All Posts By

Brion McClanahan

Brion McClanahan is the President of the Abbeville Institute

Strike the Tent Blog

Strike the Tent

Phil Leigh passed away April 9, 2026. Fitting. Leigh spent much of his retirement writing about Robert E. Lee and the South and fending off attacks from the woke mob. I met Leigh over a decade ago when we redesigned the website and had a soft relaunch in April 2014. Our website designer told me that he knew a man…
Brion McClanahan
June 2, 2026
‘Tis Not Our War Blog

‘Tis Not Our War

A review of 'Tis Not Our War: Avoiding Military Service in the Civil War North (Stackpole Books, 2024) by Paul Taylor Since the infamous 2020 "Summer of Love" riots and political escapades that resulted in a new wave of Confederate iconoclasm, Americans have reconsidered including Confederate heroes as worthy company in Memorial Day celebrations. This is ironic because without the…
Brion McClanahan
May 25, 2026
Calculating the Value of Union Blog

Calculating the Value of Union

At our March 2026 conference on the Declaration of Independence, Daniel Miller, President of the Texas Nationalist Movement, explained how he asks one simple question when confronted by doubters and naysayers on secession: If your State was currently independent and with all that you know about the current government in Washington D.C., would you join the Union today? He said…
Brion McClanahan
May 15, 2026
What Can We Learn From the Confederacy? Blog

What Can We Learn From the Confederacy?

April is Confederate History or Heritage Month in six States. Virginia used to recognize the month as well, but no longer. Many Americans tend to believe that "Southern history" is nothing more than "Confederate history." That would relegate the history of the region to a failed four year attempt at independence. Drew Gilpiln Faust, former President of Harvard University and…
Brion McClanahan
April 2, 2026
The “National Republicans” Blog

The “National Republicans”

Were the American Whigs the natural extension of the Federalists? This is a complicated question and one that creates a simplistic understanding of the American past. It also removes both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison from any complicity in the intellectual origins of the Whig Party. The Federalists as a "national" political faction died in 1815, tarnished by their war…
Brion McClanahan
February 16, 2026
Two Secessionists Blog

Two Secessionists

Most Americans continue to believe that Southerners invented secession (and nullification) as a defensive tactic to preserve slavery, and by "most Americans" I include so-called "conservatives" like Francis Sempa at The American Spectator and Hayden Daniel at The Federalist. According to this narrative, secession and nullification were little more than treasonous and petulant responses to justifiable federal laws. Both Sempa…
Brion McClanahan
February 2, 2026
Remembering Robert E. Lee Blog

Remembering Robert E. Lee

When Yale history professor David Blight wrote Race and Reunion in 2001, he argued that his attempt to discuss how Americans “remembered” the Civil War offered a new interpretation of the conflict. He termed it “memory studies.” Blight thought that Southerners—and for a time Northerners as well—remembered it wrong, and they did so consciously: Reconciliation joined arms with white supremacy…
Brion McClanahan
January 19, 2026
Uncomfortable Truths for the Righteous Cause Myth Blog

Uncomfortable Truths for the Righteous Cause Myth

The following are uncomfortable truths for "Righteous Cause Mythologists:" 1. Africans created, organized, and supplied the international slave trade without any European involvement or direction, and Northers profited heavily from the institution. 2. Southerners established most of the early abolition societies in the United States. 3. "Jim Crow" segregation developed in Connecticut and was pervasive in New England in the…
Brion McClanahan
January 9, 2026
What Does it Mean to be “Southern”? Blog

What Does it Mean to be “Southern”?

What does it mean to be “Southern”? This question has vexed Americans since the founding. Every American knew that sectional differences existed. George Mason, for example, worried that the “Eastern States” would plunder the agricultural States further south. He drafted an amendment that would have prevented “navigation laws,” i.e. protective tariffs, for that reason. Gouverneur Morris openly suggested that if…
Brion McClanahan
December 30, 2025
A Lil Church Blog

A Lil Church

"Christian music is everywhere--whether you realize it or not." That headline was not produced by a Christian publication. The Wall Street Journal ran it on November 8, 2025. According to the article, popular Christian music is the fastest growing genre in the entertainment industry. In other words, Christian music has gone mainstream. A couple of weeks ago, I attended the…
Brion McClanahan
November 11, 2025
Hear, Hear for Shotwell! Blog

Hear, Hear for Shotwell!

