the author or editor of six other books on military history, three of which won distinguished writing prizes, and his video lecture “Was the Civil War about Slavery?” has 35 million views on social media.
History Is Lunch is sponsored by the John and Lucy Shackelford Charitable Fund of the Community Foundation for Mississippi. The weekly lecture series of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History explores different aspects of the state's past. The hour-long programs are held in the Craig H. Neilsen Auditorium of the Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum building at 222 North Street in Jackson and livestreamed on RU-vid and Facebook.
1 окт 2024
