Tag: Civil War
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Following UP: A Ticket to Panic: Jay Cooke’s Railroad Dreams and the Panic of 1873
While researching Reconstruction, I came across the impact of Jay Cooke’s railroad failure. I was fascinated that one man’s poor business decision was blamed for launching a financial panic that ended in a global depression. How could he be responsible for the second-worst depression in American history? It seemed like the perfect topic to research.…
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A Ticket to Panic: Jay Cooke’s Railroad Dreams and the Panic of 1873
Studying financial crises throughout history is a lot like studying wars. There are far too many of them, and each feels unique. If I were to continue to use my war metaphor (mainly because it is all I have), I would say the global depression that rocked the world in the 1870s is akin to…
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Following Up: Reconstruction: The Topic You Forget (Or Were Never Taught) From History Class
I started looking into Reconstruction as a topic based on the recommendation of my friend, Paul. There were times while I was researching and writing that I was silently cursing his name. Reconstruction is a fascinating topic, but as I said in my article, it’s incredibly dense. It took a lot of work to cover…
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Reconstruction: The Topic You Forget (Or Were Never Taught) From History Class
Writing a short-form article about Reconstruction is not an easy proposition. It is a dense topic that easily has filled thousands of pages. Historians have written books focusing on singular aspects of Reconstruction just so they could do them justice. I’m not going to pretend that I will be able to fully convey the history…
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Following Up: A Rebel And an Outlaw: The Life of Jesse James
While researching my article on the Pinkertons, I saw Jesse James’s name pop up often. Based on the snippets I read, I was naturally interested, so I decided to make Jesse the topic of an article. Jesse lived a fascinating life; no wonder he has been part of the American imagination for so long. However,…
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A Rebel And an Outlaw: The Life of Jesse James
America loves outlaws: Butch Cassidy, Billy the Kid, John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, and many more. One of the most famous in American mythology is an original Wild West outlaw, Jesse James. The truth is the popular ideas about Jesse James are mythological. The man described in most of those stories did not exist. The…
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Outlaw Detectives and Strike-Breakers: The Pinkerton Detective Agency
Chances are you’ve heard of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. They’ve been portrayed in books, movies, and video games. (I will never forgive them for what they did in Red Dead Redemption.) They’re such a mythical part of American lore that I could see some people questioning if they were real. Well, they are, and they…
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Entertainment by Exaggeration
The Review of My Confession: Recollections of a Rogue by Samuel Chamberlain This article is not something I intended to write. I was researching the Glanton Gang for another post and had to read this book in that pursuit. I was only a few pages in when I decided to write about this book and…
Here For History 