Boone, N.C. - The Appalachian State University History Department will host its second guest in a new speaker series on the Civil War. Dr. Michael Thomas Smith of McNeese State University will be on campus Thursday, April 20, 2017 for a public lecture on “General Benjamin Butler, Politics, Warfare and Masculinity in the Civil War North" held in the Belk Library, room 114 at 6 p.m. This lecture is open to the campus and community.
Dr. Michael Thomas Smith is an Associate Professor of History at McNeese State University with a Ph.D. in American History from Pennsylvania State University. His fields of interest include the United States Civil War Era, and Cultural, Political and Military History.
He has written and edited several books focused on the Civil War, such as: “A Traitor and a Scoundrel: Benjamin Hedrick and the Cost of Dissent” (2003), “This Distracted and Anarchical People: New Answers for Old Questions about the Civil War Era North” (2013), and “The Finishing Stroke: The 1864 Franklin-Nashville Campaign” (2014).
His book, “The Enemy Within: Fears of Corruption in the Civil War North” (2011), which will serve as the subject of his public lecture, has received positive reviews:
"An engaging, thought-provoking study..." -- The Journal of American History.
"...a fascinating study of northern fears of corruption during the American Civil War," -- American Nineteenth Century History.
The history department designed the Civil War Speaker Series for scholars to give presentations on different aspects of the Civil War, helping the general public and campus community view and understand the conflict through new prisms. “Michael Thomas Smith is one of the most sophisticated interpreters of Civil War politics,” said Judkin Browning, Appalachian State University professor of Civil War history. “His examination of the controversial Benjamin Butler is a fascinating example of how he merges social, cultural and military history to illuminate the complex politics of the era.”
To stay up to date on this event and more, visit the College of Arts and Sciences. To follow our faculty and students in History, visit the Department of History at Appalachian State.
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About the Department of History
By exposing students to a variety of cultures and human experience and by training them in the interpretation of conflicting evidence, the Department of History prepares students for the responsibilities of citizenship and for dealing with the ambiguities of human existence. The department offers several undergraduate and graduate degrees.
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