Kevin M. Levin

Instructor of History

St. Anne’s - Belfield School

2132 Ivy Road, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903

Phone: (434) 296-2430, ext. 1282

Email: kevlvn@aol.com or klevin@stab.org


About Me

Welcome to my Home Page.  Here you will find information on my work as a high school history teacher and Civil War historian.  I currently teach courses in American history and the Civil War at the St. Anne’s - Belfield School in Charlottesville, Virginia. 

My interest in the Civil War stems from a trip to the Antietam National Battlefield Park in 1994.  While I am interested in all aspects of American history throughout the mid-nineteenth century, I am particularly interested in questions of how Americans have chosen to remember the war and the various ways in which those memories find expression in public spaces.  Over the past few years I've published articles and book reviews in both popular magazines and scholarly journals. I am currently working on three book-length projects. The first is an analysis of commemorations and memory of the Battle of the Crater, which took place outside Petersburg, Virginia on July 30, 1864. I am also editing a large collection of letters written by Captain John C. Winsmith who served first in the 5th and later in the 1st South Carolina Infantry. The letters cover the years between 1859 and 1864.  Finally, I am co-authoring a critical analysis of Ken Burns’s documentary, The Civil War.



 

Civil War Memory Blog

Since November 2005 I have maintained a blog called Civil War Memory.  Blogging has given me the opportunity to engage a wide audience on a topic that I care deeply about.  Civil War Memory focuses on subjects related to how Americans have chosen to remember and commemorate their Civil War. Topics cover a range of issues from Civil War historiography to issues in public history and the teaching of history on the high school level.  Civil War Memory is both intended to entertain and challenge. In 2007 the site was selected for the Cliopatria Award for Best Individual Blog. Click here to take part in the conversation.
 

Public Speaking

Over the past few years I have spoken to a wide range of organizations from the Sons of Confederate Veterans to Civil War Roundtables to various academic conferences.  Subjects include topics related to my ongoing research on the battle of the Crater and historical memory, Confederate General William Mahone, Robert E. Lee, demobilization in the Army of Northern Virginia and military executions.  Please consult my curriculum vitae for a list of recent presentations and feel free to contact me to arrange a talk.  Click here for my c.v. 

Upcoming Speaking Engagements

June 2008: Society for Civil War Historians First Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  "Teaching the Civil War in the High School Classroom"


October 2008: Society for Civil War Historians Meeting at the Southern Historical Association, New Orleans, "Blogging the American Civil War"