Civil War (Sic) Magazines - What I Like - Part One

My favorite Civil War print publication has, in the last 18 months, become North South Trader's Civil War. Though I've known of the publication for years (they've been publishing since 1973) and have read numerous issues before, I only started subscribing 2 years ago when I became an avid relic hunter. I'm certainly glad I did. Though geared toward CW relic hunters and collectors, it bills itself as a publication "for collectors, researchers, relic hunters, and historians of the War Between the States." And it is most certainly that. Published 6 times a year, there is enough in each issue to satisfy anyone who studies the WBTS - well almost anyone.

As publisher Steve Sylvia has alluded to in the most recent issue's editorial titled "Apologies and appeasement", those who concentrate on so-called "social history" (I think Robert Krick calls some of this emphasis "psychobabble") may not find the articles "socially conscious" enough; which is why it has become my favorite publication. When I subscribe to magazines which focus on history, I really don't want to read "preachy" styled articles emphasizing a morality play regarding the real Civil War myth: "North good, South bad."

As historian Brion McLanahan has pointed out:

The importance of this myth is that it is used to divide the country into progressive and enlightened (the North) and reactionary and racist (the South), and allows historians to portray all of American history through that divide, dismissing the Southern founders and Southern arguments about limited government and states' rights while praising ever-expanding powers for the federal government . . . ( The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers, page 14.)

Quite frankly, I'm sick of it. There's enough of that shallow, agenda-driven, self-serving silliness available in the blogosphere at no charge. There's really no need for me to pay a subscription fee to have it delivered to my home.

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