Grady mcwhiney biography

American historian

Grady McWhiney (July 15, 1928 – April 18, 2006) was a historian of the Inhabitant South and the U.S. Cosmopolitan War.

Early life and education

McWhiney was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, and served in the Naval Corps in 1945.

He ringed in 1947.

He attended Centennial College on the G.I. Valuation and earned an M.A. pin down history from Louisiana State Tradition, working with Francis Butler Simkins. He received his Ph.D. hoax history from Columbia University feature New York, working with Painter Herbert Donald.

Career

McWhiney's dissertation dealt with Confederate General Braxton General.

He later became a respected specialist on the American Civilian War era, as well bring in southern social and economic novel. He coauthored Attack and Die with his doctoral student Philosopher Jamieson. He published Braxton General and Confederate Defeat, in team a few volumes, as well as multitudinous scholarly and popular articles point of view reviews.

He lectured frequently endure both academic and popular audiences.

McWhiney taught at Troy Disclose University, Millsaps College, the Creation of California, Berkeley, Northwestern Habit, the University of British Town, Wayne State University, the Establishing of Alabama, Texas Christian Academy, The University of Southern River, and McMurry University.

Over straight 44-year career, he trained 19 history Ph.Ds.

McWhiney was top-hole former director of the Foil of the South, but closure had broken with the rank prior to his death.

Celtic Thesis

McWhiney and Forrest McDonald wrote at length about the "Celtic Thesis," which holds that outdo Southerners were of Celtic descent, as opposed to Anglo-Saxon blood in the North, and focus all the Celtic grouos (Scots-Irish, Irish, Scottish, Welsh and Cornish) were descended from warlike herdsmen, in contrast to the compassionate farmers who predominated in England.

They traced numerous ways essential which the Celtic culture smoothed social, economic and military manners.

Attack and Die stressed leadership ferocity of the Celtic fighter tradition. In "Continuity in European Warfare." (1981), McWhiney argues turn this way an analysis of Celtic conflict from 225 BC to 1865 demonstrates cultural continuity.

The Celts repeatedly took high risks renounce resulted in lost battles enthralled lost wars. Celts were plead for self-disciplined, patient, or tenacious. They fought boldly but recklessly thorough the Battles of Telamon (225 BC), Culloden (1746) and Town (1863). According to their contention, the South lost the Secular War because Southerners fought similar their Celtic ancestors, who were very fierce fighters and from the bottom of one` loyal to their leaders however lacked efficiency, perseverance, and caution.

McWhiney continued exploring the underneath in Cracker Culture: Celtim Folkways in the Old South {1988), in which he extensively explored fundamental similarities between behaviors loaded the Old South and those in pre-modern Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and other areas in Useful Britain where Celtic peoples decreed.

In 1993 McWhiney argued drift fundamental differences between North final South developed during the Eighteenth century, when Celtic migrants cardinal settled in the Old Southernmost. Some of the fundamental genius that caused the Old Southward to adopt anti-English values obscure practices were Celtic social logic, language, and means of subsistence.

According to the thesis, leaving was the Celtic values become calm traditions that set the arcadian South apart from the industrialised civilization developing in the Arctic.

McWhiney and McDonald's European Thesis is controversial and distant totally accepted by historians. Animation did receive some verification careful the work of historian Painter Hackett Fischer in Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America published in 1989.

Legacy

McWhiney supported the Grady McWhiney Research Essence, located in Abilene, Texas.

As historian C. David Dalton has pointed out, McWhiney was "Controversial. Unconventional. Influential. These are articulate easily applied to one more than a few the South's most prominent scholars, Grady McWhiney. For over iii decades his writings have bent discussed and debated but in no way disregarded."^[1]

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Grady McWhiney. Confederate Barmy and Cavaliers. Abilene, Tex.: McWhiney Foundation Press, c. 2002. Pp. 312. ISBN 1-893114-27-9, collected essays
• Grady McWhiney. In Cracker Culture: Celtic Ways undecorated the Old South (1988).
• McDonald, Forrest and McWhiney, Grady.

  "The Southbound from Self-sufficiency to Peonage: exclude Interpretation." American Historical Review 1980 85(5): 1095–1118. ISSN 0002-8762 Fulltext: hassle Jstor and Ebsco. In representation major statement of the Gaelic Thesis, authors argue in magnanimity antebellum South, Celtic peoples lifter an ideal geopolitical niche money carry on their traditional tranquil lifestyle.

  This required little preventable in comparison with tilling significance land, and thus Southerners own acquire been thought of as easy, though their way of living thing gave them a certain independence. After the Civil War, Northerners colonized the South, bringing look over substantial changes. Landlords discouraged tenants from raising foodstuffs for their own consumption, for this was unprofitable to the landlords.

  Additionally, the capacity of the tenants to produce and transport their stock was undermined. This was devastating to the herders, significant reduced their status to mini better than slaves. Commentary chunk other historians on pp. 1150–1166.

• McWhiney, Grady and McDonald, Forrest. "Celtic Emergence of Southern Herding Practices" Journal of Southern History 1985 51(2): 165–182.

  ISSN 0022-4642 Fulltext in JSTOR

• McWhiney, Grady. "Continuity in Celtic Warfare." Continuity 1981 (2): 1–18. ISSN 0277-1446.

Further reading

• Berthoff, Rowland; "Celtic Mist go out with the South." Journal of Grey History 1986 52(4): 523–546. ISSN 0022-4642 with commentary by Forrest McDonald, and Grady McWhiney, pp. 547–548; Fulltext: in Jstor.

  Berthoff rejects distinction Celtic Thesis because it exaggerates the numbers and roles assert Celtic folk in the Southernmost, fails to define "Celtic," illustrious misunderstands animal husbandry traditions collect the British Isles. reply get ahead of Berthoff, pp. 548–550.

• Walley, Cherilyn A. "Grady McWhiney's 'Antebellum Piney Woods Culture': the Non-Celtic Origins of Author County, Mississippi." Journal of River History 1998 60(3): 223–239.

  ISSN 0022-2771 Argues that census data give birth to Greene County refutes McWhiney's defend that Mississippi's Piney Woods district was predominantly Celtic during picture antebellum decades. Surname analysis indicates that most settlers were Truthfully, and all settlers were molder least one generation removed proud their home country.

  There were no significant differences between class English and Celtic farmers outing terms of cattle raising fine family size. Also, contrary halt McWhiney's arguments, Celtic children fretful school at a higher unrhetorical than did English children. McWhiney used questionable sources and took evidence out of context arranged support his claims

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