Paul D. Escott, Wake Forest University

Paul D. Escott is the Reynolds Professor of History at Wake Forest University and a specialist in the history of the American Civil War. He has published nine books exploring the causes, effects, and aftermath of that civil war and has edited and contributed to eight additional volumes.

Dr. Escott began his career as a historian by examining the nature of Confederate nationalism and southern leadership in the crucible of war. A number of subsequent works extended his exploration of the impact of war on southern society, values, and government. In recent years he has turned his attention toward Lincoln, northern society, and the power of racism. Throughout his career the role of religion, race, class, and nationalism in the American Civil War have been important themes, and he also has published a study comparing memory and reconciliation, in Spain and the United States, after their civil wars. That work analyzes the patterns of continuing but non-violent postwar conflict in those two nations and in other countries that suffered internecine conflict. Among his books are: After Secession: Jefferson Davis and the Failure of Confederate Nationalism; Military Necessity: Civil-Military Relations in the Confederacy; “What Shall We Do with the Negro?”: Lincoln, White Racism, and Civil War America; and Uncommonly Savage: Civil War and Remembrance in Spain and the United States.

Dr. Escott earned his B.A. degree cum laude at Harvard and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees at Duke University.