Through the Heart of Dixie: Sherman's March and American Memory

On this installment of ST, an interesting conversation with Anne Sarah Rubin, an associate professor of history at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, who is also the author of "Through the Heart of Dixie: Sherman's March and American Memory." This book explores the stories as well as the myths about Sherman's infamous March to the Sea. In doing so, it draws from a diverse range of sources, among them the firsthand accounts of African Americans, women, Union soldiers, Confederates, and even Sherman himself -- as well as, of course, travel accounts, memoirs, literature, films, and newspapers of the time. Thus Rubin shows the ways in which our thinking about the Civil War -- and especially Sherman's role within it -- has changed over time. "Through the Heart of Dixie" was hailed by The Wall Street Journal as "an engrossing exploration of the ways in which the march has been recounted and understood over the years" -- and the Gettysburg Chronicle called it "one of the more innovative books which has been published this year on the Civil War and one of the more innovative books on the March to the Sea."