Edward Blum

San Diego State University, Department of History

"Satan Was the First Secessionist: Devil Talk and the American Civil War"

Thursday, September 19, 2013

University Center, Raccoon Mountain Room 269

5:30 p.m.

Abstract:

Abraham Lincoln hoped that the "better angels of our nature" would stop halt the drive to war. They didn't. Instead, the Civil War unleashed demons on the nation and brought hell to earth. Whether in the diaries of soldiers, the political cartoons of newspapers, or the speeches of leading statesmen, biblical evil was on display in every facet of American society. In "Satan was the first Secessionist," award-winning historian Edward J. Blum brings us to the dark side of this Civil War and what uses the prince of darkness to shed new light on the war that almost destroyed America.