All Posts By

Brion McClanahan

Podcast

Podcast Episode 177

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, July 8-12, 2019. Topics: Republican Party, Southern tradition, Southern conservatism https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-177
Brion McClanahan
July 13, 2019
Podcast

Podcast Episode 176

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, July 1-5, 2019 Topics: Southern culture, Southern tradition https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-176
Brion McClanahan
July 6, 2019
Podcast

Podcast Episode 175

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, June 24-28, 2019 Topics: Southern history, Southern statesmen https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-175
Brion McClanahan
June 29, 2019
Podcast

Podcast Episode 174

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, June 17-21, 2019 Topics: Southern history, R.L. Dabney, Federalism https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-174
Brion McClanahan
June 22, 2019
Podcast

Podcast Episode 173

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, June 10-14, 2019 Topics: Democracy, Southern Political Tradition, Agrarianism, Robert E. Lee https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-173
Brion McClanahan
June 15, 2019
Podcast

Podcast Episode 172

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, June 3-7 2019 Topics: Political Correctness, Secession, Abraham Lincoln, Southern Literature https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-172
Brion McClanahan
June 8, 2019
Podcast

Podcast Episode 171

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, May 27-31, 2019 Topics: Memorial Day, Monuments, Political Correctness, Patrick Henry https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-171
Brion McClanahan
June 1, 2019
Podcast

Podcast Episode 170

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, May 20-24, 2019. Topics: Political Correctness, Fake News, Social Justice Warriors, Southern monuments. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-170
Brion McClanahan
May 25, 2019
Podcast

Podcast Episode 169

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, May 13-17, 2019 Topic: Southern conservatism https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-169/s-px7Cz
Brion McClanahan
May 18, 2019
Podcast

Podcast Episode 168

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, May 6-9, 2019 Topics: Confederate symbols,Southern tradition, Mel Bradford, Southern history https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-168
Brion McClanahan
May 11, 2019
Podcast

Podcast Episode 167

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institutes, Apr 29-May 3, 2019 Topics: the War, Southern Tradition, Political Correctness https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-167
Brion McClanahan
May 4, 2019
Blog

God Bless America

Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee were only the beginning. For anyone that believed American iconoclasm would stop once Confederate statues were removed or "contextualized," they were rudely awakened last week after the Philadelphia Flyers decided to remove the Kate Smith statue in front of the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia due to her "racist" recording history. They first bagged…
Brion McClanahan
May 2, 2019
Podcast

Podcast Episode 166

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Apr 22-26, 2019. Topics: Southern tradition, Richard Weaver, Southern culture https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-166
Brion McClanahan
April 27, 2019
Podcast

Podcast Episode 165

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Apr 15-19, 2019. Topics: Southern tradition, Political Correctness, John C. Calhoun, Nationalism https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-165
Brion McClanahan
April 20, 2019
Blog

John C. Calhoun: American

Of all the American vice-presidents, none is more vilified than John C. Calhoun. Calhoun is known as the “defender of slavery,” the “cast iron man,” the “man who started the civil war.” His monument in Charleston has been vandalized, his name removed from Calhoun College at Yale, his Alma Mater, and now his home, Clemson University, is debating whether to…
Brion McClanahan
April 18, 2019
Podcast

Podcast Episode 164

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Apr 8-12, 2019 Topics: Thomas Jefferson, Reconstruction, Reconciliation, Political Correctness https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-164
Brion McClanahan
April 13, 2019
Blog

Reconstruction and Recreation

2019 marks the 150th anniversary of U.S. Grant’s inauguration as President of the United States. It also has sparked a renewed interest in Reconstruction, particularly the notion that America failed to capitalize on an “unfinished revolution” as the communist historian Eric Foner describes the period. This general description of the 1860s has been used by both radical leftists like Foner…
Brion McClanahan
April 8, 2019
Podcast

Podcast Episode 163

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, March 25-April 5, 2019 Topics: Political Correctness, the Southern Tradition, Robert E. Lee https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-163
Brion McClanahan
April 6, 2019
Review Posts

The First Congress

A review of The First Congress: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government (Simon and Schuster, 2016) by Fergus Bordewich Amateur historians usually write excellent histories. Left unshackled by the latest groupthink of the academy, these historians tend to be independent thinkers and more importantly better writers than their professional counterparts. Shelby Foote…
Brion McClanahan
April 2, 2019
Blog

The Challenge of the Southern Tradition

In 1966, Senator Jim Eastland of Mississippi walked into the Senate Judiciary Committee and asked, “Feel hot in heah?” A staffer replied: “Well Senator, the thermostat is set at 72 degrees, but we can make it colder.” Eastland, puzzled by the response, doubled down, “I said, Feel Hot in heah?” The staffer now was perplexed and fearing that he might…
Brion McClanahan
March 25, 2019
Podcast

Podcast Episode 162

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, March 18-22, 2019 Topics: John C. Calhoun, Patrick Cleburne, the War, Political Correctness, Southern Music https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-162
Brion McClanahan
March 23, 2019
Podcast

Podcast Episode 161

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Mar 11-15, 2019 Topics: Political Correctness, Confederate Symbols, Confederate Monuments, Southern History, Confederate Constitution https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-161
Brion McClanahan
March 17, 2019
Podcast

Podcast Episode 160

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, March 4-8, 2019 Topics: Jeffersonian tradition, economics, Southern symbols. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-160
Brion McClanahan
March 9, 2019
Podcast

Podcast Episode 159

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institutes, Feb 25-Mar 1, 2019 Topics: Southern culture, Southern tradition, Jeffersonian tradition https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-159
Brion McClanahan
March 2, 2019
Blog

A Crisis of Confidence

Pat Caddell died on February 16. Several major news outlets ran stories about his influence in both the Jimmy Carter and Donald Trump campaigns. Everyone understood Caddell's role as the voice of the "outsider." A colleague at the College of Charleston, where Caddell served in the Political Science department for the last couple of years, said that Caddell hated everything…
Brion McClanahan
February 25, 2019
Podcast

Podcast Episode 158

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institutes Feb 18-22, 2019 Topics: Southern tradition, New South, Southern politics, American presidents https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-158
Brion McClanahan
February 23, 2019
Review Posts

Recarving Rushmore

A review of Recarving Rushmore: Ranking the Presidents on Peace, Prosperity, and Liberty (The Independent Institute, 2014) by Ivan Eland The annual veneration of American monarchy--"Presidents Day"--has passed again. While still officially called "Washington's Birthday" by the general government, the American public has embraced the idea of honoring the executive branch by shopping for furniture, jewelry, or cars. George W.…
Brion McClanahan
February 19, 2019
Blog

Podcast Episode 157

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institutes, Feb 11-15, 2019 Topics: Southern history, Political Correctness, Abraham Lincoln, Neoconservatives https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-157
Brion McClanahan
February 16, 2019
Podcast

Podcast Episode 156

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Feb 4-8, 2019. Topics: Secession, Southern History, Political Correctness, Alexander Hamilton https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-156
Brion McClanahan
February 9, 2019
Podcast

Podcast Episode 155

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Jan 25-Feb 1, 2019. Topics: Decentralization, Southern Tradition, Political Correctness https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-155
Brion McClanahan
February 2, 2019
Podcast

Podcast Episode 154

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Jan 21-25, 2019 Topics: Reconciliation, Robert E. Lee, Political Correctness, John C. Calhoun, Confederate Symbols https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-154
Brion McClanahan
January 26, 2019
Blog

A Cautionary Tale on Monument Protection Laws

When Jefferson County Circuit Judge Michael Graffeo issued a ruling on the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act just minutes before his term expired last week, he upended the entire understanding and meaning of the original Constitution and the relationship between the States, the cities, and the general government. More importantly, though Graffeo's decision will probably--not definitely--be overturned, the ruling provides a…
Brion McClanahan
January 24, 2019
Podcast

Podcast Episode 153

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Jan 14-18, 2019 Topics: The Southern tradition, Neoconservatives, Yankees, the War https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-153
Brion McClanahan
January 19, 2019
Podcast

Podcast Episode 152

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Jan 7-11, 2019 Topics: The War, Political Correctness, Southern Art, Southern Literature https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-152
Brion McClanahan
January 12, 2019
Podcast

Podcast Episode 151

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Dec 17-21, 2018 Topics: Southern symbols, Political Correctness, Secession, Southern tradition https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-151
Brion McClanahan
December 22, 2018
Blog

What Are Symbols For?