When I was a young lad in graduate school, Clyde Wilson asked me and another graduate student to his office for a chat about American history. We didn't know what to expect, but he wanted to ask us a few questions. We walked in, Clyde pivoted around from his typewriter (he didn't have a computer in his office for the…
Brion McClanahan
September 23, 2025
Real American Conservatism Blog

Real American Conservatism

For the past week, Dinesh D’Souza has engaged in an ongoing debate on social media concerning the meaning of American conservatism and the influence of the South in American history. D’Souza—like Victor Davis Hanson, Harry Jaffa, Larry Arnn, Allen Guelzo, and a host of other mainstream conservatives—argue that while Robert E. Lee has admirable traits, the South cannot be integrated…
Brion McClanahan
September 2, 2025
Victory at Arlington Blog

Victory at Arlington

On Tuesday, August 5, 2025, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth declared that the Arlington "Reconciliation Monument" was going home. By 2027, the beautiful sculpture dedicated to turning "swords into plowshares" and healing the wounds of war will be placed back in the cemetery. It should never have been removed. Last time I checked, Arlington is a cemetery, and as per…
Brion McClanahan
August 7, 2025
The “Egghead” Got it Right Blog

The “Egghead” Got it Right

The Democratic Party nominated Adlai Stevenson for President of the United States twice, once in 1952 and again in 1956. He is often described as a sacrificial lamb, cannon fodder for Dwight Eisenhower in a contest of David and Goliath, except in this case, Goliath won. Stevenson never fared well with the press and could not capture the popular imagination…
Brion McClanahan
July 10, 2025
The Republican War Machine Never Dies Blog

The Republican War Machine Never Dies

The escalating conflict between Israel and Iran has Americans debating the future of a "conservative" American foreign policy. President Trump campaigned on a promise to keep the United States out of World War III while creating a solution to international problems in Ukraine and the Middle East. He blustered that Europe should be forced to pay for the upkeep of…
Brion McClanahan
June 17, 2025
The Real Significance of June in American History Blog

The Real Significance of June in American History

If you follow any American progressive corporate media account, you know that June is “Pride Month,” a ritual celebration of the “LGBTQ+” community for the secular Puritans. They selected June because of the “Stonewall Uprising”—no, not that “Stonewall”—a series of protests that popped up following a New York City police gay bar raid in June 1969. This distracts from the…
Brion McClanahan
June 3, 2025
Nottoway Blog

Nottoway

The South lost another cultural jewel. On May 15, Nottoway, the largest antebellum plantation home in the South, burned to the ground. The fire reportedly started in one of the second story bedrooms, but the cause of the blaze is still under investigation. And while it appears to be an accidental electrical fire, in our current political climate, arson can…
Brion McClanahan
May 22, 2025
This Was a Man Blog

This Was a Man

On July 11, 1875, "Old Billie", the former body servant of Confederate General Henry L. Benning, led Benning's horse over eight blocks to Linwood Cemetery, the "Old Rock's" final resting place in Columbus, Georgia. "Old Billie" proudly wore his Confederate grey coat as he followed Benning's hearse on the slow march to the family plot in Linwood. Benning died of…
Brion McClanahan
April 2, 2025
The Future Calhoun Blog

The Future Calhoun

Today is John C. Calhoun's 243 birthday. Several years ago, I took some time to visit John C. Calhoun's grave in Charleston, SC., a massive stone monument at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church erected in the 1880s to honor the State's greatest son. Calhoun's body had been exhumed three times, once from Washington D.C. after he died in 1850 so it…
Brion McClanahan
March 18, 2025
The South’s Forgotten Fire Eater Blog

