This is yet another book that addresses the myth of "The Lost Cause." Nine essays by leading Civil War historians detail how some southerners rewrote popular history to suit themselves and conceal the real reasons for either the entire war or aspects of it.
This "Lost Cause" myth, begun almost as soon as the war was over, has almost replaced the true history of events in the popular consciousness, abetted in later days by TV and movies. Fortunately, "The Lost Cause" may be itself a 'lost cause', as numerous historians are now writing books addressing even the more fiercely held aspects of it.
Even some of the more fervently believed stories on the Union side are now being revealed as false. As a Civil War living historian I have had to abandon telling some of the stories I once thought true.
History isn't always the way would we like it to be. But to paraphrase Mark Twain, "Man is the only animal that lies to himself, or needs to."
This "Lost Cause" myth, begun almost as soon as the war was over, has almost replaced the true history of events in the popular consciousness, abetted in later days by TV and movies. Fortunately, "The Lost Cause" may be itself a 'lost cause', as numerous historians are now writing books addressing even the more fiercely held aspects of it.
Even some of the more fervently believed stories on the Union side are now being revealed as false. As a Civil War living historian I have had to abandon telling some of the stories I once thought true.
History isn't always the way would we like it to be. But to paraphrase Mark Twain, "Man is the only animal that lies to himself, or needs to."