In 1875, Rev. Moses Drury Hoge stood before 40,000 people in Richmond, Virginia, at the foot of the newly dedicated statue of Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, and delivered what one historian called the "noblest oration of his later life." He believed that in the future, the path to that statue would be "trodden" by the feet of travelers from "the…
Brion McClanahan
December 21, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 150

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Dec 10-14, 2018 Topics: Political Correctness, Southern History, Southern Culture, Southern Music, Southern Sport https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-150
Brion McClanahan
December 15, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 149

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Dec 3-7, 2018 Topics: Agrarianism, United States Constitution, John Marshall, Andrew Johnson, Thomas Johnson https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-149
Brion McClanahan
December 8, 2018
Review Posts

The Man Who Made the Supreme Court

A review of John Marshall: The Man Who Made the Supreme Court (Basic Books, 2018) by Richard Brookhiser John Marshall presents a curious problem for Southern history. How can a man, born and bred in the same State, who breathed the same air and shared the same blood with Thomas Jefferson, have been such an ardent nationalist? The same question…
Brion McClanahan
December 4, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 148

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Nov 26-30, 2018 Topics: Robert E. Lee, Southern music, Southern culture, the War https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-148
Brion McClanahan
December 1, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 147

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Nov 19-23, 2018. Topics: Southern literature, black slaveowners, historical myths https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-147
Brion McClanahan
November 24, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 146

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Nov 12-16, 2018 Topics: Secession, Nullification, Federalism, American Imperialism, Southern Culture, Southern Literature https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-146
Brion McClanahan
November 17, 2018
Blog

The Southern Political Tradition is Winning

Nationalist Jeff Sessions gets canned and a nullifier takes his job. This is actually an odd twist of fate. A friend of mine knows Sessions personally, and he continually expressed disappointment at Sessions's actions as AG. Jeff Sessions is from Alabama and is named after two famous Confederate heroes, Jefferson Davis and P.G.T. Beauregard.  His replacement, Matthew Whitaker, hails from…
Brion McClanahan
November 14, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 145

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Nov 5-9, 2018. Topics: History, Southern Culture, Political Correctness https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-145
Brion McClanahan
November 10, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 144

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Oct 29 - Nov 2, 2018 Topics: Southern political tradition, Lincoln https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-144
Brion McClanahan
November 3, 2018
Blog

Progressive Neo-Confederates?

Greetings fellow neo-Confederates. You have been right all along. How do I know this? Hillary Clinton said so, and if the smartest woman in the world said it, then it has to be true. Of course, she did not directly call herself a "neo-Confederate," but the progressives have rediscovered federalism and by default have vindicated every evil "neo-Confederate" in America.…
Brion McClanahan
October 29, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 143

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institutes, Oct 22-26, 2018. Topics: Secession, Nullification, Federalism, Lincoln, the Southern Tradition https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-143
Brion McClanahan
October 27, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 142

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Oct 15-19, 2018 Topics: Decentralization, Secession, Nullification, Culture War, Political Correctness, Agrarianism https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-142
Brion McClanahan
October 20, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 141

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Oct 8-12, 2018. Topics: Southern Founders, Andrew Jackson, Poor Whites of the Old and New South. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-141
Brion McClanahan
October 13, 2018
Blog

What if We Listened to the Southern Founders?

Mel Bradford's outstanding tome A Better Guide Than Reason lifted that phrase from a speech John Dickinson made during the Philadelphia Convention in 1787. Dickinson worried that the delegates to what we now call the "Constitutional Convention" were insistent on crafting a document that would reinvent the government of the United States, something James Madison proposed with his now famous…
Brion McClanahan
October 10, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 140

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Oct 1-5, 2018. Topics: The New South and Nu South, Ty Cobb, Southern history, Southern culture. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-140
Brion McClanahan
October 6, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 139

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Sept 17-28, 2018 Topics: Federalism, Southern Culture, Southern History https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-139
Brion McClanahan
September 29, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 138

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Sept 10-14, 2018. Topics: Southern literature, the War, Southern music, Bobby Horton https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-138
Brion McClanahan
September 15, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 137

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Sept 3-7, 2018 Topics: Secession, nullification, federalism, Thomas Jefferson, United States Constitution. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-137
Brion McClanahan
September 8, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 136

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, August 27-31, 2018 Topics: Fake History, Political Correctness, Alexander Stephens, Robert E. Lee, Abraham Lincoln, the War https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-136
Brion McClanahan
September 1, 2018
Blog

Robert E. Lee vs. Twitter Historians

In June 2017, The Atlantic published a hit-piece on Robert E. Lee titled "The Myth of the Kindly General Lee." The article made the rounds on Leftist echo chamber social media accounts and quickly found favor with the popular Leftist Twitter historians, a collection of "distinguished professors," some without a substantial publication record, who like to trumpet their status as "actual…
Brion McClanahan
August 29, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 135

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, August 20-24, 2018. Topics: Jimmy Carter, Silent Sam, Confederate Monuments, Slavery, Political Correctness, Abraham Lincoln https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-135
Brion McClanahan
August 25, 2018
Blog

The Last republican President

Jimmy Carter may have been the last Jeffersonian to be president. A recent article in the Washington Post labeled him the "Un-Celebrity President." In either case, Carter is a reflection of a people and a place. He is the most authentic man elected president since Calvin Coolidge, and like Coolidge a true Christian gentleman. At the very minimum, Carter represented the…
Brion McClanahan
August 20, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 134

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, August 13-17, 2018. Topics: Reconciliation, Southern music, Southern culture, agrarianism, Ronnie Van Zant, Wendell Berry https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-134
Brion McClanahan
August 18, 2018
Blog

Anything Is Nice If It Come From Dixieland

In October 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington to dine at the executive mansion. This was an unprecedented move. No African-American had ever been asked to dine with the president, and while neither Roosevelt or his staff said much of the event, it was surely done in the spirit of reconciliation and Roosevelt's desire to be "the people's…
Brion McClanahan
August 15, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 133

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, August 6-10, 2018 Topics: the War, Political Correctness, Neoconservatives, Reconstruction, Southern Culture, Southern Literature. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-133
Brion McClanahan
August 11, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 132

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, July 30 - Aug 3, 2018 Topics: the War, Abraham Lincoln, myth-making, Southern culture, Southern history. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-132
Brion McClanahan
August 4, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 131

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, July 23-27, 2018 Topics: the War, Southern history, Southern politics, Yankee myths https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-131
Brion McClanahan
July 28, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 130

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, July 16-20, 2018 Topics: Neoconservatives, Southern identity, Southern culture, the War New banjo introduction by Barrow Wheary. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-130
Brion McClanahan
July 22, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 129

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, July 9-13, 2018 Topics: Southern independence, Southern culture, Southern architecture, the War, Sam Houston https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-129
Brion McClanahan
July 14, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 128

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, July 2-6, 2018 Topics: Independence, secession, the War, Political Correctness, Southern religion, Southern founding https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-128
Brion McClanahan
July 7, 2018
Blog

Richard Henry Lee

Richard Henry Lee was a patriot, Anti-Federalist, and statesman from his “country,” Virginia.  He led the charge for independence in 1776 and was a powerful figure in Virginia political life.  He served one term as president of the Continental Congress and was elected a United States Senator from Virginia immediately after the ratification of the Constitution.  His role in the…
Brion McClanahan
July 2, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 127

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, June 25-29, 2018. Topics: Southern history, perception, United States Constitution, Southern culture. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-127
Brion McClanahan
June 30, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 126

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, June 18-22, 2018. Topics: Dixie, the South in pop culture, Confederate symbols, Robert E. Lee https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-126
Brion McClanahan
June 23, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 125

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, June 11-15, 2018 Topics: Treason, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Secession https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-125
Brion McClanahan
June 16, 2018
Review Posts

Is Secession Treason?