The South’s Forgotten Fire Eater

A review of The South's Forgotten Fire Eater: David Hubbard & North Alabama's Long Road to Disunion (New South Books, 2020) by Chris McIlwain Establishment historians typically portray Southern history as a cartoonish parade of superficial, racist, self-interested characters dedicated to the preservation of slavery. Every action by Southern political actors requires a discussion about how it relates to the…
Brion McClanahan
January 9, 2025
The New South and Future South Blog

The New South and Future South

What does the Southern tradition have to offer America in 2025? Richard Weaver wrote in his Southern Tradition at Bay that the Old South may not be a place where we would want to live, but it certainly could offer examples of how to live. That’s a pregnant statement. Southerners, more than Americans in other sections, held fast to tradition…
Brion McClanahan
December 31, 2024
Virginia First: The 1607 Project 1607 ProjectBlogMedia Posts

Virginia First: The 1607 Project

Over the past five years, historians, journalists, and political activists have crafted seemingly conflicting narratives about the American founding. They are "seemingly conflicting" because all three center on the "proposition nation myth" of American history. According to this account, the United States was founded on the idea that all men (and women) were created equal. The "idea of equality" forms…
Brion McClanahan
June 24, 2024
Dirty Work and Decoration Day Blog

Dirty Work and Decoration Day

In 1853, a newly elected, twenty-six year old State representative stood to defend his "Negro Exclusion" bill against bitter attacks by anti-slavery legislators in his State. He made this a centerpiece of his campaign in 1852, railed against "Negro equality" and supported the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act. The bill found support from the majority of the people of his State,…
Brion McClanahan
May 27, 2024
The Real Myth America Blog

The Real Myth America

In early 2023, accused plagiarist and Twitter (Princeton) historian Kevin Kruse published Myth America, a book that promised to replace “myths with research and reality.” You see, Kruse and his co-authors—many of whom are social media “celebrities” for their attacks on “conservative” scholarship—argued that, “The United States is in the grip of a crisis of bad history. Distortions of the…
Brion McClanahan
May 3, 2024
Rethinking Southern Poetry Blog

Rethinking Southern Poetry

"Works of fiction--novels and poetry--can mean more to a people than all the political manifestos and reports from all the think tanks and foundations ever established by misguided philanthropy." Tom Fleming, 1982 I take this quote seriously. So should anyone interested in the Southern tradition or in a larger sense Western Civilization. Fleming implored his reader to do so, for…
Brion McClanahan
April 16, 2024
Blame Republicans Blog

Blame Republicans

In February 2000, Republican presidential candidate John McCain told “Face the Nation” that he considered the Confederate Battle Flag to be “offensive” and a “symbols of racism and slavery.” Candidate George W. Bush remarked that while he considered the display of the flag to be a state issue, he refused to allow Confederate symbolism at the Texas statehouse and had…
Brion McClanahan
January 2, 2024
Who is the Real Thomas Jefferson? BlogReview Posts

Who is the Real Thomas Jefferson?

Who is the real Thomas Jefferson? Historians have attempted to answer this question since "Sage of Monticello" died in 1826. Jefferson has been the symbol of nearly every political movement in America, even if he would have disagreed with their positions. He has been described as a radical, a progressive, a liberal, an agrarian, a populist, a libertarian, a conservative,…
Brion McClanahan
December 15, 2023
What is the Future of the Southern Tradition? Blog

What is the Future of the Southern Tradition?

