Reviews
Beautifully done and highly engaging
marissa alexandria via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 04/08/18
A must listen history course.
macdog-Canada via Apple Podcasts · Canada · 12/09/17
David Blight knows this subject inside and out and is a pleasure to listen to.
Motuprt via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 06/23/17
This podcast is astounding. There's a lot of bad Civil War history out there (e.g., superficial, sensationalist, battle-focused or sentimentalized stuff), but this is the Real Thing: incredibly thoughtful, clear, well-organized -- yet somehow very soulful and nearly lyrical -- history delivered...Read full review »
kwixote via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 08/28/15
Each lecture left me wanting to hear more. Blight's reflections on the past force us to think about our present realities and human nature.
Dumole123 via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 07/28/15
You cannot be adequately informed on the most recent scholarship concerning the Civil War without encountering David Blight. Well done course, and exciting perspective on this period. Extremely relevant if you want to understand race relations today.
Spatior via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 07/20/15
Perfect delivery throughout and I love that Blight shows such a great passion for literature as much as history, bringing emotional weight through expressions by writers of the Era like Fredrick Douglass, Emerson, and Walt Whitman.
JamOfPearl via Apple Podcasts · Canada · 01/16/15
This is a wonderful class. The professor is incredibly knowledgeable and tells not just the facts but stories that make the facts personal. He humanizes the past in a way that makes it relatable and memorable. I highly recommend this to anyone looking to learn more about the civil war. As an...Read full review »
ParrisHicks via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 07/11/14
Prof. blight is an outstanding lecturer. I was spellbound by his classes and his ability to flesh out the picture of the most horrific war in American history. Anyone lucky enough to take his course at Yale is, well, lucky as hell.
Flylooper via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 01/05/14
This is so far the best podcast/MOOC I've come across in the realm of American history. Blight is a great stroy teller, he conveys emotions and most importantly is able to show you the milestones indispensable to your understanding of this complex era.
komodo1177 via Apple Podcasts · France · 12/28/13
I listened to this a while ago and found that my interest in both the war and the aftermath increased the more I learned from this series. I’ve since bought a handful books to add to my understanding and now want to listen again.
Mockmann via Apple Podcasts · Canada · 12/27/13
This course covers the history of political attitudes and sentiment around the civil war. its not ken burns (burns doc is assigned material). i was a bit put off by the depressive funerary tone of the lecturer. he seemed overly austeer and seemed to be treading lightly around the subject......Read full review »
Josh46784425689 via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 08/17/13
:D
I wanted to brush up on my civil war history, and this course was perfect for it. Blight definitely talks at a good pace, maybe even a little slowly, so you can catch everything easily. This course definitely jogged my memory and taught me things I didn't even know. I also love the little...Read full review »
complete_composure via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 07/21/13
This serie of lectures by prof. Blight gave me a real insight in the how's and why's of this terrible war. He gives a broad look of what played in those day's in the northern part and the southern part of the country before, during and after the war. Thanks you very much. R.
Rickenbecker46 via Apple Podcasts · Netherlands · 04/21/13
Probably the best lecture series I have heard on the internet…on the Civil War or any topic...
cubfan213 via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 03/05/13
Great lectures, superb lecturer. Puts every professor I've ever sat through to shame.
sam1lyon via Apple Podcasts · Canada · 11/18/12
Blight is amazing and the vast citing of information in these lectures is unparalleled.
nebomb via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 10/16/12
Rip up your secondary school textbooks. Here is the real, unvarnished story of c. 1850-1876 told with passion and interdisciplinary erudition by Professor Blight.
SportsEd79 via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 09/22/12
I finished the whole audio course in 4 days. The citations to literature is alone a sufficient reason to listen to this course.
Truly Concerned via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 09/20/12
As a boy in Mississippi in the '70s I always wondered why the locals were so against integration. Now I have a much deeper understanding of the history behind the bigotry. You can tell that Blight has spent an extraordinary amount of time and energy researching and totally mastering the subject.
Worthy Buffalo via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 07/20/12
Professor Blight is great. A true scholar who is able to delightfully convey his love for the topic. It is a joy to listen and learn.
poxyank via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 06/11/12
Interesting and engaging study of people and events of the US Civil War Listened several times and am still learning. Professor Blight is captivating.
Yards via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 06/03/12
He is the best and most enrapturing speaker I've found on iTunes U. Every lecture feels like a TED talk.
DcrabtreeIV via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 05/25/12
This is what a course on audio should be. Serious yet engaging. Presented as only a eminent professor with many publication under his belt could accomplish. Just a real treat. I wish the other Yale casters would listen to this and take notes before they present their materials.
Geg46 via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 05/25/12
Well organized, fascinating, great verbal manner. A pleasure to listen to...just wish I could have followed along with the visuals (outlines, maps, photos, etc.).
MGraceC via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 05/22/12
I have already learned quite a bit about the Civil War but could not fathom how important the period of Reconstruction was following the bloody conflict. Professor Blight is so detailed in his lectures that you can nearly imagine being there. He is humorous and his lectures are anything but dry....Read full review »
Gunblade77 via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 05/14/12
Great lectures filled with humor and insight. I enjoyed each and every one.