A review of With Malice Toward Some: Treason and Loyalty in the Civil War Era by William A. Blair (University of North Carolina Press, 2014) and Secession on Trial: The Treason Prosecution of Jefferson Davis by Cynthia Nicoletti (Cambridge University Press, 2017). Was the act of secession in 1860-61 treason? This is one of the more important and lasting questions…
Brion McClanahan
June 12, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 124

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, June 4-8, 2018 Topics: West Virginia myth, war crimes myth, Pilgrims myth, Righteous Cause Myth, incorporation myth https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-124
Brion McClanahan
June 9, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 123

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, May 28-June 1, 2018 Topics: Treasury of Virtue, Confederate monuments, Political Correctness, Robert E. Lee https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-123
Brion McClanahan
June 3, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 122

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, May 21-25, 2018 Topics: Yankees, Nationalism, Southern Tradition https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-122
Brion McClanahan
May 26, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 121

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, May 14-18, 2018 Topics: Southern tradition, Yankees, Confederate symbols, Jeffersonianism, Southern identity https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-121
Brion McClanahan
May 19, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 120

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, May 7-11, 2018. Topics: Southern culture, Southern history, the War, "Memory Studies" https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-120
Brion McClanahan
May 12, 2018
Blog

Confederate Dead

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK9z0zwThtw The Confederate Dead (1867) By Latienne From the broad and calm Potomac, To the Rio Grande's waves, Have the brave and noble fallen — And the earth is strewn with graves, In the vale and on the hill-side, Through the wood and by the stream, Has the martial pageant faded, Like the vision of a dream. Where the reveille…
Brion McClanahan
May 7, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 119

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Apr 30-May 4, 2018 Topics: Southern conservatism, Yankees, Neoconservatives, Northern secession, the French Revolution https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-119
Brion McClanahan
May 5, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 118

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Apr 23-27, 2018 Topics: the War, Lincoln, Historical Myths, Confederate Memorial Day https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-118
Brion McClanahan
April 28, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 117

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Apr 16-20, 2018. Topics: Reconciliation, Political Correctness, the War, Southern Culture, Southern Literature https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-117/s-E63oJ
Brion McClanahan
April 21, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 116

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Apr 9-13, 2018. Topics: Political Correctness, the New South, the War, Thomas Jefferson, Southern History https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-116
Brion McClanahan
April 14, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 115

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Apr 2-6, 2018 Topics: the New South, Agrarianism, Confederate Monuments, World War II https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-115
Brion McClanahan
April 7, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 114

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Mar. 26-30, 2018. Topics: the New South, Southern Culture, Hank Williams, Confederate Symbols https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-114
Brion McClanahan
March 31, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 113

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Mar 19-23, 2018 Topics: the War, Southern culture, the New South, Reconstruction, Yankees https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-113
Brion McClanahan
March 24, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 112

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Mar 12-16, 2018 Topics: the War, Southern culture, Southern literature, Abraham Lincoln, 20th century Southern history https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-112
Brion McClanahan
March 17, 2018
Review Posts

Two Against Lincoln

A review of Two Against Lincoln: Reverdy Johnson and Horatio Seymour, Champions of the Loyal Opposition (University Press of Kansas, 2017) by William C. Harris In a speech before the Senate in 1863, James A. Bayard of Delaware stated that “The truth will out, ultimately…though they may be voted down by the majority of the hour, though they may not…
Brion McClanahan
March 13, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 111

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, March 5-9, 2018. Topics: the War, Maryland, the U.S. Constitution, Southern Founders, 2nd Amendment, Political Correctness, Southern Culture. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-111
Brion McClanahan
March 10, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 110

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Feb 26- Mar 2, 2018 Topics: the War, Confederate symbols, Southern culture, Yankees, Spencer Roane https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-110
Brion McClanahan
March 3, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 109

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Feb 19-23, 2018 Topics: the War, Reconstruction, North over South, Southern politics https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-109
Brion McClanahan
February 24, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 108

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Feb 12-16, 2018. Topics: Political Correctness, Southern poetry, Southern literature, the War. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-108
Brion McClanahan
February 17, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 107

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Feb 5-9, 2018 Topics: Southern film, Southern humor, Southern literature, Political Correctness, Southern politics. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-107
Brion McClanahan
February 10, 2018
Blog

Gator McKlusky

Everyone wanted to be Southern in the 1970s. The rejuvenated interest in Southern music from bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Charlies Daniels, and the Allman Brothers (and the unknown Southern influence in the "Motown" sound) was just one component of a larger pro-Southern, working class, populist movement. Southerners had been made consciously Southern again after over a decade of national attention,…
Brion McClanahan
February 9, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 106

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Jan 29-Feb 2, 2018. Topics: Sectionalism, Secession, Southern Economics, the War, Political Correctness https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-106
Brion McClanahan
February 3, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 105

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Jan 22-26, 2018 Topics: Political Correctness, Confederate Monuments, the War, Abraham Lincoln, Jack Jouett, Southern History https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-105
Brion McClanahan
January 27, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 104

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Jan 15-19, 2018 Topics: Political Correctness, Confederate Monuments, Southern Education, Robert E. Lee, Chesty Puller https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-104
Brion McClanahan
January 20, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 103

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Jan 8-12 2018 Topics: Northern studies, the Constitution, 14th Amendment https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-103
Brion McClanahan
January 13, 2018
Podcast

Podcast Episode 102

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Jan 1-Dec 31 2017. Topics: Year in review, the Southern tradition https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-102
Brion McClanahan
December 23, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 101

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, December 11-15, 2017 Topics: Southern culture, George Mason, original intent, political correctness, the War. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-101
Brion McClanahan
December 16, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 100

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, December 4-8, 2017 Topic: Special Interview with the President of the Abbeville Institute, Don Livingston https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-100
Brion McClanahan
December 9, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 99

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, November 27-December 1, 2017. Topics: the War, slavery, secession, war crimes, Southern literature, political correctness. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-99
Brion McClanahan
December 2, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 98

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Nov 13-17, 2017. Topics: Political Correctness, Southern culture, Robert E. Lee, secession, John C. Calhoun, the Deep North https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-98
Brion McClanahan
November 18, 2017
Blog

The Extreme Northern Position

If you listen to the modern historical profession, Southern secession in 1861 represented "treason." David Blight, Professor History at Yale University, has made this belief the part of the core of his attack on Confederate symbols. If we should not take them down because they represent "white supremacy," then they should be removed because Southerners were "traitors." Traitors to whom…
Brion McClanahan
November 16, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 97