What is the future of the Southern tradition? This question presents a pressing problem for Americans in the twenty-first century. To those who reduce the Southern tradition to treason and slavery, the answer would be simple: it must be eradicated. Unfortunately, these people dominate the academic and political classes in American society. The near decade long pogrom on Southern symbols…
Brion McClanahan
November 28, 2023
Swords Into Plowshares Blog

Swords Into Plowshares

Last week, activists destroyed the Charlottesville, Virginia Robert E. Lee monument in secret. They said it was to prevent violence, but not their own. The Washington Post attended the event and documented the final moments for Lee's face. The iconoclasts fashioned it into a "death mask" and then melted it down, creating a haunting image captured by the Post's photographer. You…
Brion McClanahan
October 30, 2023
Ep. 6: The Meaning of Confederate Monuments BlogPodcast

Ep. 6: The Meaning of Confederate Monuments

Why were Confederate monuments built? If you listen to modern establishment historians, the answer would be racism and to perpetuate the "myth of the Lost Cause." But is this true? Not if you actually read what these people said. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-6-the-meaning-of-confederate-monuments?si=9a6fea77eeb34f01b1855ec08df68abd&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
October 8, 2023
Podcast Episode 350 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 350

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute March 27 - April 7 Topics: Southern History, Southern Tradition, Southern Culture https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-350?si=21041c95501c45f889ca63bf562f9ff3&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
April 8, 2023
Podcast Episode 349 Podcast

Podcast Episode 349

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Mar 20-24, 2023 Topic: Confederate Symbols, the War, Cancel Culture https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-349?si=d6a3fe7197574024841fe5eac48860e5&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
March 26, 2023
Podcast Episode 347 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 347

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, March 6-10, 2023 Topics: the War, Reconciliation, Reconstruction https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-347?si=1b83baed4c894c888d185997fa3ace61&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
March 11, 2023
Podcast Episode 346 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 346

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute Feb 27 - Mar 3, 2023 Topics: Secession, Federalism, Decentralization, United States Constitution https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-346?si=e205ad4ff16d44179fc1c8feddb3d189&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
March 4, 2023
Podcast Episode 345 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 345

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute February 20-24, 2023 Topics: Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Southern Conservatism, Reconstruction, the War, Southern Culture https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-345?si=342aca55afea442685812b52618cffc5&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
February 25, 2023
Podcast Episode 344 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 344

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Feb 13-17, 2023 Topics: Republican Party, War Crimes, Southern Tradition, Emancipation https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-344?si=b912c78265be4e9b952b235fdfd11f1d&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
February 18, 2023
Podcast Episode 342 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 342

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute Jan 30 - Feb 3, 2023 Topics: History, Southern History, the War, Cancel Culture, Thomas Jefferson https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-342?si=278a1229eb464bcba93156eeb101e3fc&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
February 4, 2023
Podcast Episode 340 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 340

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute Jan 16-20, 2023 Topics: Robert E. Lee, Martin Luther King, Southern Conservatism, Stonewall Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, Southern Politics, Southern Tradition https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-340?si=0812eef19c48426abf09878d6c2c170d&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
January 21, 2023
A Southern Christmas Sampler Blog

A Southern Christmas Sampler

If you're like my family, you probably start playing Christmas music as soon as the calendar hits November 1, and you keep it on rotation through the 12 Days of Christmas in January. The classics from the Big Band and post World War II era are staples, but most are written for a distinctively Northern audience. Traditional Christian hymns also…
Brion McClanahan
December 15, 2022
Podcast Episode 336 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 336

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Dec 5-9, 2022 Topics: Southern tradition, the War, Yankees, Northern Studies, Southern Culture https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-336?si=2ea5e698490948b6a592c9852c49a0d3&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
December 10, 2022
Podcast Episode 335 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 335

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, November 28 - December 2, 2022 Topics: Southern women, Slavery, Southern History, Louisa McCord, Southern politics, Southern tradition https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-335?si=f0100d99aecc4ea8add54e59a78bb624&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
December 3, 2022
Podcast Special: Yankee Thanksgiving BlogPodcast

Podcast Special: Yankee Thanksgiving

Our modern Thanksgiving holiday was born in New England. This may not be news, but the way it became a "national" holiday might surprise you, particularly when you know that the South resisted Thanksgiving precisely because it was a New England holiday created to oppose Christmas. https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/yankee-thanksgiving?si=b42f6782f85a4b29afea1fc3cfe8c7d8&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
November 23, 2022
Podcast Episode 334 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 334

