Professor Receives Avery O. Craven Award for Book
Georgetown University Assistant Professor of History
Chandra Manning has been selected by the Organization of American Historians (OAH) to receive the
Avery O. Craven Award for her book
What this Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, and the Civil War (Alfred A. Knopf, 2007). The award is given to the most original book on the coming of the Civil War, the Civil War years, or the era of Reconstruction, with the exception of works of purely military history. On Saturday, March 29, OAH President Nell Irvin Painter and President-Elect Pete Daniel will present the award in New York City during the 101st Annual Meeting of the Organization.
"We are pleased to congratulate Dr. Manning on this latest recognition of her work,” said
Jane McAuliffe, Dean of Georgetown College. “Manning’s book is an insightful look at a previously unexamined area of study on how those fighting the Civil War viewed the root causes of the conflict.”
Chandra Manning, who has taught at Harvard and Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, is currently assistant professor of history at Georgetown University.
What this Cruel War Was Over is her first book and for her work Manning also received the
2008 Lincoln Prize Honorable Mention. Manning’s research and writing focuses on 19th century United States history with an emphasis on the growing sectional tensions of the antebellum period, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. She is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College, received a M.Phil. from the National University of Ireland, Galway, and earned her Ph.D. at Harvard University.
"Manning’s deep and detailed excavations of wartime correspondence allow the soldiers to speak for themselves," writes the OAH Avery O. Craven Award Committee. "Her argument about the increasing centrality of slavery to the Union’s crusade unfolds elegantly and organically from the sources. Similarly, her work persuasively makes the case for the centrality of slavery and racial ideology to Confederate national identity. This book demonstrates exquisite sensitivity to change over time, paying close attention to the interplay between battlefield events and evolving ideology. What This Cruel War Was Over deepens and intensifies our understanding of questions of wartime motivation and allegiance.”
Founded in 1907, OAH is the largest learned society and professional organization dedicated to the teaching and study of the American past. OAH promotes excellence in the scholarship, teaching, and presentation of American history, and encourages wide discussion of historical questions and equitable treatment of all practitioners of history. Members in the U.S. and abroad include college and university professors; students; precollegiate teachers; archivists, museum curators, and other public historians employed in government and the private sector.
