What is "Footnotes"?

A place to write into the void and start conversations.

In November of 2012, I sat in the living room of my grandparents double wide trailer sipping on warm hot chocolate. As I reached for my Nintendo DS that sat on the large walnut coffee table, she pointed at the TV and exclaimed “Oh my gosh, I need to see this!” As I looked up on the television, a melodic trailer played on screen that quickly showed various large scale scenes from the movie. My Nana’s eyes were glued to the screen with a smile across her face that I had never seen before. At the end of the trailer, the word LINCOLN was all that remained on the TV. Nana turned to me with bright, loving, and laudable eyes and said “You have no idea how much I need to see this movie. Lincoln’s always been my favorite…”

Daniel Day Lewis as Abraham Lincoln in the film Lincoln (2012). Image from IMDB.

That single moment in my life is burned into my memory because she was so passionate about Abraham Lincoln. She was never a quiet woman; never one to shy from expressing her opinion, but she also didn’t share many passions. To see her so delighted in an interest I never knew about was a first for me. I, of course, knew who Lincoln was. Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States; he freed enslaved people; he spoke that address at that battlefield.¹ Lincoln’s permanence on American culture was always evident. If you know nothing else about American history, you know about Abraham Lincoln. But my grandmothers passion ignited my own, because I wondered “What is it about Lincoln that fascinates her so much?” “Why, of all people, does she idolize him so much?” This gave me the urge to find out as much as I possibly could and answer the why, which led me to my local library.

Image from Amazon.com

I don’t remember the first book I read on Lincoln, but I do know the one that captured my attention the most. The book was titled Lincoln’s Melancholy, by Joshua Wolf Shenk. Shenk argues that despite the lack of scientific evidence for depression, then known as melancholy, Lincoln developed a mental illness early in his life. Fueled by the death of his first love and children, Lincoln’s depression was documented and transformed him as president.² As a teenager that struggled with depression, the idea that a president as memorable and admirable as Lincoln could suffer depression was transformative to me. It informed me of a history beyond a textbook, and of a story that was both sad and riveting. That led me to get as many library books on Abraham Lincoln that I could find. There was no limit to what I read—fiction, history, large books, short bite sized versions, anything I was able to get my hands on. Lincoln, for a short while, became my world. It was the man who I was interested in, and both the books and eventual film helped elevate my interests in history.

Image from IndieWire

Fast forward to March of 2013 when the Blu-Ray edition of Lincoln came out and I bought it the day of its release. I never saw Lincoln in theaters because by the time my full interest in the man was created, the film was already out of the movies. Thus, by March of the next year, I was ready to finally watch it. As I sat in my bedroom alone, the first scene shows Abraham Lincoln talking to soldiers right before they move out of camp. Hearing and seeing Daniel Day Lewis as Lincoln for the first time was the finale to know that history is what I wanted to study as a career. I did not know how to get there, but I knew it had to be done. Eventually, I realized that I was just as passionate about teaching the subject as I was reading about it. Thus began my ‘quest’ to teach history to the masses. (Also, for the record, my Nana loved the film and cried while watching it.)

Eventually Abraham Lincoln led me to other eras of history such as the American Revolution and the Early Republic where I expanded my historical pallet.³ I began reading other topics, and by the time I got to college, I realized I made the right choice. My two mentors, Craig Gallagher and Jim Walsh, helped me understand historical arguments, historiography, Chicago formatting, sources, and so much more. It was their guidance that led me to dedicate my early career to getting it right. For this, I owe almost everything to them.

All those stories brings me to this Substack. Since becoming a historian of my own, I’ve read many books and developed a keen sense for historiography and argumentation. In undergraduate and graduate school, books are read and it is easy to discuss them in class. It is the basis for a lot of history courses. But after that, writing and reading history is a very lonely process. It is just you in the room, your favorite chair, or the archives sifting through someones else’s personal letters. This Substack is a way for me to share my thoughts about books (usually history) that I have read. It is still a lonely process, but writing about it opens the door a tad bit. Even if no one reads the reviews, at the very least, it is a gateway to help me formulate my own thoughts. Although, I do hope you’ll at least indulge in a few of them.

My goal—aside from formulating necessary thoughts—is to help people understand why I enjoyed, or at times found issues with, the books that I’ve read. I am not limiting myself to reviewing only recent or older books because whether it was written in 1975 or 2024, there is value in both. Historiography—the study of how history and topics are written over time—is so important to the discussion of history, as arguments have progressed, developed, and changed. It is not historical revisionism or presentism to compare and contrast, but to see change over time. That is part of the beauty of these books and writing about them in the present moment. They each have something to say about who we are as humans. I even hope you may add them to your own bookshelf and read it yourself.

As a student of history and developing historian, I read a lot of books about history. Every year throughout many bookstores, I buy as much as I read depending on whatever subject peaks my interest; from colonial America to the Holocaust, my reading capacity spans far and wide. I also teach students at various levels, and often use history books to brush up on content or go further in depth with topics I am passionate about. A good chunk of the history books that I read strike me as interesting, engaging, and important. At least here, my thoughts can be expressed, and into the void they go. I know the majority of people reading will probably be friends, family, and even some students, but that is ok. At the very least, it allows me to begin the conversation in hopes that someone responds to it.

1. As a teenager, everything is oversimplified.

2. I have not revisited this book since around 2015, and because it is monumental in my life and career, I may reread it and review it at a later time. Since then, my historical inquiry and skills are different. Now that I am a historian, my ideas about this book may change. I cannot remember how Shenk forms his argument, so I am curious to return to it and give it a proper review.

3. Early American history and the Early Republic has since become my specialty as a historian.