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Robert I. Girardi

Born: 1960 in Chicago, Illinois
Pen Name: None

Connection to Illinois: Girardi was born in Chicago and has lived within the city his entire life. He is a graduate of Rosary College (now Dominican University) with a major in History and Business Administration, and earned his Master's Degree in Public History from Loyola University of Chicago. Three of his eight published books deal with Illinoisans. He has edited the memoirs of general John Pope, General William Passmore Carlin, and Sgt. Lyman S. Widney, 34th Illinois Infantry. He was the guest editor of the 2011 and 2012 Sesquicentennial of the Civil War issues of the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society.

Biography: Robert I. Girardi is a Chicago War historian, author, editor, speaker and consultant on the American Civil War to audiences of all ages. He has addressed historical societies, libraries, and Civil War groups all over the United States. A well known authority on the subject in the Chicago area, he has been interviewed on radio, television and in The Chicago Tribune.A past president of the Civil War Round Table of Chicago, Girardi belongs to three other Civil War round tables in the Chicago area. He is a fellow of the Company of Military Historians and is an associate member of the Sons of Union Veterans. He is on the Board of Directors of the Camp Douglas Restoration Society and the Illinois State Historical Society. He is also on the editorial review board of the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, for which he edited 2011-2014 Sesquicentennial of the Civil War Issues. He has consulted for the Chicago Historical Society on its Civil War exhibits, and lectured at its teachers and docents seminars. He is the 2010 recipient of the Chicago Civil War Round Table's Nevins-Freeman Award for scholarship and service. In 2013 he was awarded a research grant by the Friends of Andersonville, for his work on the experience and memory of Illinois soldiers at Andersonville prison. In 2014 he was awarded the Milwaukee Civil War Round Table's Iron Brigade Association for Civil War scholarship.Girardi lives in Chicago and is a homicide detective with the Chicago Police Department.


Awards:

Primary Literary Genre(s): History

Email: cvlwarguy@aol.com
Website: http://www.robertgirardi.com
Robert I. Girardi on WorldCat : http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=robert+i.+girardi


Selected Titles

Campaigning with "Uncle Billy" :
ISBN: 1425178871 OCLC: 317074532

Trafford, Victoria, BC, Canada : ©2008.

Confederate generals in the western theater.
ISBN: 9781572337909 OCLC: 744535108

University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, Tenn. : ©2011.

@Font-face { font-family: Times New Roman;}p. MsoNormal, li. MsoNormal, div. MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 200%; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times; }table. MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: Times New Roman; }div. Section1 { page: Section1; }The American Civil War was won and lost on its western battlefields, but accounts of triumphant Union generals such as Grant and Sherman leave half of the story untold. In the third volume of Confederate Generals in the Western Theater, editors Lawrence Hewitt and Arthur Bergeron bring together ten more never-before-published essays filled with new, penetrating insights into the key question of why the Rebel high command in the West could not match the performance of Robert E. Lee in the East. Showcasing the work of such gifted historians as Wiley Sword, Timothy B. Smith, Rory T. Cornish, and M. Jane Johansson, this book is a compelling addition to an ongoing, collective portrait of generals who occasionally displayed brilliance but were more often handicapped by both geography and their own shortcomings. While the vast, varied terrain of the Western Theater slowed communications and troop transfers and led to the creation of too many military departments that hampered cooperation among commands, even more damaging were the personal qualities of many of the generals. All too frequently, incompetence, egotism, and insubordination were the rule rather than the exception. Some of these men were undone by alcoholism and womanizing, others by politics and nepotism. A few outlived their usefulness; others were killed before they could demonstrate their potential. Together, they destroyed what chance the Confederacy had of winning its independence. Whether adding fresh fuel to the debate over the respective roles of Albert Sidney Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard at Shiloh or bringing to light such lesser known figures as Joseph Finegan and Hiram Bronson Granbury, this volume, like the ones preceding it, is an exemplary contribution to Civil War scholarship.

  Gettysburg in art and artifacts
ISBN: 9780984165230 OCLC: 855003259

Soldiers' general :
ISBN: 1611212065 OCLC: 881656615

Savas Beatie, [Place of publication not identified] : 2014.

The Civil War art of Keith Rocco /
ISBN: 1849084351 OCLC: 877660760

Osprey Pub., Oxford : 2009.

The Civil War generals :
ISBN: 0760345163 OCLC: 865473741

"The Civil War Generals offers an unvarnished and largely unknown window into what military generals wrote and said about each other during the Civil War era. Drawing on more than 170 sources--including the letters, diaries, and memoirs of the general officers of the Union and Confederate armies, as well as their staff officers and other prominent figures--Civil War historian Robert Girardi has compiled a valuable record of who these generals were and how they were perceived by their peers. The quotations within paint revealing pictures of the private subjects at hand and, just as often, the people writing about them--a fascinating look at the many diverse personalities of Civil War leadership. More than just a collection of quotations, The Civil War Generals is also a valuable research tool, moving beyond the best-known figures to provide contemporary character descriptions of more than 400 Civil War generals. The quotes range in nature from praise to indictment, and differing opinions of each individual give a balanced view, making the book both entertaining and informative. A truly one-of-a-kind compilation illustrated with approximately 100 historical photographs, The Civil War Generals will find a home not only with the casual reader and history buff, but also with the serious historian and researcher."--

The military memoirs of General John Pope /
ISBN: 0807824445 OCLC: 48138069

University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill : ©1998.

Union general John Pope was among the most controversial and misunderstood figures to hold major command during the Civil War. Before being called east in June 1862 to lead the Army of Virginia against General Robert E. Lee, he compiled an enviable record in Missouri and as commander of the Army of the Mississippi. After his ignominious defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run, he was sent to the frontier. Over the next twenty-four years Pope held important department commands on the western plains and was recognized as one of the army's leading authorities on Indian affairs, but he never again.

The soldier's view :
ISBN: 0974877425 OCLC: 56570186

"The Soldier's View 'is a most fitting title for the published Civil War art of Keith Rocco,' according to Peter Cozzens, who penned the introduction to this book and is the author of No Better Place to Die: The Battle of Stones River and This Terrible Sound: The Battle of Chickamauga, among other highly-acclaimed works."--Book Jacket.

 

 

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