Local ASU History Faculty Releases His Own Book

A press release Tuesday recognized Dr. Kanisorn Wongsrichanalai of the Angelo State University history faculty for his published book. The book is  titled “Northern Character: College-Educated New Englanders, Honor, Nationalism, and Leadership in the Civil War Era,” through Fordham University Press.

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Released May 1, “Northern Character” is a social and intellectual history of the elite young men of New England who, motivated by an idealized internal standard of behavior, rushed to take their place at the forefront of the Union’s side of the Civil War. The book examines how these good and moral “men of character” interacted with common soldiers and faced battle, reacted to seeing the South and real southerners, and approached race, Reconstruction, and reconciliation.

An ASU assistant professor since 2011, Wongsrichanalai and his fellow history faculty member, Dr. Christine Lamberson, were awarded a three-year grant (No. AC-226771-15) in 2015 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for their project, “War Stories: West Texans from World War I to the Present.”

Also in 2015, “So Conceived and So Dedicated: Intellectual Life in the Civil War-Era North,” which he co-edited with Dr. Lorien Foote of Texas A&M University, was published by Fordham. The collection of essays includes his essay, “Lessons of War.” He was also an organizer of ASU’s four-year Civil War Sesquicentennial Commemoration Lecture Series, which concluded in April 2015, and co-director of ASU’s 2015-16 “Latino Americans: 500 Years of History” series, funded by grant No. LA105406 from the NEH and the American Library Association. He earned his doctorate and master’s degree at the University of Virginia and his bachelor’s degree at Bowdoin College in Maine.

“Northern Character” is available in hardback and paperback editions from several retailers, including Amazon, and from fordhampress.com. 

For more information, contact Wongsrichanalai at 325-942-2157 or [email protected].