Here’s a reverse scenario which I hope will add a note of cheer that a love of history and particularly of the Civil War is not uniformly on the decline. Before I lived in Northern Loudoun, Virginia, I was never a history buff of any war, civil or uncivil. But a reading, curious person cannot stay long in Northern Loudoun without becoming interested in and finally immersed in the history of the Civil War. There are two active CWRT, one at Harper’s Ferry and the other at Leesburg, both of which schedule interesting monthly talks, always well attended by a cordial and knowledgeable group. Gettysburg, Antietum and other battlefields are easy to get to, and reenactments, especially in the summer, abound. I think it was the reenactments that really drew me in. Walking the camps, talking to the reenactors, feeling the ambiance of the CW did it for me. I’ve even attended a War of 1812 one in the vicinity. I spent a memorable 4th of July at a Gettysburg reenactment and another at a fabulous CW ball right out of Gone With the Wind at Charlston, WVa.

The local libraries and especially The Thomas Balch Library in NLoudoun are rich goldmines for CW books, and the Borders in Leesburg has the most comfortable armchairs and coffee for those stolen hours whiled away reading their latest CW books. I realize it’s not uniformly like this, unfortunately, but I always fondly remember Northern Loudoun for introducing me to the CW. In an environment like that, history lives on.

Best,

Barbara.

Right on, bro. Well said.

With all due respect to J. K. Rowling–who is a terribly creative woman to come up with the stuff that she creates–I’m not sure that what she does is worthy of her being one of the wealthiest women in the world, but good for her.

Sadly, though, you’re right on.

There’s a cliche that goes, “those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them.” Things don’t get to be cliches unless they’re true. And that one, in particular, is absolutely true.

Eric

Your point about the public being apathetic about its history was right on. I live in a rural area of NW Pa, and we have only one chain bookstore within 20 miles – a Walden Books at the local mall. For the past 15 years, the History section was right up front. A few months ago, during their remodeling, the History section was moved to the back – the VERY back. I mean, the very last aisle. Now, up front, is all fiction, pop culture, and occultist crap like LaHaye puts out.

During my first visit after the change, I remarked to the girl behind the counter about the change, and that apparently the company sees Paris Hilton’s autobiography, and Larry the Cable Guy’s tripe, as much more important than American History. She said that historical stuff doesn’t sell, so they had to put the stuff up front that does. I suspect it’s the same story all over.

We’re becoming a generation of apathetic, in-the-now, fickle people who delight more in gossip about celebrities than in learning about our roots. We have short attention spans, and we want to be constantly entertained. Harry Potter sells millions and millions of books – if even a highly publicized wonderful book on Gettysburg sells a few thousand copies, it’s considered a rousing success.

I dare say that if a museum were put up to Harry Potter, it’d get more visitation than any of our battlefields or historical sites. Now that wouldn’t cause us to raise a generations of mush-heads, would it?

Lord help us. And I mean that.

J.D. Petruzzi

Yes, I know it’s hard to believe. 🙂

For my readers who don’t know Sam, this is a bit of an inside joke. Sam is also a fellow member of the bar who shares the same affliction I share.

Eric

Unfortunately, I fear that your friends were right.

We got a tremendous deal at one point. I purchased the entire inventory of a used book store–10,000 books–for $1000. We’re getting ready to put it all up on line to sell. Hopefully, it will make us some decent money. At $.10 per book, it should. Or so I hope.

Thanks for writing and reading.

Eric

I read your post and saw a lot of myself in it. I’ve spent close to 20 years in the Financial Services field, and like you, can see burnout looming on the not-too-distant horizon. Admittedly, it’s provided my family with a nice lifestyle over the years; nevertheless I can’t begin to count the number of hours I’ve spent trying to figure out a way to make a living doing what I truly love. Being an avid book collector in addition to an amateur Civil War historian, I once came up with the idea of trying to publish a magazine targeted specifically at the Civil War book collector. However, everybody I spoke with tried to talk me out of it — and I guess they succeeded. A dear friend who is a mail-order bookseller and who was at one time a small press publisher told me it would be like throwing money down a dark hole. Another well known Civil War bookseller advised me not to do it, that, in his opinion, the market for collectible OP Civil War books is shrinking rapidly. Not enough new collectors/readers to make up for the older ones who are passing away.

Oh well. Not everybody gets to see their name on the spine of a book, and if having to keep the day job is the price we pay in order to continue doing what we love late at night, then so be it.

Cheers,
Paul Taylor

Sadly, I have to agree with you. I live in Columbus, OH. This particular state produced some of the most important figures of the war–Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Rosecrans, and yes, even Custer. Our CWRT was founded by Dave Roth, the publisher of Blue & Gray magazine, who’s certainly very well known in the field. Yet, in a metro area of 1.4 million or so, our CWRT has less than 100 members. Go figure.

At the same time, people have been unfailingly generous with their money for preservation, as you point out. So, I guess that there’s a silver lining to the cloud.

But it also means that I’m not going anywhere in terms of changing careers for a long time…..

Eric

On the other hand, preservation efforts for CW related subjects seem to dwarf other historical or socially significant sites, so maybe the money is willing to be spent but people just simply don’t like to read. I think there is something to be said for that sad, sad notion.

Drew