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Nov 6-10 2017. Topics: Reconstruction, Jewish Confederates, Southern weather, Southern literature, Southern culture. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-97
Brion McClanahan
November 11, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 96

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Oct 30 - Nov 3, 2017 Topics: Southern religion, Robert E. Lee, Political Correctness, Southern Humor, Southern Founding, Jefferson Davis, Abraham Lincoln https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-96
Brion McClanahan
November 4, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 95

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Oct 23-27, 2017. Topics: Abraham Lincoln, the United States Constitution, Slavery, Political Correctness, Confederate Monuments, Southern Culture https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-95
Brion McClanahan
October 28, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 94

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Oct 16-20, 2017 Topics: The War, Political Correctness, Nat Turner, Federalism, Abraham Lincoln, Southern Culture https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-94
Brion McClanahan
October 21, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 93

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Oct 9-13. 2017. Topics: Political Correctness, Yankees, the War, War Crimes, Confederate Monuments, Nullification https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-93
Brion McClanahan
October 14, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 92

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Oct 2-6, 2017 Topics: Political Correctness, Cultural Marxism, Confederate symbols, secession, Braxton Bragg https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-92
Brion McClanahan
October 8, 2017
Blog

The Winds of Change

This isn’t 1990. The Winds of Change have stopped blowing.  When the Soviets present a more docile response to self determination than a “western democracy,” the situation is bad. How painful is it to pine for the days of passive Soviet resistance to secession? Images and videos of the jack-booted thugs bulldozing their way through crowds of peaceful voters (including firemen…
Brion McClanahan
October 4, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 91

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Sept 25-29, 2017 Topics: the War, Politically Correct History, Reconstruction, Andrew Jackson, Radical Republicans https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-91
Brion McClanahan
September 30, 2017
Review Posts

Southern Reconstruction

A review of Southern Reconstruction by Philip Leigh (Westholme, 2017). Confronting the establishment narrative about any historical topic can be a perilous endeavor. There are several that present such large minefields that most historians dare not attempt to cross, among them the “Civil War,” Reconstruction, and the Civil Rights movement. Bucking the accepted version of events in any of those…
Brion McClanahan
September 26, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 90

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Sept 18-22, 2017 Topics: Culture war, Alexander Hamilton, American constitutions, Southern politics. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-90
Brion McClanahan
September 24, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 89

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, September 11-15, 2017 Topics: Southern symbols, political correctness, Southern literature, the War, James Madison https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-89
Brion McClanahan
September 16, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 88

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Sept 4-8, 2017 Topics: Political Correctness, Confederate Monuments, Battle of Fredericksburg, Republican and Democrat Parties https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-88
Brion McClanahan
September 9, 2017
Blog

AHA Revisionism

On 28 August 2017, the American Historical Association (AHA) issued a “Statement on Confederate Monuments” that presumed to speak for the entire American historical profession on the issue of whether these monuments should remain or if they should be removed from public spaces. Unfortunately this “statement” is little more than historical establishment claptrap disguised as highbrow intellectual discourse—par for the…
Brion McClanahan
September 6, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 87

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Aug 28 - Sep 1, 2017. Topics: United States Constitution, nullification, slavery, United States Presidents, Political Correctness, Lost Cause https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-87
Brion McClanahan
September 2, 2017
Blog

August 2017 Top Ten

The top ten articles for August 2017: 1. Why The War Was Not About Slavery by Clyde Wilson 2. Defending the Confederacy by Ryan Walters 3. The Real Robert E. Lee by James Rutledge Roesch 4. A Monumental Spin by H.V. Traywick, Jr. 5. What Confederate Monument Critics May Not Know by Philip Leigh 6. We Long to Be Free!…
Brion McClanahan
September 2, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 86

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Aug 21-25, 2017. Topics: Southern symbols, Robert E. Lee, Nullification, Confederate law, Confederate Constitution. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-86
Brion McClanahan
August 26, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 85

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, August 14-18, 2017. Topics: Southern symbols, Southern history, Slavery, the War. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-85
Brion McClanahan
August 20, 2017
Blog

Lyon Gardiner Tyler and Southern History

Delivered at the 2017 Abbeville Institute Summer School. The attack on the so-called “lost cause” myth in American history is nothing new. Beginning in the 1950s and 60s, historians like Kenneth Stampp began a concerted effort to undermine the dominant historical interpretation of the War, namely that the War and Reconstruction had been stains on American history, that the War…
Brion McClanahan
August 18, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 84

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Aug 7-11, 2017. Topics: Agrarianism, populism, John C. Calhoun, William L. Yancey, political minorities, secession, Southern identity, Political Correctness https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-84
Brion McClanahan
August 13, 2017
Blog

Calhoun the Marxist?

Neo-conservatives can’t seem to make up their mind about the Confederacy. They all agree that the Confederacy represented everything evil about early America (which places them squarely in league with their intellectual brothers on the Left) but why they hate it presents the real conundrum. It borders on schizophrenia. Neo-conservative historian Victor Davis Hanson, for example, often rails against the…
Brion McClanahan
August 10, 2017
Blog

July 2017 Top Ten

1. Why Vicksburg Canceled the Fourth of July – For a Generation by Karen Stokes 2. Bust Hell Wide Open by James Rutledge Roesch 3. You Are Deplorable by Clyde Wilson 4. The Origins of the Neo-Marxist Attack on the South by Norman Black 5. General Lee Figured It Out by Fred Reed 6. "Free People of Color" in Dixie…
Brion McClanahan
August 6, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 83

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, July 31- August 4, 2017 Topics: Secession, Political Correctness, the Jeffersonian political tradition, Confederate monuments. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-83
Brion McClanahan
August 5, 2017
Blog

Red States for California Secession

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has given the green light for CalExit proponents to begin collecting signatures for a California secession ballot initiative in the 2018 general election. This is good news. California is the logical place to begin having a conversation about secession, and every red state American should be actively supporting the proposal. As California goes, so goes…
Brion McClanahan
August 3, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 82

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, July 24-28, 2017. Topics: Southern identity, nullification, the New South https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-82
Brion McClanahan
July 30, 2017
Blog

New South Voices of the Southern Tradition

Presented at the 2017 Abbeville Institute Summer School. As scholars dedicated to exploring what is true and valuable in the Southern tradition, we are most often drawn to the antebellum South and the early federal period, the days when Jeffersonian federalism and political economy reigned supreme and Southern statesmen were regarded as the best in the land. We still fight…
Brion McClanahan
July 28, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 81

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, July 17-21, 2017 Topics: Southern Literature, Southern Art, Political Correctness, Southern Identity https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-81
Brion McClanahan
July 22, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 80

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, July 10-14 2017 Topics: Nathan Bedford Forrest, Richard B. Russell, the New South, Confederate symbols, Political Correctness https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-80
Brion McClanahan
July 15, 2017
Blog

Reconsidering Richard B. Russell

There was a time both before and after the War when the South dominated the United States Congress. In the antebellum period, James Madison, John C. Calhoun, John Randolph of Roanoke, and Henry Clay placed their mark on congressional debates, and several other Southerners ranked among the best statesmen of the era. But most Americans, even those in the South, don't realize that by the mid-twentieth century, Southerners…
Brion McClanahan
July 12, 2017
Blog

June 2017 Top Ten

The top ten for June 2017. Read 'em again. 1. Why Does the Left Really Despise the Confederacy? by Ryan Walters 2. The War Between the States: Who were the Nazis? by Clyde Wilson 3. New Orleans Mayor Hypes His Cultural Cleansing by Gail Jarvis 4. The Real Reason Confederate Symbols are Attacked by Tom Landess 5. The Ad Too…
Brion McClanahan
July 9, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 79