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, November 14-18, 2022 Topics: Confederate Symbols, Southern History, Southern Tradition, Abraham Lincoln, United States Constitution https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-334?si=459be718dbfb4bf9a05a499623b10d01&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
November 19, 2022
Podcast Episode 333 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 333

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute November 7-11, 2022 Topics: Confederate Symbols, Confederate Monuments, Southern Tradition, Southern Politics, Southern Culture https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-333?si=d3db5916185f42ef8311082d39c31686&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
November 12, 2022
Podcast Episode 332 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 332

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute October 31 - November 4, 2022 Topics: Southern Tradition, Southern Religion, Southern Literature, Southern Cooking, Southern Culture, Confederate Symbols, War for Southern Independence https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-332?si=1e9c6640c7d44d6dbd7542628340b404&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
November 6, 2022
Podcast Episode 331 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 331

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute Oct 24-28, 2022 Topics: Southern tradition, Southern culture, Southern politics, Northern studies https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-331?si=7447380358be43f2a2a0a913b5467374&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
October 29, 2022
Podcast Episode 330 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 330

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute Oct 17-21, 2022 Topics: Southern history, Southern symbols, Cancel Culture, Northern Studies https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-330?si=7a20def61ce844e7b6223c88045b1399&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
October 22, 2022
Podcast Episode 329 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 329

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Oct 10-14, 2022 Topics: Southern Political Tradition, Southern History, Southern Tradition https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-329?si=351d6dcd5a9f4e0abdbf80d637aea947&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
October 15, 2022
Podcast Episode 328 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 328

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Oct 3-7, 2022 Topics: Southern History, Southern Tradition, the War, Sovereignty, Cancel Culture https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-328?si=2c8df96e9b214ac98eca508febafc6b0&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
October 12, 2022
Podcast Episode 327 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 327

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute Sept 26-30, 2022 Topics: Southern History, Southern Culture, Cancel Culture, The War, Northern Studies https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-327?si=4e2ebd96dfdb4b6795fa6e7aaadc9072&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
October 1, 2022
Happy Birthday Senator Sam Blog

Happy Birthday Senator Sam

Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina was arguably one of the most important political figures of the twentieth century. His commitment to the Constitution and willingness to stare down executive power during the 1973 Watergate hearings place him among the great conservative voices in Senate history. Ervin was first and foremost a Tar Heel. He considered his election to the…
Brion McClanahan
September 27, 2022
Podcast Episode 324 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 324

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Sept 5-9, 2022 Topics: Federalism, United States Constitution, Southern Tradition, Southern Culture https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-324?si=437e52939fb0486e8aa31e53914712a4&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
September 11, 2022
Calhoun and the 21st Century Blog

Calhoun and the 21st Century

In 1957, Senator John F. Kennedy issued a report on the five most important Senators in United States history. He included John C. Calhoun, and while he understood the historical controversy it might create, Kennedy insisted that Calhoun's "masterful" defense "of the rights of a political minority against the dangers of an unchecked majority" and "his profoundly penetrating and original…
Brion McClanahan
September 8, 2022
The 200 Most Important Confederate Books BlogReview Posts

The 200 Most Important Confederate Books

In 1978, Georgia native Richard Harwell--older brother of the famous baseball broadcaster Ernie Harwell--published In Tall Cotton, a list of the 200 most important Confederate books. He asked fellow Georgian E. Merton Coulter to write the introduction knowing that this list would provide a valuable resource to those seeking to understand both Southern history and the Confederacy. Modern establishment historians…
Brion McClanahan
August 31, 2022
Podcast Episode 321 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 321

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Aug 15-19, 2022 Topics: Southern literature, Southern tradition, Southern culture, Southern politics https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-321?si=6946f8f8370b4e718851ad8f571ec26f&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
August 20, 2022
Podcast Episode 320 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 320

