The importance of Being in One Place

So this weeks readers were pretty fun to read and I didn't connect that the the longer video of Shelby Foote until I continued reading and it all made sense. I really enjoyed reading about Horwitz going to Shiloh and meeting all the different kinds of people who are drawn to such a place. I guess I never really understood how a place can hold so much power and draw so many different kinds of people to it. I think because we don't have as many of those kinds of places in this area, that it makes it hard to relate. I did however find myself wanting to visit these places to see if they could inspire the same feels for as they did Horwitz. He talks about having an attachment to these places through childhood fantasies and not through heritage like the other people he met. I don't even have the upbringing that would inspire any kind of emotional response to the Civil War, my family is from France/ French Canada as far as I know, so I am curious, do these battle sites produce the same emotional responses from people whose family had no stake in the war and live on the other side of the country? I hope to one day find out but I also think my view might be skewed because I love history and everything that is tied to some kind of history is amazing to me.

When I was watching the videos, I seem to remember at least one time or another watching one of those episodes in one of my numerous history classes. I had never heard of Shelby Foote until reading this book, or if I had, he was of no importance to my everyday life, but Horwitz makes it seem like he is the best known author of all things Civil War. I wonder how many people in the South know his name or if he too has slipped into history as a forgotten soul. (I would've linked the video but Youtube took it down due to copyright issues.. awkward...)

Sorry it's kind of grainy but here it is, Pearce Hall! 

Another site I enjoyed looking at was Spokanehistorical.org. Because I have work up on the site, I like to go back to it and see if I can find typos in my work or have fun looking around at other stops. Local history that is tangible to the people around it is my favorite kind of history because it gives meaning to the modern day happenings and I guess that's why people have such an attachment to the Civil War sites.  And another one of my stops is a "Featured Story" (!!!!). I know it's not right to brag but having your work front and center for potentially hundreds if not thousands of people to see is pretty awesome!