nytimes August 29, 2021 5:02pm Stephen B. Oates, Civil War Historian, Dies at 85 #oatesstephenb #deathsobituaries #historyacademicsubject #booksandliterature #writingandwriters #civilwarus186165 #slaveryhistorical #civilrightsmovement195468 #burnsken #thecivilwartvprogram #universityofmassachusettsamherst #news Stephen B. Oates, Civil War Historian, Dies at 85 In a quartet of biographies, he explored how slavery and racial oppression could exist in a land based on the ideals of the Declaration of Independence.