Burrus M. Carnahan

Caroline E. Janney, Ends of War: The Unfinished Fight of Lee’s Army after Appomattox  Reviewed by Burrus M. Carnahan How can a democracy turn from a state of civil war to a state of peace? After April 9, 1865, US military...

Lincoln & The 1862 Minnesota Sioux Trials Burrus M. Carnahan  One hundred and fifty years ago the Upper and Lower Sioux Reservations were located in southwestern Minnesota on a thin strip of land on the south side of the Minnesota...

Diana Schaub, His Greatest Speeches: How Lincoln Moved the Nation Reviewed by Burrus Carnahan Diana Schaub has written a thought-provoking book that may be the first of a new genre of Lincoln studies – reflections on his ideas in the context...

“Respect the Rights of All Nations, Demanding Equal Respect for Our Own”[1] The Grant Administration  & International Law Burrus Carnahan  In the last decade, historians have reassessed the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. Previously considered one of our worst presidents,...

Lucas Morel, Lincoln and the American Founding Reviewed by Burrus M. Carnahan In the fall of 2020, Professor Lucas Morel of Washington and Lee University spoke at the University of Colorado on “The 1619 Project as Missed Opportunity.” His point...

The Nature of War:  An Interview with Burrus M. Carnahan Sara Gabbard:  A friend told me that a college professor once told the class that money is the only real cause of war throughout history.  Do you agree?  Burrus Carnahan:...

Sheehan-Dean, The Calculus of Violence: How Americans Fought the Civil War   For decades, historians have debated whether the American Civil War was the first modern, total war, foreshadowing the World Wars of the 20th Century, or whether it was...

Joseph R. Fornieri, (Carbondale, Southern Illinois University Press, 2014).   In the preface to Abraham Lincoln: Philosopher President, Joseph Fornieri recounts President Lincoln’s response to a group of serenaders after his 1864 reelection.  Recalling the events of the bitter, divisive...

An Interview with Burrus M. Carnahan regarding His Book Act of Justice: Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the Law of War (University Press of Kentucky, 2007) By Sara Gabbard Sara Gabbard:  Much has been written about the Emancipation Proclamation and Lincoln’s...

Abraham Lincoln has a well-deserved reputation as a merciful man who liberally exercised his presidential pardoning power. John Hay was “amused at the eagerness with which the President caught at any fact which would justify him in saving the life”...