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Aug 8-12, 2022 Topics: Southern history, Reconstruction, Southern Culture, Southern Tradition https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-320?si=fb340de708a248db816dfc49c3f78545&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
August 13, 2022
Podcast Episode 317 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 317

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, July 11-22, 2022 Topics: Southern Founders, Southern History, Southern Politics, the War https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-317?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
July 23, 2022
Podcast Episode 316 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 316

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, July 4-8, 2022 Topics: Lincoln, Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, Southern History https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-316?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
July 9, 2022
Podcast Episode 315 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 315

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, June 27-July 1, 2022 Topics: Reconstruction, Southern History, Confederate Symbols https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-315?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
July 2, 2022
Podcast Episode 313 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 313

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, June 13-17-2022 Topics: Slavery, Moonshine, the War, Reconstruction, Southern Tradition https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-313?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
June 18, 2022
Podcast Episode 311 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 311

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, May 30-June 3, 2022 Topics: Southern History, Jefferson Davis, War for Southern Independence, Cancel Culture, John C. Calhoun https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-311?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
June 4, 2022
Podcast Episode 310 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 310

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, May 23-27, 2022 Topics: United States Constitution, Federalism, Southern Tradition, Reconstruction https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-310?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
May 28, 2022
Podcast Episode 309 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 309

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, May 16-20, 2022 Topics: Southern Culture, Southern Tradition, the War, Nationalism, Southern Politics https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-309?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
May 21, 2022
Podcast Episode 308 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 308

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, May 9-13 2022 Topics: Abraham Lincoln, Northern Studies, Slavery, Secession, Civil War https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-308/s-O6QI3ZTYJt5?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
May 14, 2022
Podcast Episode 307 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 307

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute May 2-6, 2022 Topics: Southern Politics, Southern Conservatism, Southern Literature https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-307/s-RQm1hRyONDA?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
May 7, 2022
Podcast Episode 306 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 306

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, April 25-29, 2022 Topics: Southern Tradition, Confederate History, Articles of Confederation, Southern Family https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-306?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
April 30, 2022
Podcast Episode 305 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 305

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute April 18-22, 2022 Topics: Southern Politics, Southern Tradition, Secession, Southern Culture https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-305?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
April 23, 2022
Podcast Episode 304 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 304

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, April 11-15, 2022 Topics: the War, Secession, Slavery, Southern Culture, Southern Tradition https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-304?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
April 17, 2022
Podcast Episode 303 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 303

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, April 4-8, 2022 Topics: Secession, Union, Woke History, Slavery, Southern Literature https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-303/s-qYnlgLQYJE8?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
April 9, 2022
Podcast Episode 302 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 302

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, March 21 - April 1, 2022 Topics: American History, Neo-Abolitionism, the War, Woke Culture, Slavery, New South, Reconstruction https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-302/s-gLn42tchtze?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
April 2, 2022
Podcast Episode 301 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 301

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, March 14-18, 2022 Topics: Southern History, Slavery, Lincoln, the War, Segregation, Southern Culture, Southern Tradition https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-301?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
March 19, 2022
Podcast Episode 300 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 300

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, March 7-11, 2022 Topics: Southern Tradition, Robert E. Lee, Slavery, Abraham Lincoln, Southern History https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-300?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
March 12, 2022
Podcast Episode 299 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 299

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Feb 28 - March 4, 2022 Topics: Southern humor, Southern literature, Jefferson, Reconstruction, Southern agriculture, Southern Tradition https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-299?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
March 6, 2022
Podcast Episode 297 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 297

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, February 14 - 18, 2022 Topics: Southern Culture, Southern Tradition, the War, Reconciliation, Abolitionists https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-297?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
February 19, 2022
Podcast Episode 295 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 295

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Jan 31 - Feb 4, 2022 Topics: Reconciliation, Southern Tradition, the Founding https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-295?si=32c56dfc806440239b666087f4ed321d&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Brion McClanahan
February 5, 2022
Barbarians in the Gates Blog