Wingnut1991 via Apple Podcasts · Canada · 04/27/12
I also downloaded this podcast based on the Slate political gabfest recommendation. Outstanding. I couldn't stop listening to the lectures. His delivery is so fluid and conversational, yet there is so much information. There is so much more here the. Just the battles and dates. I just wish I...Read full review »
Pulmmatt via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 04/19/12
David Blight brings this time period to life with his vast knowledge on the subject. The only thing I could ask for is to actually be in the classroom.
LA Poage via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 03/14/12
I cannot say enough about this lecture series. Blight is engaging, personable, and, most of all, completely knowledgable about this topic. It was a real pleasure to take the journey with him. Do yourself a favor and listen.
Porkandmindy via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 02/24/12
Blight is a delightful speaker. I love this class. I highly recomemnd it to anyone whoi is interested in the Civl war. Made me interested in Ken Burns coumentry and I wound up pickin up E.L. Doctorw's "The March" becasue of this class.
TheVoice!!! via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 02/10/12
...and I'm wishing I had majored in American History. This is an excellent podcast. Well done!
Two Roads via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 01/30/12
This was a recommend from the Slate political gabfest and am I glad I chose to listen. I could not have cared less about the Civil War before this series. David Blight is a great teacher and I wish more of his classes were here.
Kpstrat35 via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 01/21/12
This class was recommended by David Plotz of the Slate Political Gabfest as his cultural highlight of the year, so I decided to check it out. This class is great! I’m blowing through the lectures and enjoying myself immensely.
Mazarino via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 01/01/12
Prof. Blight is an entertaining lecturer who LOVES his subject. He was very easy to listen to. Not boring at all. His series gives the perspectives of the North and the South throughout the war. It covers TONS of material from the beginning of the Civil War all the way to Reconstruction, and...Read full review »
Bendiga via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 09/26/11
I have enjoy this exquisite series. It is a thorough explanation of the events that led to the war.
boomboomcannon via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 09/05/11
Incredible!
Jshapco2 via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 08/24/11
Professor David Blight presents an utterly compelling narrative in this lecture series.
marvin39 via Apple Podcasts · Australia · 08/17/11
This is great. Love the speaker and how thorough he is. He stays fairly neutral and shows both sides.
adaptation via Apple Podcasts · Canada · 08/03/11
Before listening to this course, I couldn't have given two hoots about the Civil War. But I felt a bit embarrassed that I really didn't know anything about the war and had nothing intelligent to say when I read or heard people saying that the Civil War was about this or that, slavery or...Read full review »
sonialena7 via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 07/17/11
So interesting! I am learning so much as a 38 yo mom!!! Thank you Apple and Yale for exposing me to something I could have never afforded!!!
5un5h1ne6 via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 06/28/11
I teach high school.AP U.S. History and this has been an excellent resource for me to fill in the gaps. If only all teachers, lecturers and professors taught like this.
Fitznasty via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 06/13/11
I only wish I had access to his course outline. But it is well done and informative.
KenP1 via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 06/08/11
Professor Blight delivers a very cohesive narrative, backed by powerful writing of his own and of other great historians, and the ever present journal and Douglass quotes. After listening to the entire course one is astouded by America's ability to ever heal from the war, since Blight seems to...Read full review »
Ludovicus Magnus via Apple Podcasts · Brazil · 06/08/11
An excellent, wide ranging, informative and engaging account if the civil war, its causes and consequences. One of the mist interesting things I have ever listened to. I'm from Scotland with no US connections but still found this fascinating and reasonably accessible.
JK (SC) via Apple Podcasts · Great Britain · 06/06/11
But this is an EXCELLENT course on the American Civil War and the Reconstruction period. Professor Blight makes a sound argumentative case that Slavery was diametrically economically and morally opposed to the American Dream, that it was the cause of the war, and that we as a Nation missed a...Read full review »
NotATameLion via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 05/25/11
It is hard to recommend these lectures enough. Professor Blight is a lively speaker and a good instructor. It is easy to get a lot out of this course even without doing any of the assigned readings, although listening to the class will doubtlessly send you scurrying off to find some of the books...Read full review »
gnperdue via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 05/24/11
Being from the north, yet living in Virgina part of my life, I had always thought I knew both sides of the story. It made me wonder how we as human beings could treat each other so horrifically- yet lessons we still need to learn today. Dr. Blight's rivetting lectures proved to me I had much to...Read full review »
common senser via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 05/07/11
I'm sorry - but as a lifelong teacher and lecturer, I found Professor's Blight's delivery very staid and loaded with parenthetical phrases which distracts from the topic. He knows his stuff, but it's a chore to listen attentively. I think I know why the guy was reading the Yale Newspaper.
CatZulu via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 04/14/11
Excellent delivery and narrative of the topic. As a speaker Professor Blight is best I've heard from iTunesU. This is not a bumbling professor stumbling through the lecture but it is a borderline performance. I particurlarly like how he describes the changing intrepretation of The Civil War...Read full review »
David K64 via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 04/08/11
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