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, July 3-7, 2017 Topics: the Southern tradition, Southern history, Secession https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-79
Brion McClanahan
July 8, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 78

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, June 26-30, 2017 Topics: Political Correctness, Southern literature, the War https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-78
Brion McClanahan
July 1, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 77

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, June 19-23, 2017 Topics: Southern Symbols, Political Correctness, Andrew Lytle, Southern Culture https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-77
Brion McClanahan
June 24, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 76

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, June 12-16, 2017 Topics: Political Correctness, Southern symbols, the War, Southern culture, Southern economics, the FED https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-76
Brion McClanahan
June 17, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 75

The week in review at the Abbeville Institute, June 5-9, 2017. Topics: Cultural Marxism, Confederate symbols, Southern history, Jeffersonian economy, Southern culture https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-75
Brion McClanahan
June 11, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 74

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, May 29-June 2, 2017 Topics: Confederate symbols, Political Correctness, The War, secession, Southern economics. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-74
Brion McClanahan
June 3, 2017
Blog

The Confederate Origins of Memorial Day

Many Americans will pause today to honor the men and women who have given their lives in the United States armed forces. What most probably don't know is that this holiday originated in the South after the War for Southern Independence. It was originally called "Decoration Day." Don't tell the social justice warriors. The monuments that these modern day Leninists believe…
Brion McClanahan
May 29, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 73

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, May 22-26, 2017 Topics: Republican Party, Political Correctness, Southern Culture, Southern Economics, Robert E. Lee https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-73
Brion McClanahan
May 27, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 72

The week in review at the Abbeville Institute, May 15-19, 2017. Topics: Southern culture, the Southern tradition, PC attacks on the South, the Southern founding, republicanism. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-72
Brion McClanahan
May 21, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 71

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, May 8-12 2017 Topics: Donald Trump, the War, Southern history, Southern literature https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-71
Brion McClanahan
May 13, 2017
Blog

Why the Southern Tradition is Winning

The title of this piece may seem odd in light of recent events in New Orleans and the mass hysteria over all things Confederate since June 2015. Monuments have come down, flags have been furled, and streets have been renamed. While these are certainly loses, they are mere skirmishes in a wider cultural war that the Left is losing. They…
Brion McClanahan
May 10, 2017
Blog

April 2017 Top Ten

The Top 10 Articles for April 2017: 1. New Orleans: A People Without a Past Have No Future by Boyd Cathey 2. Confederate Monuments by H. V. Traywick, Jr. 3. What Was Lost 150 Years Ago by Boyd Cathey 4. Why Flannery O'Connor Never Liked Yankees by Michael Jordan 5. The Soul of the Southern Tradition by William Gill 6.…
Brion McClanahan
May 10, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 70

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, May 1-5, 2017. Topics: Southern culture, Southern literature, Political Correctness, Southern history. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-70
Brion McClanahan
May 6, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 69

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, April 24-28, 2017 Topics: Northern myths, Confederate symbols, political correctness, the founding period https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-69
Brion McClanahan
April 29, 2017
Blog

The Latest 18th Century Fake News

The "fake news" pejorative has become commonplace in modern public discourse, so much so that social media outlets have taken it upon themselves to "police" so-called "fake news" stories and warn people about their dangers. This was largely due to the supposed impact "fake news" had on Trump supporters in 2016. To these self-appointed gatekeepers of truth, honesty, and the…
Brion McClanahan
April 27, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 68

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, April 17-21, 2017. Topics: Southern culture, Western Civilization, Southern tradition, Southern intellectual history, agrarianism. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-68
Brion McClanahan
April 22, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 67

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, April 10-14, 2017 Topics: Southern history, Thomas Jefferson, Political Correctness, Southern symbols, the War. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-67
Brion McClanahan
April 15, 2017
Blog

The Hard Hand of War

A Review of Joseph W. Danielson, War's Desolating Scourage: The Union's Occupation of North Alabama, University Press of Kansas, 2012; Charles A. Misulia, Columbus Georgia 1865: The Last True Battle of the Civil War, The University of Alabama Press, 2010. On Easter Sunday, April 16, 1865, Union forces under the command of General James Harrison Wilson attacked, captured, and sacked…
Brion McClanahan
April 14, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 66

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, April 3-7, 2017 Topics: Southern political principles, the Republican Party, Secession, the United States Constitution https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-66
Brion McClanahan
April 8, 2017
Blog

March Top Ten

Our top ten for March 2017: 1. The South's Gonna Do It Again by Tom Fleming 2. God, Gallup, and the Episcopalians by Cleanth Brooks 3. Southern Heritage Then and Now by Clyde Wilson 4. The Dark Side of Abraham Lincoln by Tom Landess 5. A Disease of the Public Mind by Tom DiLorenzo 6. Jefferson and Slavery by Dave…
Brion McClanahan
April 3, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 65

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, March 27-31 2017 Topics: Yankees, Political Correctness https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-65
Brion McClanahan
April 1, 2017
Blog

Yankee Foreign Policy and the Cold War

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is rattling his sabers and threatening war against the United States. He blew up an American aircraft carrier in one propaganda video and has goaded the Trump administration in several other statements, ostensibly to create the image of manly firmness to his people. Obviously, high profile assassinations and executions along with staged videos showing Jong-un…
Brion McClanahan
March 30, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 64

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, March 20-24, 2017. Topics: Thomas Jefferson, Southern culture, Southern heritage, Southern history, Bernard Baruch, Southern literature https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-64
Brion McClanahan
March 25, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 63

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Mar 13-17, 2017 Topics: Southern culture, John C. Calhoun, the American presidency, Robert Lewis Dabney https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-63
Brion McClanahan
March 18, 2017
Review Posts

A Deep Devotion to the Constitution

According to the modern historical establishment, John C. Calhoun is the ultimate American villain. These esteemed historians think lofty assessments from previous decades failed to account for his glaring inconsistencies in regard to federal power, his advocacy for American imperialism, or his well-known defense of slavery and racism. Historians may have been critical of Calhoun's advancement of the "positive good"…
Brion McClanahan
March 14, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 62

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Mar 6-10, 2017. Topics: Southern culture, Southern religion, Southern language. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-62
Brion McClanahan
March 11, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 61

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Feb 27- Mar 3, 2017 Topics: Southern culture, Southern literature, North over South, Secession https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-61
Brion McClanahan
March 4, 2017
Blog

February Top Ten

The top ten articles for February 2017: 1. Attack on Robert E. Lee is an Assault on American History Itself by Allan Brownfield 2. Presidents Quiz by Clyde Wilson 3. Washington vs. Lincoln by Brion McClanahan 4. Why the South Fought by Sheldon Vanuaken 5. Union or Else by Karen Stokes 6. The Black Confederate and the Teddy Bear by…
Brion McClanahan
March 1, 2017
Blog

Let the Bear Flag Go

A large portion of California wants to secede. That’s a good thing. American conservatives should not only applaud the move, they should be doing everything possible to help them find the door. Image a world without Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters, Diane Feinstein, or Kamala Harris; where Democrats would not start the presidential election cycle with nearly one quarter of the…
Brion McClanahan
February 27, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 60

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Feb 20-24, 2017 Topics: American War for Independence, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Secession, Nullification https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-60
Brion McClanahan
February 25, 2017
Blog

Washington vs. Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln and George Washington stare silently at one another across the reflecting pool on the National Mall in Washington D.C., their paths inextricably linked by the historians who consider both to be the greatest presidents in American history. One is a monument, a testament to the man and his influence on American history, the other a memorial to the…
Brion McClanahan
February 22, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 59

