I am jealous. He is an amazing scholar. Just don’t get him started on contemporary politics.

I was fortunate to be able to come (all the way from PA). It was everything I had hoped and more. What an amazing scholar!

His book was really good too. I wasn’t expecting it to be nearly as interesting as it was, honestly. I’m not really that into the Civil War, but it definitely held my attention, as did his lecture today. Kudos to whoever thought to bring him here. Right now, he’s probably two floors above me looking out the window and wondering why in the world he is in Ashland (and he quickly remembers the Ashbrook Center, of course . . . hehe).

Matt, if you liked his Antietam book, then you owe it to yourself to check out Battle Cry of Freedom. It is simply one of the best books I’ve ever read.

It really was an honor to have him here. Unbeknownst to many, he will be leading a session with history and social studies teachers here in the Center in about 2 hours. We’ll have 80 teachers from several states. Afterward these teachers will reinvigorate their classrooms with a much broader and deeper understanding of the Civil War, an understanding gleaned from one of the greatest scholars on the subject.

If we want our students to know about our nation’s history, then those who teach it must understand and appreciate it as well. Programs like these sponsored by the Ashbrook Center address a ‘pinch point’ in our nation’s civic literacy. Opportunities like this give teachers a broader, deeper and more profound understanding of our American history. Teachers who fully grasp the content of their subject enliven a classroom far more than ones who simply read from a 20-year-old textbook. Sessions like the one today with Dr. McPherson will positively affect hundreds of students throughout the region.

The Ashbrook Center is more than a chain-smoking-good-looking-Hungarian-fat man (thoroughly convinced he is the only one who truly understands Lincoln) blogging at No Left Turns. These teacher programs are some of the best (if not the best) in the nation, and everyone should be aware of them.

Also, don’t forget that the Ashbrook Center teaches the meaning and significance of America.

Hats off to the Ashbrook Center for supporting many lecturers and projects and teachers (including the Big Man himself!)that recognize the rightful place of Lincoln in the American pantheon. He is for me the most eloquent and profound political thinker of the American experience since the Founders who most clearly explained the vision of the Founders and whose statesmanship fulfilled that vision. Lincoln’s "fragment on the Constitution" is the most beautiful understanding of the Declaration and Constitution that I have ever read. Throw out the textbook and read that with your students - and try plopping down the bronze apple that your school gave you for your students to see the "Apple of Gold." Try getting that at most colleges and grad schools. More McPherson, Guelzo, Schramm, Krannawitter (sp?), Morel, Owens, and the like!!!