In-Person Book Talk: After the Fire with Nelson Lankford

In April 1865, the war that had consumed Richmond for four years ended in a massive fire that nearly destroyed the city. As the smoke cleared, no one knew what kind of society would emerge to replace the world that had been lost. After the Fire offers a wide range of perspectives that bring this vanished moment to life—one marked by hardship, defeat, celebration, false starts, and the rise of Confederate nostalgia and attempts at racial reconciliation. The book traces the struggles of Confederates and Unionists, men and women, and Black and white residents as they fought to shape the postwar future of Virginia’s capital city. For thirty years, Dr. Nelson D. Lankford edited the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, the quarterly journal of the Virginia Museum of History and Culture. He is the author or editor of eight books, the best known being Richmond Burning: The Last Days of the Confederate Capital. His new book, which he will discuss in this lecture, is its sequel. After the Fire: Richmond in Defeat continues the story of the city and its people in the aftermath of war and devastation. Dr. Lankford is a native of Hampton, Virginia. He received his B.A. from the University of Richmond and his Ph.D. and MBA from Indiana University Bloomington.