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Feb 13-17 2017. Topics: Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, John C. Calhoun, William T. Sherman, Political Correctness, Southern Sports https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-59
Brion McClanahan
February 19, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 58

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Feb 6-10 2017 Topics: Southern manners, Southern culture, Southern literature, Southern tradition. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-58
Brion McClanahan
February 11, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 57

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Jan 30 - Feb 3, 2017 Topics: Secession, Yankees, Decentralization, Nationalism, Conventions https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-57
Brion McClanahan
February 4, 2017
Blog

January Top Ten

The top ten articles for January 2017. 1. Ashley Judd Gets Nasty by Brion McClanahan 2. Old Western Man: C.S. Lewis and the Old South by Sheldon Vanauken 3. The Dixie Curse by Paul Yarbrough 4. Robert E. Lee, Southern Heritage, Media Bias, and Al Sharpton by Gail Jarvis 5. Robert E. Lee: American Hero by Brion McClanahan 6. Stonewall…
Brion McClanahan
February 1, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 56

Editor's note: McClanahan misspoke at the beginning of the podcast. This is episode 56, not 55. The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Jan 23-27, 2017. Topics: Southern women, Ashley Judd, Southern literature. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-56
Brion McClanahan
January 28, 2017
Blog

Ashley Judd Gets Nasty

  “Treat a woman like a lady, And your lady like a queen….” Charlie Daniels Ashley Judd’s recitation of “I’m a Nasty Woman” at the “women’s” march on Washington D.C. splashed across every media outlet in America. Judd proudly proclaimed to be a feminist and then launched into a verbal diatribe against “racism, fraud, conflict of interest, homophobia, sexual assault,…
Brion McClanahan
January 23, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 55

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Jan 16-20, 2017. Topics: Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Southern History, Dixie, Political Correctness https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-55
Brion McClanahan
January 22, 2017
Blog

Robert E. Lee: American Hero

Several years ago, leftist blowhard Richard Cohen at the Washington Post wrote that Robert E. Lee “deserves no honor — no college, no highway, no high school. In the awful war (620,000 dead) that began 150 years ago this month, he fought on the wrong side for the wrong cause. It’s time for Virginia and the South to honor the…
Brion McClanahan
January 19, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 54

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Jan 9-13, 2017. Topics: The Southern Tradition, C.S. Lewis, 19th Century Politics, Donald Trump, Southern Culture https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-54
Brion McClanahan
January 15, 2017
Podcast

Podcast Episode 53

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Jan 2-6, 2017 Topics: Secession, Southwestern History, the Southern Tradition, Federalism, Old Republicans https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-53
Brion McClanahan
January 8, 2017
Blog

Things as They Are

William S. Belko, Philip Pendleton Barbour in Jacksonian America: An Old Republican in King Andrew’s Court (The University of Alabama Press, 2016). Sometimes a professional historian gets it right. William Belko has produced a quality tome that both expands and enhances our understanding of American history. While most academics write about the same subjects and regurgitate fashionable theories with “new”…
Brion McClanahan
January 6, 2017
Blog

The Year in Review

Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina told a friend in 1980 that, "I'm bound to confess that President Carter has instilled some foreboding in prospect to the outcome of the election....As I interpret his campaign sermon, President Carter said states' rights had become as obscene as any four-letter word, and Ronald Reagan had proved his unfitness for the presidency by telling…
Brion McClanahan
December 30, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 52

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, 2016 in Review Topics: Conferences, Political Correctness, Southern Tradition, Donald Trump, Secession, Nullification https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-52
Brion McClanahan
December 17, 2016
Blog

Southern Culture: Food

Food is one of the more tangible and recognizable elements of Southern culture and one that is worth exploring. It serves as a bridge between the tables of the Old South and the New. It was once said that Virginians dined, Yankees just ate. This was due in large part to the old Cavalier practice of multi-course meals that could…
Brion McClanahan
December 13, 2016
Blog

“Rational People” Now Want Secession

 According to Representative Zoe Lofgren of California, secession is now being advocated by "rational people, not the fringe."This is an insult to all rational people.Rational people for generations have supported secession, including every scholar at the Abbeville Institute. But now that idiot Leftists in California, Oregon, and Washington are for it, somehow secession has become "rational."I think George Washington, Thomas…
Brion McClanahan
December 7, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 51

The week in review at the Abbeville Institute, November 14-18, 2016. Topics: 2016 presidential election, the Electoral College, Donald Trump, populism, secession https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-51
Brion McClanahan
November 19, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 50

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, November 7-11 2016 Topics: Secession, the Southern tradition, Southern history, William T. Sherman https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-50
Brion McClanahan
November 13, 2016
Blog

#Calexit

Donald Trump won and California wants to secede. Mises Institute President Jeff Deist tweeted during the election: "look for the Dems to discover the virtues of secession, nullification, and states rights." It didn't take long for leftists to realize the value of secession. Within hours of Trump's stunning victory (a victory yours truly predicted as early as February this year),…
Brion McClanahan
November 10, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 49

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Oct 31 - Nov 4 2016 Topics: Southern literature, William Faulkner, Abraham Lincoln, John C. Calhoun, Southern humor https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-49
Brion McClanahan
November 5, 2016
Blog

October Top Ten

Our top ten pieces for October 2016. If you have not read them yet, you should. If you have, read 'em again. 1. Why The War Was Not About Slavery by Clyde Wilson 2. John C. Calhoun: Anti-Imperialist by Clyde Wilson 3. Ortho-Dixie: Orthodox Christianity and Southern Identity by Stephen Borthwick 4. It Probably Won't End Well by Paul Yarbrough…
Brion McClanahan
November 5, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 48

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, October 24-28, 2016 Topics: The Southern Tradition, the War for Southern Independence, Jack Hinson, Southern Literature, Abraham Lincoln, Southern Music, Charlie Daniels https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-48
Brion McClanahan
October 29, 2016
Blog

Charlie Daniels and the CDB

Charlie Daniels turns 80 today. He is still producing top quality music and is still an iconic symbol of the South and the Southern musical tradition. Most people are familiar with his hits--"The South's Gonna Do It Again," "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," and "Long Haired Country Boy"--but these tunes are a conspicuous though minimal part of a career that spans five…
Brion McClanahan
October 28, 2016
Blog

Podcast Episode 47

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Oct 17-21, 2016. Topics: Republican Party, Southern Political Tradition, Jefferson, Conservatism, George W. Bush, Southern Religion https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-47
Brion McClanahan
October 23, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 46

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Oct 10-14, 2016 Topics: Independence, Secession, the Southern Tradition, American Politics https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-46
Brion McClanahan
October 15, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 45

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, October 3-7 2016. Topics: Reconciliation, Republican Party, Political Correctness, Agrarianism https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-45
Brion McClanahan
October 8, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 44

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Sept 26-30, 2016 Topics: The Republican Party, American Empire, Nationalism https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-44
Brion McClanahan
October 3, 2016
Blog

September Top Ten

The top ten for September 2016. 1. Decentralization for Humanity's Sake by Brion McClanahan 2. Secession Without Civil War by Philip Leigh 3. The South as an Independent Nation by William Cawthon 4. Rethinking the War for the 21st Century by Clyde Wilson 5. Andrew Jackson: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly by James Rutledge Roesch 6. Deep Down…
Brion McClanahan
October 1, 2016
Review Posts

