New Let’s Talk About It Series

In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, the National Endowment for the Humanities and American Library Association have awarded the South Carolina Humanities Council a grant for a new Let's Talk About It series, Making Sense of the Civil War.

Beginning January 2012, SC Humanities will make this program available to libraries and non-profit organizations around the state.  The program is designed for libraries and organizations seeking to provide sesquicentennial programming and accommodates up to 50 participants.  To reserve this series for your library or organization, please call our office at (803) 771-2477.

This five-part reading and discussion series probes the meaning of the Civil War with the following books:

·         March by Geraldine Brooks

·         Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam by James McPherson

·         America's War, a new anthology of historical fiction, diaries, memoirs, and short stories, ed. Edward L. Ayers. 

This new series is designed as a succession of five conversations exploring different facets of the Civil War experience, informed by reading the words written or spoken by powerful voices from the past and present, as listed below.  To learn more information about specific (suggested) readings for each session, please download the complete LTAI: MSCW Reading List.

Session One: “Imagining War”

  • March by Geraldine Brooks [2005]
  • Selections from America’s War anthology

Session Two: “Choosing Sides”

  • Selections from America’s War: Talking About the Civil War and Emancipation on their 150th Anniversaries, a new anthology edited by Edward L. Ayers and published by NEH and ALA

Session Three: “Making Sense of War”

  • Selections from America’s War anthology

Session Four: “The Shape of War”

  • Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam by James M. McPherson
  • Selections from America’s War anthology

Session Five: “War and Freedom”

  • Selections from America’s War anthology

“Making Sense of the American Civil War” was created and funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of its We the People initiative, which promotes scholarship, teaching, and learning about American history and culture.