Jeremi Suri: Civil War, Slavery, Freedom, and Democracy | Lex Fridman Podcast #354

Off-topic comment, but I have to mention it: It's very cool that Lex doesn't interrupt the flow of the podcast 3 times an hour with ad reads. Most of the advertised products aren't interesting for me since I don't live in the US and for other reasons, but if I was interested in something, I would definitely buy it here and not somewhere else because he doesn't bug his viewers with aggressive shilling. I hope this viewer friendly approach pays off for him!

As a historian, there are parts of this podcast that are awesome and parts that are painful. For example, most people killed during the Civil War were not killed in hand to hand combat within a few feet of each other. Nearly twice as many men died of disease than from combat, and, while in some instances many men were killed in a single charge and fairly close range engagements, death from hand to hand combat was actually rather rare and not a leading case of death in the Civil War. Many men were killed by long range rifle and artillery fire. New estimates also place the total killed much higher at closer to 750,000 or more killed by the war.

Lex gotta be the only person to ever go to 7/11 to buy a salad 😂

Here are the timestamps. Please check out our sponsors to support this podcast. 0:00 - Introduction & sponsor mentions: - Eight Sleep: https://www.eightsleep.com/lex to get special savings - BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/lex to get 10% off - InsideTracker: https://insidetracker.com/lex to get 20% off - Athletic Greens: https://athleticgreens.com/lex to get 1 month of fish oil 0:27 - Revolutions and governments 18:06 - American Civil War 27:18 - Lincoln and election of 1860 31:08 - Slavery 44:17 - Freedom of speech 56:00 - Death toll of the Civil War 59:19 - Ulysses S. Grant 1:01:27 - Ku Klux Klan 1:13:10 - Robert E. Lee 1:20:53 - Abraham Lincoln 1:36:01 - If the south won 1:44:37 - Hypocrisy of the Founders 1:50:39 - John Wilkes Booth 1:53:54 - White supremacy 1:59:17 - Disputed elections 2:09:38 - Politics 2:18:03 - Donald Trump and Joe Biden 2:30:48 - January 6th 2:55:46 - Hope for the future

Lex was so happy that he got oportunity to quote Animal Farm

this guy is definitely a representation of AUSTIN

I haven't had the "advantage" of a college education, but ; "a republic if you can keep it" springs to mind.

On the ownership of tanks as an everyday vehicle I’d like to point out one clear advantage is being able to park in a space that is already occupied.

I need to listen again to this interview. I have listened to a few of the various clips as well. At the moment something (well more than one "something") doesn't rest well in my mind. My emotional response is that I am in far more disagreement with Mr. Suri than I can currently give a rational response to. What I am fully in agreement with is Lex's choice to have such an interview. My personal history is that I learn far more when I disagree with someone and then spend time working through the WHY of that perceived disagreement. It often comes down to needing a better understanding of how my own native bias, as well as the other individual's bias, may be pulling me to and fro. Thank you, Lex, for providing another 3 hours well worth spending my time on.

I am relatively new to you Mr.Lex Friedman,, I absolutely love your ability to bend to the wind like a willow branch, while breaking the wind like a mountain. I love your work, I am learning so much.