John Martin Finlay (right) and Professor Hudson Strode (far right) circa 1965
Hudson Strode (October 31, 1892 – September 22, 1976) was an author and professor of creative writing at the University of Alabama. He taught at the University of Alabama from 1916 until his retirement in 1963. His creative writing classes gained international fame for the literary successes achieved by his students. Strode's students published over 55 novels and 101 short stories. One of Strode's students was the author Borden Deal.[1]
His best known accomplishment is his three-volume biography of Jefferson Davis published in 1964. A leading scholarly journal critically reviewed it, stressing Strode's political biases:
His [Jefferson Davis's] enemies are devils, and his friends, like Davis himself, have been canonized. Strode not only attempts to sanctify Davis but also the Confederate point of view, and this study should be relished by those vigorously sympathetic with the Lost Cause.[3]
According to one commentator, Strode's views on the American Civil War were so pro-Confederate that they approach being Neo-Confederate in nature.[4]
^LeRoy H. Fischer in The Journal of American History Sep., 1965 p 396 in JSTOR
^"The Cornerstone of Objectivity: Davis' Reaction to Stephens' Speech". This Cruel War. August 26, 2015. Retrieved May 21, 2019. Hudson Strode authored a number of books, mostly on northern Europe and Mexico. His trilogy on Jefferson Davis, however, was his jewel. When writing a biography, it's nearly impossible not to grow attached to the subject. In the case of Strode, however, his almost familial love for Davis seeped through every page. His defenses of not only Davis but the Confederacy seems to belong more in the Neo-Confederate blogosphere than a biography. Essentially, it is a three-volume love letter to his beloved hero.
