Dr. George Rable

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Society for Military History recently presented its 2004 Distinguished Book Award in American History to a book written by Dr. George Rable, a University of Alabama history professor.

The Society presented “Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg!” the award at its annual meeting in Bethesda, Md.

Published by the University of North Carolina Press, Rable’s book details the military, political, and social impact of the worst military defeat that Abraham Lincoln’s Union armies suffered during the Civil War.

“Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg!” previously won the 2003 Lincoln Prize, the Jefferson Davis Prize of the Museum of the Confederacy, the Douglas Southall Freeman Book Award and was a History Book Club Selection. Rable, who joined UA's College of Arts and Sciences in 1998, is the Charles G. Summersell Professor of Southern History.

The Society for Military History is devoted to stimulating and advancing the study of military history, according to its Web site. Its membership of more than 2,300 has included many of the nation's most prominent scholars, soldiers, and citizens interested in military history.

UA’s history department is part of the College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest public liberal arts college in the state, with approximately 5,500 undergraduates and 1,000 graduate students. The College has received national recognition for academic excellence, and the College’s students have been selected for many of the nation’s top academic honors, including 13 Rhodes Scholarships, 15 Goldwater Scholarships, seven Truman Scholarships, one Udall Scholarship and 16 memberships on USA Today’s Academic All-American teams.