Barbarians in the Gates

The barbarians have broken through the gates and are now running rampant through the streets. The opening of the Lee Monument "time capsule"--with one preservationist admitting it wasn't really a time capsule because it was never intended to be opened--and the decision to hand over every Richmond Confederate Monument to groups determined to destroy them are just examples of the…
Brion McClanahan
December 31, 2021
The Real First Thanksgiving Blog

The Real First Thanksgiving

On Saturday, November 20, MSNBC aired a segment by activist Gyasi Ross comparing Thanksgiving to genocide. "But I'm still trying to find out what indigenous people received of value. Instead of bringing stuffing and biscuits, those settlers brought genocide and violence…” he said. Ross’s ignorance and searing rhetoric contradicts the historical record but nevertheless has been fueled by an educational…
Brion McClanahan
November 24, 2021
Podcast Episode 281 BlogPodcast

Podcast Episode 281

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Sept 27 - Oct 1, 2021 Topics: Confederate monuments, War for Southern Independence, Reconstruction, United States Constitution, Southern Tradition https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/ep-281  
Brion McClanahan
October 2, 2021
Facebook and Old Glory Blog

Facebook and Old Glory

Facebook canceled the Abbeville Institute. I was notified on June 10 that the Abbeville Institute Facebook page had been unpublished due to “repeated community standards violations.” Our offenses? We used the image of the Confederate Battle Flag for one post in July 2020 which earned the Institute our first strike. A purely American image that had been the recognized symbol…
Brion McClanahan
June 28, 2021
Podcast Episode 262 Podcast

Podcast Episode 262

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, May 17-21, 2021 Topics: Cancel Culture, Political Correctness, Academic Establishment, Southern Literature, Southern Culture, Southern History https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-262
Brion McClanahan
May 22, 2021
Conservative as “Defender of Liberty” Blog

Conservative as “Defender of Liberty”

In 1960, the great Southern political philosopher Richard Weaver penned an essay titled “Conservatism and Libertarianism: The Common Ground.” Most people considered Weaver to be a “conservative,” and he accepted the term, but he also thought American conservatives and libertarians had much in common and should work together for a common goal: liberty. The current internal warfare in both conservative…
Brion McClanahan
May 7, 2021
Podcast Episode 259 Podcast

Podcast Episode 259

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, April 26-30. 2021 Topics: Political Correctness, Robert E. Lee, Southern Literature, Confederate Monuments, Memorial Day, Union Monuments https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-259
Brion McClanahan
May 1, 2021
Twitter Historians Distort History, Again. Blog

Twitter Historians Distort History, Again.

Marjorie Taylor Greene forced the political left into an apoplectic rage two weeks ago when they discovered she intended to form an “America First Caucus” based on “Anglo-Saxon political traditions.” Clearly, this showed that Representative Greene intended to force “white supremacy” on the rest of the United States. After all, she openly displayed her racism by using the term “Anglo-Saxon.”…
Brion McClanahan
April 29, 2021
Podcast Episode 255 Podcast

Podcast Episode 255

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute March 29 - April 2, 2021 Topics: History, John C. Calhoun, Southern Music, Southern Culture, Southern Tradition, Woke Social Justice https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-255
Brion McClanahan
April 3, 2021
John C. Calhoun: American Blog

John C. Calhoun: American

No American is more vilified than John C. Calhoun. A recent biography has labeled him the American "heretic," and it has become fashionable to blame every political problem in American on this long deceased statesman. Is this true or fair? Calhoun was well respected during his lifetime and served in almost every important position in the United States government. He…
Brion McClanahan
March 30, 2021
Podcast Episode 254 Podcast

Podcast Episode 254

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute March 22-26, 2021 Topics: Robert E. Lee, Ty Seidule, Southern Manners, Southern Tradition, Southern Politics, Decentralization https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-254
Brion McClanahan
March 27, 2021
Podcast Episode 249 Podcast

