The Civil War was a watershed moment in US history, and it figures centrally in any American history curriculum. If you missed this course during high school or college, not to worry. Now, thanks to Yale University, you can revisit this historical moment with Prof. David Blight, one of the nation’s leading Civil War scholars. The Civil War and Reconstruction “explores the causes, course, and consequences of the American Civil War, from the 1840s to 1877,” looking at how the United States was transformed on multiple levels: racially, socially, politically, constitutionally and morally. You can access the 27 free lectures, presented in audio and video, via YouTube, iTunes, and the Yale web site. (We also have it listed in the history section of our Free Online Course collection.) To give you a feel for the course, we have queued up a lecture above (the 15th in the series) that focuses on Abraham Lincoln and his capacity for leadership, particularly in issuing the Emancipation Proclamation.
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Really liked the course. The first professor that did not put me to sleep on this subject. Have had difficulty developing an interest in the historicals. I learned alot. Thanks for your hard work. My mom thanks you.