The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History

October 15, 2000
Just about every Southern town has a Daughters or Sons of Confederate Veterans chapter that embraces the Myth of the Lost Cause with a fervor that would make their 19th-century ancestors proud. According to the neo-Confederate vision of the past, slavery had nothing to do with the Southern Declaration of Independence: the Confederate cause was a righteous struggle for liberty, and Southerners were defending their homeland from invading hordes of nefarious Yankees. The magnificent Confederate warriors were defeated only because they ran out of troops and supplies. These contemporary apostles of the Lost Cause will not like this collection of iconoclastic essays edited by Gallagher (Lee and His Generals) and Nolan (Lee Considered). Each documented essay provides insight into the origin and development of the basic tenets of the Lost Cause ideology, bringing Confederate icons down to earth. Recommended for all public and academic libraries where the persistent issues of the American Civil War still prevail.--Jim Doyle, Sara Hightower Regional Lib., Rome, GA

Copyright 2000 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2000
The South lost the Civil War, but southerners have certainly held their own in the postwar battle to shape historical interpretations of the conflict. Southern politicians, war veterans, and historians successfully promoted the "Lost Cause" view of the origins and results of our national nightmare. The South, so the story goes, wanted to preserve its unique culture, and slavery was not a fundamental basis of that culture. Led by valiant gentlemen-officers (e.g., Robert E. Lee) and brave, defiant common soldiers, the Confederacy struggled against insurmountable odds, eventually succumbing to numerically but not morally superior forces. This collection of essays by nine Civil War scholars shows how the myth was consciously propagated by southerners, often in an attempt to rationalize the physical and social carnage left by the war. These essays are well reasoned and timely, given current controversies raging over the display of the Confederate battle flag. This will be a valuable addition to Civil War collections.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)