As one who did his honors thesis on Gen. Winfield Scott — at Harvard of all places — this has been an issue near & dear to my heart since ‘97. The institutional hostility to the field is awful. It’s all about social history and PC “political” history. Even the most liberal places, though, usually have one or two professors who carry the torch. Harvard used to have several, and their classes were always over-subscribed and quite wonderful. The late Bill Gienapp’s Civil War classes were truly epic. And standing room only.
I really enjoyed Dan Baugh’s and Barry Strauss’s classes at Cornell - Strauss is still going. I’d imagine Baugh has to have passed away by now, I haven’t checked.
In general to find such classes you have to look for the old fogies of the history department.
As a longtime historical novelist known for my accuracy, I applaud your response to Jill. I hope to correct this deficiency in the long run with my new elementary school level American history series. Entitled DANNY DRUMM’S HEROES, I intend to do 40-some volumes in the next decade—the breadth of our history in non-fiction. Web: robertskimin.com. Perhaps by the time some of these kids get to college, they’ll wish to teach real history, which is always entwinded with our wars...or at least have a strong thirst for it.