During this past week, the Emerging Civil War web site has been posting its countdown of the 10 most read articles on its site in 2025. The articles are typically written by historians, national park officials, and other experts in the field of Civil War history.
Which I am decidedly not.
But.
The site welcomes articles by guests, and you don’t need to be an expert or historian to submit one. The articles, however, are all peer-reviewed.
In January, I submitted an article explaining how a family story told through at least generations about my ancestor’s involvement turned out to about as far from the truth as you might imagine. I’d been researching the Civil War and an ancestor’s role in it, for my novel Brookhaven, when I stumbled over what he really did and what actually happened. (The story turned out to be far better, and I stuck with it for the novel.)
My article passed the peer review committee and was duly published in January. And it turns out to have been the second-most read article on the site for 2025.
You can read the article, “Research for a Novel Upended a Family Legend,” at the site.
“O Christmas Tree!” (German folk song) and “Christmas,” poem by Henry Vaughan – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.
“My Ghostly Father,” poem by Charles d’Orleans and “Recipe for a Salad Dressing,” poem by Sydney Smith – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.
Bluster – poem by Gerald Allen Barrett.
2025’s Top 10 – Poems for Persons of Interest.
“The Darkling Thrush,” poem by Thomas Hardy – Malcolm Guite.
Ring it in (a poem for a new year) – Seth Lewis.
Fairer Country, Higher Ground, or Home – Rachel Hicks at Front Porch Republic reviews Home Songs: Poems by Sarah Reardon.
A non-fictional feast: The best of military history from 2025 – Patrick Caddick-Adams at The Critic Magazine.
Photograph: A page of the family records in the Young Family Bible.