The Stupid Empire

Reprinted from brionmcclanahan.com As the first leg of the American invasion force rolled through Iraq in 2003, Sergeant Brad Colbert of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion of the United States Marine Corps leaned out the window of his Humvee and urged the Iraqi people to “vote Republican.” This moment was captured by the embedded reporter, Evan Wright, and made famous in…
Brion McClanahan
September 27, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 43

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute Sept 19-23, 2016 Topics: Charles Carroll, James Jackson, John C. Calhoun, Statesmanship, Agrarianism, Decentralization, George Washington https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-43
Brion McClanahan
September 24, 2016
Blog

Washington’s Rye

Every student of history knows at least a brief sketch of the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, but most people don't realize that Alexander Hamilton's excise tax on distilled spirits hit George Washington in the wallet as well, albeit years after the rebellion. He owned the largest distillery in Northern Virginia from 1797-1799 and shipped hundreds of gallons of moonshine to Alexandria during the…
Brion McClanahan
September 23, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 42

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Sept 12-16, 2016. Topics: Secession, War for Southern Independence, Southern culture, Southern literature, Southern music. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-42
Brion McClanahan
September 17, 2016
Blog

Deep Down in the South

The late 1970s represented the heyday of popular Southern music. Southern rock and "outlaw country" dominated the airwaves. It was chic to say "ya'll," even in Boston, and with the election of Jimmy Carter, it really seemed the "South was gonna' do it again." It wouldn't last. During an interview at Capricorn Studios in Macon, GA one afternoon, Charlie Daniels spit into his cup and…
Brion McClanahan
September 16, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 41

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Sept 5-9, 2016 Topics: Southern culture, Southern tradition, Agrarians, Decentralization, Southern politics, Confederate Constitution https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-41
Brion McClanahan
September 11, 2016
Blog

Decentralization For Humanity’s Sake

The Roman historian Titus Livius once called Rome “the greatest nation in the world.”  He wrote those words in a time of moral and political decline, and Livy was hoping by outlining the greatness of the once proud republic, the Roman people would arrest the decline and embrace the principles that had made Rome great.  Livy argued that without understanding…
Brion McClanahan
September 9, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 40

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Aug 29- Sep 2, 2016. Topics: Secession, Slavery, Southern Politics, the War for Southern Independence https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-40
Brion McClanahan
September 3, 2016
Blog

August Top Ten

The top ten articles for August 2016: 1. Debunking the Debunking: Gary Ross and His "Myths of the Civil War" by Ryan Walters 2. American Culture: Massachusetts or Virginia by Clyde Wilson 3. NASCAR's Slow Ride to Nowhere by Mike Tuggle 4. Was the Civil War About Slavery? by Dave Benner 5. Reflections of a Ghost: An Agrarian View After…
Brion McClanahan
September 1, 2016
Blog

Slavery in Pennsylvania

Indentured servitude is one of the more neglected elements of American labor history. Most historians gloss over the subject in route to African slavery. This is largely due to the impact of long standing issues of race in America, but Southerners understood Northern complicity in the institution of African slavery and often pointed to Northern hypocrisy in regard to the…
Brion McClanahan
August 29, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 39

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Aug 22-26, 2016. Topics: Political Correctness, Southern Tradition, I'll Take My Stand, Federalism https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-39
Brion McClanahan
August 28, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 38

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute Aug. 15-19, 2016. Topics: Political correctness, NASCAR, Southern culture, Southern politics. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-38
Brion McClanahan
August 20, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 37

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, August 8-12, 2016. Topics: Gary Ross, Myths of the "Civil War," Secession, the New South, Reconstruction, Southern Economy, Thomas Jefferson, the First Amendment https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-37
Brion McClanahan
August 13, 2016
Blog

The Vanishing Republic of Our Fathers

The New South is one of the more misunderstood periods in American history. The contemporary narrative generally describes the period and its leaders as dense political hacks riding the coattails of Northern business elites. They were "wannabe" statesmen whose political ideology was singularly tied to race. This perspective is clouded by present conditions and our own short-sighted infatuation with racial politics. Historians…
Brion McClanahan
August 11, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 36

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, August 1-5, 2016 Topics: War for Southern Independence, Southern Culture, Abraham Lincoln, United States Constitution https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-36
Brion McClanahan
August 6, 2016
Blog

The Compact Fact

Mainstream historians are both an incestuous and snarky bunch. They latch on to trends--fads really--and pull those trends like mules lugging a heavy cart to market (where they hope to sell books to their tens of fans). In time, the mules give out, but unlike the mule, these historians never realize they are whipped.  They hire more mules like them…
Brion McClanahan
August 4, 2016
Blog

July Top Ten

The Top Ten for July 2016. Read 'em again. 1. The Free State of Jones: History or Hollywood? by Ryan Walters 2. Understanding the Battle Hymn of the Republic by Howard Ray White 3. Why Vicksburg Canceled the Fourth of July – For a Generation by Karen Stokes 4. Rethinking the Declaration of Independence by Brion McClanahan 5. Nathan Bedford…
Brion McClanahan
August 1, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 35

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, July 11-15 and July 25-29, 2016 Topics: The Free State of Jones, Nathan Bedford Forrest, Southern politics, agrarianism, secession, slavery https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-35
Brion McClanahan
July 31, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 34

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, July 4-8, 2016. Topics: American War for Independence, Transcendentalism, War for Southern Independence, Thomas Jefferson, United States Constitution https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-34
Brion McClanahan
July 9, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 33

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, June 27 - July 1, 2016. Topics: Brexit, Nullification, Southern Culture, Boxing https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-33
Brion McClanahan
July 2, 2016
Blog

June Top 10

The ten best for June 2016.  Read 'em again. 1. Oh Say Can You See...Another One Bites the Dust by David McCallister 2. How (and Why) to Dress Like a (Southern) Conservative, Part I by Dan E. Phillips 3. Who Will Be Our Monuments Men? by Lunelle McCallister 4. The Theology of Secession by M.E. Bradford 5. Jefferson Davis: A…
Brion McClanahan
July 1, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 32

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, June 20-24, 2016 Topics: Nullification, United States Constitution, Religion, Political Correctness, Southern Tradition https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-32
Brion McClanahan
June 25, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 31

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, June 13-17, 2016 Topics: Southern Religion, Calvin Coolidge, Political Correctness, Thomas Jefferson, Secession https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-31
Brion McClanahan
June 18, 2016
Blog

Silent Cal and the War

Calvin Coolidge is one of the more maligned presidents in American history. I rank him as one of the best in my 9 Presidents Who Screwed Up America.  Coolidge should be commended for his executive restraint and homespun honesty, two character traits that have escaped the modern American executive.  He was a throwback to the nineteenth century when the president…
Brion McClanahan
June 13, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 30

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, June 6-10, 2016 Topics: Political Correctness, Nullification, Southern culture, Southern dress https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-30
Brion McClanahan
June 11, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 29

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, May 30-June 3, 2016 Topics: Patrick Henry, Political Correctness, Secession, the United States Constitution, John Randolph of Roanoke, Jefferson Davis https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-29
Brion McClanahan
June 4, 2016
Blog

May Top Ten

Our top ten articles for May.  Read 'em again. 1. Hampton Roads: A Twist in the Lincoln Myth by Dave Benner 2. Erasing Southern History, Step by Step by Alphonse-Louis Vinh 3. Confederaphobia: An American Epidemic by Paul C. Graham 4. "Don't Leave Me Here to Bleed to Death!" by Karen Stokes 5. Is "White Supremacy" an Exclusively "Southern" Ideology?…
Brion McClanahan
June 2, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 28

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, May 23-27, 2016. Topics: Political Correctness, agrariansim, the Southern tradition, Reconstruction https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-28
Brion McClanahan
May 28, 2016
Blog

Southern Family

What makes the South, the South?  Most modern Americans would say football and grits sprinkled with a bit of country music and NASCAR. These clichés hold true for many Southerners today, but what made the South before the commercialization of the American economy was a commitment to land, family, and God.  It was both a temporal and a spiritual understanding…
Brion McClanahan
May 23, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 27

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, May 16-20, 2016. Topics: Abraham Lincoln, War for Southern Independence, Political Correctness, Progressivism, Southern History, Southern Literature, Southern Culture, the United States Constitution https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-27
Brion McClanahan
May 21, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 26

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, May 9-13 2016. Topics: Political Correctness, Progressivism, Southern History, Confederate History, Secession, the United States Constitution https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-26
Brion McClanahan
May 14, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 25

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, May 2-6 2016. Topics: Political Correctness, Northern hypocrisy, Southern history, Southern culture https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-25
Brion McClanahan
May 7, 2016
Review Posts

Is “White Supremacy” an Exclusively “Southern” Ideology?

