Rate My Professor Paul Quigley

Paul Quigley is the James I. Robertson, Jr. Associate Professor of Civil War Studies in the Department of History at Virginia Tech, where he joined the faculty in 2013. He serves as Director of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies and Director of the Center for Humanities. Prior to Virginia Tech, Quigley was a lecturer in American history at the University of Edinburgh since 2007, where he held various administrative roles in the master’s program in history, including directing a new online master of science degree. He also served five years as associate editor for Southern Cultures and as book review editor for H-National. Originally from Manchester, England, Quigley earned his bachelor’s degree from Lancaster University and his master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A first-generation college student, his path was shaped by a commitment to the idea that universities are places where ideas matter.

Quigley’s research focuses on nationalism and political violence in the Civil War-era American South, citizenship transformations during the war, and the international dimensions of the conflict. He leads an NEH-funded project, “Experiencing Civil War History Through Augmented Reality: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Environment at Pamplin Historical Park.” His first book, Shifting Grounds: Nationalism and the American South, 1848–1865 (Oxford University Press, 2012), won the British Association for American Studies Book Prize, the Jefferson Davis Award from the American Civil War Museum, and an honorable mention for the Deep South Book Prize, along with recognition from Phi Beta Kappa. He edited The Civil War and the Transformation of American Citizenship (LSU Press, 2018) and co-edited Reconciliation after Civil Wars: Global Perspectives (2018). A forthcoming monograph on Preston Brooks, who caned Senator Charles Sumner in 1856, is under contract with Oxford University Press. His scholarship appears in the Journal of Southern History and Journal of the Civil War Era, as well as outlets like the Washington Post and New York Times Disunion series. Quigley serves on the editorial board of Civil War History and has held advisory roles with the American Civil War Museum and Society of Civil War Historians. He contributes to public outreach through events like Civil War Weekend and K-12 education programs.