Podcast Episode 249

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, Feb 15-19, 2021 Topics: Southern tradition, Political Correctness, Southern literature, Southern music, Civil War, Southern Politics https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-249
Brion McClanahan
February 20, 2021
Podcast Episode 248 Podcast

Podcast Episode 248

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute Feb 8-12, 2021 Topics: Southern Politics, Southern Tradition, United States Constitution, John C. Calhoun, Southern Music, Southern Literature https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-248
Brion McClanahan
February 13, 2021
The Gettysburg Fairy Tale Blog

The Gettysburg Fairy Tale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zksz7mOggqI&feature=youtu.be The Gettysburg Address is perhaps the most iconic speech in American history. Students are required to memorize it, and it has become as important to American political culture as the United States Constitution or the Declaration of Independence. This is unfortunate, because in this speech, Abraham Lincoln invented history and by doing so intellectually nuked the original federal republic.…
Brion McClanahan
December 3, 2020
Southern Rock for the Apocalypse, Dixie Version Blog

Southern Rock for the Apocalypse, Dixie Version

The Orwellian nightmare known as 2020 continues. Not only are Confederate monuments and symbols under attack, seemingly benign references to anything Southern are now considered "racist." Real estate listings that use the term "master bedroom" are being changed because the term is a reference to slavery, as does the word "plantation." The State of Rhode Island is considering changing its…
Brion McClanahan
July 3, 2020
American Girondins Blog

American Girondins

Who should Americans blame for the iconoclasm on display during the "protests" in virtually every American city this past weekend? Not the Left. They are the easy targets, and not without culpability. The washed up hippies teaching in American classrooms at every level have certainly been a major component of the cultural Marxism that now saturates American society. But they…
Brion McClanahan
June 3, 2020
Podcast Episode 215 Podcast

Podcast Episode 215

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, April 27 - May 1, 2020 Topics: Robert E. Lee, Political Correctness, Yankees, Southern tradition, Southern literature, Southern music https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-215
Brion McClanahan
May 2, 2020
Podcast Episode 212 Podcast

Podcast Episode 212

The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute, April 6-10, 2020 Topics: Robert E. Lee, Political Correctness, Southern Culture, Southern Tradition, War for Southern Independence https://soundcloud.com/the-abbeville-institute/episode-212
Brion McClanahan
April 11, 2020
A Mass for the Resurrection Review Posts

A Mass for the Resurrection

A review of Who Owns America? A New Declaration of Independence (ISI Books, 1999) edited by Herbert Agar and Allen Tate In graduate school, I was assigned by the resident “New South” historian I’ll Take My Stand by Twelve Southerners as my final paper.  I eagerly accepted the project.  This was in my back-yard, so to speak.  I had read…
Brion McClanahan
March 3, 2020
If You Can’t Blame the Confederacy, Secede! Blog

If You Can’t Blame the Confederacy, Secede!

American political theater has become the most entertaining show in town. Trump refuses to shake hands and Pelosi rips up his script. This is red meat for the duly indoctrinated in the mainstream political parties, but in case you thought that Trump's impeachment and subsequent acquittal would calm the waters and draw the final curtain on a five-month Greek comedy,…
Brion McClanahan
February 6, 2020
Two Lees Review Posts

Two Lees

A review of Robert E. Lee at War: Hope Arises from Despair (Legion of Honor Publishing, 2017) by Scott Bowden and The Myth of the Lost Cause: Why the South Fought the Civil War and Why the North Won (Regnery History, 2015) by Edward H. Bonekemper III. Did Robert E. Lee lose the War for the South? If you believe…
Brion McClanahan
January 21, 2020
The Steel Woods Blog

The Steel Woods

There’s a Southern accentWhere I come from.The young un’s call it country,And the Yankees call it dumb.                      Tom Petty, "Southern Accents" (Covered by The Steel Woods) Southern rock and "outlaw country" are experiencing a renaissance of late. Undoubtedly influenced by the rash of bubble gum pop country from Nashville, this darker and more authentic working class music speaks to Americans…
Brion McClanahan
December 11, 2019