Over the last few years, interest in the American Civil War has skyrocketed. Civil War-related books are second in sales only behind the Bible and works on Jesus Christ. What has caused the people of this country to take up so huge an interest in the conflict that occurred more than 130 years ago?
The answer, in my opinion, is quite simple: Hollywood and television. There has been no better way over the last 30 years to get the public interested in a subject than by enticing them through television.
I feel that the first and most significant broadcast on the Civil War was the Ken Burns series on PBS entitled The Civil War. Quick to follow was the Turner hit, Gettysburg, starring Martin Sheen, Tom Berenger and Jeff Daniels. I have personally witnessed in my tri-monthly trips to Gettysburg that the movie itself has sparked a huge interest in Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain of the 20th Maine Regiment. His character, depicted by Jeff Daniels, has turned a little known professor from Maine into a hero of the Union Army recognized and admired by not only the millions of visitors of Gettysburg each year, but by millions of people all over the country.
In addition to these two major contributors, Civil War Journal on A&E and the mini-series North and South, starring Patrick Swayze, has moved the Civil War ahead of every other interest area in the country.
So, next time you here someone bashing television, saying that there is nothing good coming out of Hollywood, remind them that Hollywood has been the agent of sparking an awareness of the country's most important conflict, the Civil War.
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