Guerrilla Warfare and Insurgency in the American Civil War: Interview with Professor Andrew Fialka

Tides of History

Wondery / Patrick Wyman

Documentary, Society & Culture, History

4.8 • 6.3K Ratings

🗓️ 17 July 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We usually think of the American Civil War as a conflict fought between massive armies at famous battlefields like Gettysburg, but that's not really accurate: Much of the war was actually made up of guerrilla attacks, insurgencies, and the kind of violence between neighbors that wouldn't be out of place in seminars on the US in Iraq and Afghanistan. Professor Andrew Fialka joins me to discuss his fascinating new book, a graphic history of guerrilla violence in the Civil War, and to correct our misperceptions of this crucial era.

Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World in hardcopy, ebook, or audiobook (read by Patrick) here: https://bit.ly/PWverge. And check out Patrick's new podcast The Pursuit of Dadliness! It’s all about “Dad Culture,” and Patrick will interview some fascinating guests about everything from tall wooden ships to smoked meats to comfortable sneakers to history, sports, culture, and politics. https://bit.ly/PWtPoD

Listen to new episodes 1 week early, to exclusive seasons 1 and 2, and to all episodes ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, and ad free listening. Available in the Wondery App https://wondery.app.link/tidesofhistory

Be the first to know about Wondery’s newest podcasts, curated recommendations, and more! Sign up now at https://wondery.fm/wonderynewsletter

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Wonderly Plus subscribers can listen to Tides of History early and ad-free right now.
0:04.6	Join Wonderly Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:12.6	Hi, everybody.
0:17.7	From Wondery, welcome to another episode of Tides of History.
0:20.5	I'm Patrick Wyman.
0:21.5	Thanks so much for joining me today.
0:24.3	Probably like a lot of you who are listening to this right now, I have always been fascinated by the American Civil War.
0:30.7	Watching Ken Burns' documentary when I was five is probably, for being honest about it,
0:35.2	what set me on the course to being a historian in the first place. I got into an argument with a park ranger at Gettysburg when I was eight, and again,
0:42.2	if we're being honest, it's all been downhill since then. But the Civil War is a really big,
0:47.5	sprawling, and complicated topic. As the years have gone on, I've realized how much my obsessed
0:53.2	kid brain missed about the conflict.
0:55.6	Whole aspects of the war were just invisible to me because they're not the most popular
0:59.5	fodder for depictions of the period as a whole.
1:02.5	The Civil War in the border states bore very little resemblance to the huge set-piece
1:07.1	battles we tend to think to find it, And it was every bit as important to how people
1:10.8	experienced the conflict as Antita Morghettysburg. Today's guest has written an absolutely
1:17.2	fascinating and innovative new book on one of the most overlooked aspects of the Civil War.
1:22.8	Dr. Andrew Fialke is Associate Professor of History at Middle Tennessee State University, and he
1:27.8	specializes in the Civil War, Reconstruction, and Guerrilla Warfare. His new book,
1:32.7	featuring illustrations by Anderson Carman, is entitled, Hope to Never See It, a graphic
1:37.3	history of guerrilla violence during the American Civil War. It's unlike any other academic
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Wondery / Patrick Wyman, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Wondery / Patrick Wyman and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.