TO THE BEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE

PROMO FOR   "Remembering the Civil War"
*It's the sesquicentennial of the Civil War -- it's been 150 years since
that epic war began.   Americans will commemorate and remember it from
different points of view. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge,
Remembering the Civil War.   We'll talk about soldiers' experiences on
the battlefield, and their reconciliation afterwards.  We'll debate the
controversial legacy of the abolitionist, John Brown.  And we'll reflect
on why the Civil War still has a living -- and highly contested --
history... even today.

PROGRAM RUNDOWN:   "Remembering the Civil War"

0:00 - 20:06        SEGMENT 1: (20:07)
            If you think that 150 years was enough time to settle all
            of the war's big historical debates then, well  think
            again.   Americans still clash over some of the war's
            most fundamental issues   like, how the war began, and
            why it was fought. This hour  historians Victoria Bynum,
            as well as David Blight, Sean Wilentz and others talk
            about the challenges involved in Remembering the Civil
            War. Drew Gilpin Faust is the President of Harvard
            University, where she also works as a Lincoln Professor
            of History.  Her latest book, This Republic of Suffering,
            explores one of the most sobering aspects of the Civil
            War   its colossal death toll.  She talks to Steve
            Paulson about the violence of the Civil War.
                         
            Segment One Outcue:  "...PRI - Public Radio
            International."

20:07 - 20:36  LOCAL OPTION with music bed (:29)

30:37 - 35:57       SEGMENT 2: (15:21)
            For many people, commemorating the Civil War is a time to
            reflect on the end of slavery, and the expansion of
            American freedom.   But starting right after the war,
            many Americans chose not to remember the Civil War in
            these terms.  They played down some of the very issues
            over which they had gone to war, in order to promote
            national harmony and sectional reconciliation between
            North and South.  Historian David Blight teaches history
            at Yale University, and is the author of Race and
            Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory.  Blight tells
            Jim Fleming Americans in both sides played a role in
            whitewashing the history of the Civil War, in favor of a
            more unified nation.  Also John Brown, an abolitionist
            who from the beginning was committed to the abolition of
            slavery   and called for ending it through armed
            insurrection.   Over the years, Steve Paulson has asked
            many historians and writers about John Brown's role in
            Civil War history.  And he has this historical
            retrospective.
                         
            Segment Two Outcue:  "...PRI - Public Radio
            International."

35:58 - 36:27       LOCAL OPTION with music bed (:29)

36:28 - 53:00       SEGMENT 3: (16:32)
            it may surprise some to know that not all white
            southerners actually fought with the Confederacy in the
            Civil War.  In her book, The Long Shadow of the Civil
            War, historian Victoria Bynum relates the story of three
            communities in the South that waged what she calls "inner
            civil wars.Bynum tells Anne Strainchamps, about southern
            unionists who fought against the Confederacy in places as
            diverse as Jones County, Mississippi, North Carolina's
            Quaker Belt, and the Big Thicket region of East Texas. 
                         
            Segment Three Outcue: PRI Audio Logo


For a copy of this hour, call 1-800-747-7444, and ask for program number
5-8-B.

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