Introduction
I grew up in Virginia and took my BA with Distinction in History from Swarthmore College, and my MA and PhD from Yale University. After teaching at Wellesley College and Temple University, I moved to the University of Virginia where I am currently the Langbourne M. Williams Professor of American History.
Teaching
My teaching focuses on the political, cultural, and gender history of the 19th-century United States. At Oxford, I will participate in the DPhil workshop, co-teach the Master’s course, supervise Master’s students, and offer lectures in US History.
Research
My research specialty is the Civil War era and 19th-century South, with a focus on political dissent and discourse, and on the intersections of political, military, and social history. My most recent book, Armies of Deliverance: A New History of the Civil War, won the 2020 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize and was named one of the Wall Street Journal‘s best books of 2019. My new book, Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South, is forthcoming this November with Simon & Schuster, and my current research project is a biography of humanitarian Clara Barton, under contract with Simon & Schuster.
Publications
Armies of Deliverance: A New History of the Civil War. Oxford University Press, 2019.
Appomattox: Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War. Oxford University Press, 2013.
Disunion! The Coming of the American Civil War, 1789-1859. University of North Carolina Press, 2008.
Southern Lady, Yankee Spy: The True Story of Elizabeth Van, A Union Agent in the Heart of the Confederacy. Oxford University Press, 2005.