Course Description

Instructor: Dr. Wendy Venet

Margaret Mitchell immortalized one image of Civil War Atlanta in Gone with the Wind.  This course examines historical Atlanta:  its origins as a transportation and commercial hub, its path from unionism to secessionism, its rise and fall as a Confederate city, and the image of its Phoenix-like rebirth after the war.  By telling Atlanta’s story through the lives of some of its citizens--elite and nonelite, White and Black--this class presents a compelling human portrait of the city at a pivotal time in its history.  One class period will be devoted to Civil War commemoration in Atlanta since 1865.

Bio: Professor of history at Georgia State University. A scholar of 19th century U.S. history, her work on Civil War Atlanta began in 2006 when she encountered the diary of Samuel P. Richards, a bookstore owner in Atlanta's central business district during the Civil War. His diary is the best account of the wartime city that survives in a public archive. Professor Venet published an annotated version of the diary,

Sam Richards Civil War Diary: A Chronicle of the Atlanta Home Front with the University of Georgia Press in 2009.

A Changing Wind: Commerce and Conflict in Civil War Atlanta (2014)

Gone but not Forgotten:  Atlantans Commemorate the Civil War (2020)