Cooper Wingert

OK.

I'd love for you to blurb my next book, but for it to be something totally unrelated to the book.

Sure. Like this book about the Civil War. This had the greatest tomato soup recipe ever. Done.

What's your next book going to be about? My next book is about the destruction of slavery during the Civil War.

Sounds great.

It is. It's really amazing. And I get the chance to lead students on tours there every year. And you can tell not all of them are really into the military history, but I think the human interest stories are really how you get to the students. Like when I lead a tour of, shall I say, older people, they really want to know the nuts and bolts of where was the right flank of the third Alabama.

But when you're engaging with high school and college students, it's the human interest stories that like really blow them away at a place like Gettysburg.

Yeah, I read that when I was very young. It's a good one.

Yeah, absolutely the same for me. I mean, I grew up a little bit north of Gettysburg. So I kind of grew up in an area where Civil War history was, you know, all around me. And then moving to D.C. for grad school, obviously, I'm next to the archives. I'm immersed in history all the time. So almost almost to the point where I take it for granted, but I try not to.

I guess my two hobbies besides, I love reading and writing. I love teaching. That kind of is an extension of my work. So that's a big part of who I am. One of my favorite things professionally that I do is each summer I do a summer program for rising high school seniors. It's aimed at first-generation college students. Ah. So I actually get to live in the dorms with these students.

I'm like their TA, their RA. I'm like basically their, you know, glorified babysitter. So I get to kind of help them transition to, you know, doing college level coursework. But at the same time, I have to like, you know, just be like the adult in the room and make sure they don't, they look both ways before they cross the street. So it's kind of one of the fun things I get to do.

I get to be really silly. I get to do like PowerPoint night with them. I have a fan favorite, Nicholas Cage PowerPoint.

I know. How old are these kids, by the way? They're 16, 17. So we got to keep them, you know, like, you know, fun and not crazy entertainment. Yeah, but when do you get to the fun part, Cooper?

Yeah. When... No, they get to design the PowerPoint. So they design a PowerPoint about some crazy topic they pick. And then we as the staff also design our own PowerPoints. So I designed one about how Nicolas Cage blew his fortune and they seem to like that one.

A series of very strange purchases, like a dinosaur skeleton that ended up being repossessed by Interpol, I think.

Maybe not. That's kind of the theme of the presentation.

I live in DC. I'm in the final stage of my PhD program. So I am kind of like on the job market. So I'm like potentially moving anywhere in the country. So everything's kind of up in the air right now, but it's kind of a good position to be in because I don't really like, the choices are in some ways like out of my hands. So I'm kind of, you know, just kind of seeing where things go right now.

Okay, but what about like dating? Are you on the apps? Like all the young people, are you on the apps? No, I am single. I try not to bring up the Civil War stuff on dates.

No, I am on the X. Okay, okay, good.

I think let it out in moderation. I don't want to scare somebody on a first date, you know? It's kind of like, I almost imagine giving a date, like, you know, the cards they give you in, like, a soccer game, the refs, like, they hold up a card if you do something, like, commit a foul. Sure. Like, that's what I need for, like, when I start going off about the Civil War.

I need somebody to just be like, you're cut off. Okay. You got, like, this is your warning, so...

I'm 26, and I am a Civil War historian.

I have. When I was like 12, I was conscripted into one for 10 minutes and I quit.

No.

I think one of the reenactors had to leave for something. He just got in his car and drove away. So they gave me a uniform and they said, like, carry this baked potato from here to the cannon and put it in the cannon or pretend to. What? And we're going to fake fire it.

I have. I've been a history buff my whole life. When I was in third grade, my teacher wrote on my report card that I watched too much History Channel. Wow. Held back a year. Enough history! Yeah, which basically meant I couldn't shut up. And then it was a fifth-grade field trip to Gettysburg that really got me onto Civil War, and I haven't really stopped since.

That would be surprising.

I mean, to be honest, I don't think that's ideal in a partner. I think if there's too much similar interest, I don't know that I want to hear about the Civil War from somebody else. I like to listen to myself talk about it all day, but I don't know if I want to hear somebody else's voice talking about it.

I know. I actually stress so much about my Zoom background. Basically, I just moved apartments, so I was going to do like a bookshelf, so I looked very professorial, but just life got the better of me, so you're getting the hostage background.

It is going well.

I do, so I'm curious. I know you have a big love of the Civil War. If you were a Civil War general, I wanna know what skillsets or liabilities you would bring to the battlefield.

Well, I mean, considering that I quit reenacting after 10 minutes because the uniform was too hot, you know, probably not. But give me a baked potato. Sure. I mean, I could probably launch that thing.