I am Pleased to Announce . . .

 . . . the unveiling of my new blog, Thread the Rude Eye, a blog of the American Civil War and other contemporaneous historical events.

After more than two years of publishing material through New Kent County History, I have decided to make use of the large quantity of Nineteenth Century historical material I have come across that I could not rationally use on a local history site.

Thread the Rude Eye will focus on the American War between the States with an emphasis on what some might consider the minutiae of history, but what I consider the personal and side of the conflict. Those behind the scenes areas of the war such as urban life, desertion, the home front, industry and the experience of the conscript, which are often ignored. The nuts and bolts of a nation at war (or two nations, if you look at it that way). There will also be a spotlight shone on those conflicts around the world immediately before, during, and after the Civil War;  to illustrate my belief that America's conflict was part of a larger pattern of Nineteenth Century conflicts. Conflicts of classical republicanism vs. popular democracy. Federalism vs. unitary government. Nationalism, and in Europe dynastism vs.regionalism.

All of this with a heavy emphasis on the first person account.

I hope you lean and enjoy.