Civil War Talk Radio

Each week since October 2004, host Gerald Prokopowicz and a guest discuss the various aspects of Civil War History. Each show consists of an hour long conversation with guests from the very well known historians James McPherson, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Gary Gallagher to mention a few. Gerald also speaks with artists such as Don Troiani, filmmakers Ken Burns, re-enactors Rob Hodge, novelists Jeff Shaara, curators, game designers, children’s authors, collectors, and others. In addition to well known names like the ones mentioned, the show often features authors of first books who are just starting to make their reputations.

  • 1 hour
    Civil War Talk Radio - May 8th, 2024
    Carolyn Ivanoff, author of We Fought at Gettysburg: Firsthand Accounts by the Survivors of the 17th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. Gerry's Opening Monologue - This is Gerry Prokopowicz, with Civil War Talk Radio,...William Warren, the private in the 17th Connecticut, survived the Battle of Gettysburg and the rest of the War and then devoted much of the rest of his life to making sure that the story of his regiment was not forgotten. He compiled notes, photographs, letters from comrades, his own memories into 13 manuscripts volumes. But he never brought himself to complete the task of organizing and editing the material into a published regimental history, like so many other units have. Fortunately, Carolyn Ivanoff has taken up the task and distilled Warren’s research into account that does justice to the story in the 17th Connecticut. It's a book called We Fought at Gettysburg: Firsthand Accounts by the Survivors of the 17th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. We'll talk with her tonight on Civil War Talk Radio.”
    8 May 2024, 7:00 am
  • 1 hour
    Civil War Talk Radio - May 1st, 2024
    Robert K. D. Colby, author of An Unholy Traffic: Slave Trading in the Civil War South
    1 May 2024, 7:00 am
  • 1 hour
    Civil War Talk Radio - April 24th 2024
    Kyle Sinisi, author of The Last Hurrah: Sterling Prices Missouri Expedition Of 1864
    24 April 2024, 7:00 am
  • 1 hour
    Civil War Talk Radio - April 17th 2024
    Shae Smith Cox, author of The Fabric of Civil War Society: Uniforms, Badges, and Flags, 1859-1939. Gerry's Monologue - This is Gerry Prokopowicz, with Civil War Talk Radio,...Way back in 2011, I looked forward to reading a newly published bestseller that I thought would make a great topic for this show, it was called “50 Shades of Grey,” but to my intense disappointment it turned out to be an erotic romance that had nothing at all to say about variations and Confederate military uniform manufacturing. Tonight, happily, you finally have the thoughtful study of uniforms and their meaning that I thought we were getting 15 years ago. It's called ”The Fabric of Civil War Society: Uniforms, Badges, and Flags, 1859–1939”. The author is Professor Shae Smith Cox, and she'll talk with us tonight on Civil War Talk Radio.”
    17 April 2024, 7:00 am
  • 1 hour
    Civil War Talk Radio - April 10th, 2024
    Jaime Amanda Martinez, author of Confederate Slave Impressment in the Upper South. Gerry's Monologue - This is Gerry Prokopowicz, with Civil War Talk Radio,...Many historians, from David Herbert Donald to Stephanie McCurry, have advanced the idea that the Confederacy's war effort was hampered by ideologies of state’s rights and individualism in contrast to the centralized power of the federal government. Professor Jaime Amanda Martinez says not so fast, the U.S. government never took slaves from their owners during or before the war. But the Confederate government, and states like Virginia and North Carolina, did so on a broad scale. She describes how this worked in her book, ”Confederate Slave Impressment in the Upper South.” We'll ask Professor Martinez about it, tonight on Civil War Talk Radio.
    10 April 2024, 7:00 am
  • 1 hour
    Civil War Talk Radio - April 3rd, 2024
    Tom Saielli, Land Stewardship Manager, American Battlefield Trust. Website: https://www.battlefields.org/
    3 April 2024, 7:00 am
  • 1 hour
    Civil War Talk Radio - March 27th, 2024
    Scott A. MacKenzie, author of The Fifth Border State: Slavery, Emancipation, and the Formation of West Virginia, 1829–1872. Gerry's Monologue - This is Gerry Prokopowicz, with Civil War Talk Radio,...Everyone listening to this show knows the basic story of the formation of the State of West Virginia. The hardy anti-slavery Mountaineers who wanted no part of the elite Virginia plantation owners rebellion. So in 1863 they formed their own state, secede from secession. Well, the first sentence of Dr. Scott Mckenzie's new book is Every account of West Virginia's creation is wrong. Presumably that excludes his own account, which is titled the 'The Fifth Border State: Slavery, Emancipation, and the Formation of West Virginia, 1829–1872.' We'll find out where West Virginia really came from when we talked with him tonight on Civil War Talk Radio.
    27 March 2024, 7:00 am
  • 1 hour
    Civil War Talk Radio - March 20th 2024
    John Reeves, author of Soldier of Destiny: Slavery, Secession, and the Redemption of Ulysses S. Grant. Gerry's Monologue - This is Gerry Prokopowicz, with Civil War Talk Radio,...The U.S. Grant Renaissance continues. Ron Chernow, Charles Calhoun, Fergus Bordewich, Ron White, Jonathan Sarna, John Wall, Frank Farney, Joseph Rose. Authors are continuing to present fresh interpretations and evaluations of Ulysses S. Grant's generalship, his presidency, his writing, and his character. The most recent of these books takes us from Grant's pre-war years to his wartime path through some troubled and sometimes surprising developments. We'll talk with the author John Reeves about his book 'Soldier of Destiny, Slavery, Secession, and the Redemption of Ulysses S Grant.' That's tonight on Civil War Talk Radio.
    20 March 2024, 7:00 am
  • 1 hour
    Civil War Talk Radio - March 13th, 2024
    Victor Vignola, author of Contrasts in Command: The Battle of Fair Oaks, May 31 - June 1, 1862
    13 March 2024, 7:00 am
  • 1 hour
    Civil War Talk Radio - February 28th, 2024
    Dr. Cecily N. Zander, author of The Army under Fire: The Politics of Antimilitarism in the Civil War Era This is Gerry Prokopowicz, with Civil War Talk Radio,...The Civil War was fought almost entirely by vast armies of volunteer citizen soldiers, who dwarfed the tiny US regular army. The minor role that the regular Army played during the war has obscured its political significance before the war, when Republican politicians saw it as a tool of the southern slave power. And then after the war, when those same Republican's anti-military views had unintended effects on the course of reconstruction and westward expansion. Professor Cecily N. Zander describes these effects and more in 'The Army under Fire: The Politics of Antimilitarism in the Civil War Era.' We'll talk with her tonight, on Civil War Talk Radio.
    28 February 2024, 8:00 am
  • 1 hour
    Civil War Talk Radio - February 21st, 2024
    Scott Hippensteel, author or Sand, Science and the Civil War: Sedimentary Geology and Combat Gerry's Monologue - This is Gerry Prokopowicz, with Civil War Talk Radio, Members of the Civil War Talk Radio community, you and me, we are generally well read on the subject of Civil War battles. We usually know where they happened, and who won. What the tactics and weapons were, what the key terrain features were, but I didn't know and you might not either, because what kind of rock lies under the surface of the Civil War battlefield? What happened millions of years earlier to shape that landform? And how the geology of a historic site can contain clues about what happened there 160 years ago, someone who does know all that is professor of Earth Sciences, Scott Hippensteel, author of 'Sand, Science and the Civil War: Sedimentary Geology and Combat.' We'll talk with him tonight on Civil War Talk Radio.
    21 February 2024, 8:00 am
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