“We abhor the doctrine of the "Types of Mankind;" first, because it is at war with scripture, which teaches us that the whole human race is descended from a common parentage; and, secondly, because it encourages and incites brutal masters to treat negroes, not as weak, ignorant and dependent brethren, but as wicked beasts, without the pale of humanity. The…
Brion McClanahan
May 3, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 24

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, April 23-29, 2016. Topics: The PC attack on the South, Andrew Jackson, secession, Confederaphobia https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-24
Brion McClanahan
May 1, 2016
Blog

April Top Ten

The top ten articles for April 2016: 1. Andrew Jackson: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly by James Rutledge Roesch 2. Confederaphobia: An American Epidemic by Paul C. Graham 3. Why the War Was Not About Slavery by Clyde Wilson 4. The Cause of Jackson is the Cause of Us All by James Rutledge Roesch 5. Lies My Teacher…
Brion McClanahan
May 1, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 23

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, April 18-22, 2016. Topics: Political Correctness, U.S. Grant, Reconstruction, the Confederate Constitution, Southern medicine and science. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-23
Brion McClanahan
April 23, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 22

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, April 11-15, 2016. Topics: Political Correctness, Southern music, Southern literature, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, secession, Southern symbols, William T. Sherman, war crimes. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-22
Brion McClanahan
April 16, 2016
Blog

McWhirter Tries to Strike Back

My recent piece on James Ryder Randall, "At Arlington", touched a nerve, at least with Christian McWhirter.  I spent some time in "At Arlington" discussing his March Time magazine piece, and thus he was compelled to reply. McWhirter begins by wondering when the "neo-Confederate crowd" would respond to his article.  It only took him one sentence to use the tired pejorative "neo-Confederate"…
Brion McClanahan
April 12, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 21

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, April 4-8, 2016. Topics: Political Correctness, Southern literature, Robert E. Lee, James Ryder Randall, American imperialism, the original Constitution and State's Rights. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-21
Brion McClanahan
April 9, 2016
Review Posts

At Arlington

The PC police have found a new target.  Not satisfied with monuments and flags, the Maryland general assembly recently voted to alter the lyrics to the official State song, James Ryder Randall's "Maryland, My Maryland."  Lincoln apologist Christian McWhirter penned a piece for Time magazine that labeled the song "dissident."  This is true if using the standard definition of the word,…
Brion McClanahan
April 5, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 20

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, March 28 - April 1, 2016. Topics: Secession, Abraham Lincoln, Southern Literature, Southern Culture, Independence, Jeffersonian Tradition, Southern Art https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-20
Brion McClanahan
April 2, 2016
Blog

March Top Ten

The Top Ten articles for March 2016: 1. Why The War Was Not About Slavery by Clyde Wilson 2. Baltimore Set to Ban Lee and Jackson, to Welcome Degenerate Divine by J. L. Bennett 3. Secession Hypocrisy: The Case of West Virginia by Dave Benner 4. The Battle Flag and Christianity by Lunelle McCallister 5. Andrew Jackson: The Good, the…
Brion McClanahan
April 2, 2016
Blog

Interpreting Southern Art

For several weeks my local art museum displayed a traveling exhibit from the Johnson Collection of art permanently located in Spartanburg, South Carolina.   The prevailing consensus among historians is that the antebellum South did not produce much in the way of art, that its literature was substandard, and that its only contribution to American history was slavery and militaristic oligarchy.  Those who read this blog understand this position to…
Brion McClanahan
April 1, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 19

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, 21-25 March, 2016. Topics: William T. Sherman, War Crimes, Republicanism, Secession, Southern Easter https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-19
Brion McClanahan
March 26, 2016
Blog

A Rural Southern Easter

Benjamin Franklin White, born 1800 in South Carolina, was a Southern music pioneer. His collection of hymns titled The Sacred Harp, published in 1844, was based on shape note singing and became the standard hymnal in the South. Shape note music first appeared in 1801 and quickly spread through the rural Southern congregationalist communities. The music is performed a cappella…
Brion McClanahan
March 25, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 18

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, March 14-18, 2016 Topics: John C. Calhoun, PC, Confederate Emancipation, Slavery, Charles Carroll of Carrollton https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-18
Brion McClanahan
March 19, 2016
Review Posts

Charles Carroll of Carrollton: The Southern Irish Catholic Planter

A slightly different version of this essay is Chapter Eleven in Brion McClanahan, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers (Regnery, 2009).  This essay is offered as a Southern celebration of St. Patrick's Day. Charles Carroll of Carrollton has one of the more interesting stories of the Founding generation. He was one of the wealthiest men in the colonies…
Brion McClanahan
March 17, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 16

The Week in Review, February 29-March 4, 2016 Topics: Southern literature, Harper Lee, Margaret Mitchell, PC, the Confederate Flag, Confederate monuments, the Southern tradition. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-16
Brion McClanahan
March 5, 2016
Blog

February Top 10

The top ten articles for February 2016: 1. The Nationalist Myth by Brion McClanahan 2. Scalia, the Constitution, and the Court by Carl Jones 3. What's Holding Alabama Back? by Tom Daniel 4. The Principle of Secession Historically Traced by George Petrie 5. Rethinkin' Lincoln by Brion McClanahan 6. Dilorenzo and His Critics by Clyde Wilson 7. John C. Calhoun…
Brion McClanahan
March 1, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 15

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, February 22-26, 2016. Topics: George Washington, Agrarianism, the Southern tradition, Antonin Scalia, Abraham Lincoln, Southern heroes. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-15
Brion McClanahan
February 27, 2016
Blog

Rethinkin’ Lincoln

The most frequent question I have received during promotion of my new book, 9 Presidents Who Screwed Up America and Four Who Tried to Save Her, has been, “How can you say that Lincoln screwed up America?” After all, he is the man who saved the Union and who put slavery on the path to extinction. There should be a…
Brion McClanahan
February 26, 2016
Podcast

Podcast Episode 14

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, February 15-19, 2016. Topic: Abraham Lincoln https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-14
Brion McClanahan
February 21, 2016
Blog

The Nationalist Myth

Dave Benner, Compact of the Republic: The League of the States and the Constitution (Life and Liberty Publishing, 2015). James Ronald Kennedy, Uncle Seth Fought the Yankees (Pelican Publishing, 2015). Jack Kerwick, The American Offensive: Dispatches from the Front (Stairway Press, 2015). One of the results of the Northern victory in 1865 was the codification of Lincolnian nationalism and its…
Brion McClanahan
February 19, 2016