[Pictured above: Cincinnati, Ohio-born Welsh Language scholar Dr. Jerry Hunter is considered an expert on the American Civil War.]
North Americans have an obsession with 'all things Civil War' and this interest launched the careers of many historians, fiction writers, and filmmakers.
For example, U.S. film director Ken Burns is famous for his documentary on the American Civil War:
The Civil War: A Film by Ken Burns
Nearly ten thousand pages of writing in Welsh stemming from the American Civil War has survived—offering contemporary readers a surprising opportunity to look at the war from an entirely new perspective.
In the first study of its kind, Dr. Jerry Hunter sifts through this huge archive of letters, diaries, poetry, and prose from soldiers, civilians, and professional writers to give a fascinating account of Welsh-American reactions to the war and its context.
Dr. Jerry Hunter's previous work formed the basis for a documentary film series produced by the Welsh Language Television station, S4C. Read about it here.His newest examination of issues such as the Welsh community’s support for abolition and the war’s effects on notions of Welsh-American identity will captivate historians, literary scholars, and Civil War buffs alike.
Building upon the foundations of his Welsh-language study Llwch Cenhedloedd, Dr Jerry Hunter’s new book discusses the various kinds of literature which Welsh Americans produced during their country’s Civil War.
Sons of Arthur, Children of Lincoln: Welsh Writing from the American Civil War is the first book-length treatment in English of a new field:
- the reactions of Welsh-American writers to the Civil War. Jerry Hunter sifts through the huge archive of letters, diaries, poetry and prose from soldiers and civilians to present a fascinating account of Welsh
- American reactions to the war. His examination of issues such as the Welsh community’s support for abolition and the war’s effects on notions of Welsh-American identity will captivate historians, literary scholars and readers interested in new perspectives on the American Civil War.
‘Very well written...it will reach out to the huge transatlantic audience for popular Civil War history’ -- Kevin P.Van Anglen, Boston University.
Dr Jerry Hunter is a Celtic scholar who possesses an international perspective. He is also an enthusiastic advocate for the Welsh language and literature. Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, where he studied for his initial degree, he later learned Welsh with the aid of the WLPAN course at Lampeter.
He went on to earn a MPhil for his research into the lore in the Middle Welsh prose tales at University of Wales, Aberystwyth before returning to his homeland to study for a PhD at Harvard University.
His research project formed the basis of his first book-length study, Soffestri’r Saeson (2000), an investigation into histriography and identity during the Tudor Age which was placed on the short list for the Book of the Year Award by the Arts Council of Wales in 2001.
Following his period at the Department of Celtic Languages and Literatures, Harvard University he returned to Wales, this time as a Lecturer in the Department of Welsh, Cardiff University. He joined the academic staff of the School of Welsh at University of Wales, Bangor in 2003.
His research interests are rich and varied, ranging from Welsh medieval prose to the twentieth-century fiction of Kate Roberts and from the sixteenth-century chronicle of Elis Gruffydd to Welsh literature in America during the nineteenth century.
This particular field – American-Welsh writing - has proven to be highly successful: the television documentary series Y Cymry a Rhyfel Cartref America (‘The Welsh and the American Civil War’) gained a BAFTA Cymru award and the research for the series led to Llwch Cenhedloedd: Y Cymry a Rhyfel Cartref America (2003) which was named Book of the Year in 2004.
Hunter, Jerry Welsh Writing from the American Civil War: Sons of Arthur, Children of Lincoln. Distributed for University of Wales Press. 288 p. 9-1/4 x 6-1/7
Cloth NSA $85.00sc ISBN: 978-0-7083-2020-4 (ISBN-10: 0-7083-2020-1) Spring 2007
Paper For sale in North and South America only $35.00sp ISBN: 978-0-7083-2019-8 (ISBN-10: 0-7083-2019-8) Spring 2007
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