An Interview with Rachel Shelden

Our conversation with Rachel Shelden, an Assistant Professor of History at Georgia College and State University and author of “Washington Brotherhood: Politics, Social Life, and the Coming of the Civil War” published by the University of North Carolina Press. In the interview, Shelden touches on the late antebellum political network that existed in Washington and how its insular nature contributed to political successes as well as the ultimate dissolution of the Union. Dr. Shelden also addresses the work that had the most profound impact on her development as a Civil War scholar.