Dear Mr. Welty,

Many thanks for your message. I am very glad you have enjoyed my short history; the longer one is, well, longer -- I prefer it but I understand
why students don't feel like reading 600 pages.

If your grandfather was here in 1915 he certainly would have studied with
Dunning (who was in the history dept) and/or Burgess, in political
science. If our library has his thesis, you could probably obtain it
through interlibrary loan from Columbia from your local library. I have
no idea if we still have records of his course work at Columbia. You
might call **** ***** in the registrar's office (212-***-****) about
this; say I suggested you do so. He is out of town until next week, I
think.

Winik's book is well written but based on a very flawed premise, which is that because of the magnanimity shown in 1865 the US avoided the
post-civil war conflicts other nations have experienced. The experience
of blacks after the war does not bear this out -- there was no guerilla
war between North and South but there certainly was one launched by white southerners against the former slaves. He does not appreciate that reconciliation eventually was constructed on the basis of white supremacy.

Thanks again for your message and good luck with tracking down this
information.

Eric Foner