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mcf's review against another edition
5.0
This is a book with a clear agenda (and how nice to read a book intended for use in school that states its agenda clearly and simply from the start!), and that, in large part, is to disprove the increasingly pervasive myth that the South seceded from the union to protect states' rights, and not to defend slavery and white supremacy. To support the slavery thesis, Loewen and Sebesta provide dozens upon dozens of devastating primary sources which, taken together, make it abundantly clear that slavery was, in fact, the main factor behind the southern departure. What follows in the book are chapters of documents illuminating the development of the myth of the pure, anti-slavery Confederacy, and how that myth survives -- and is used -- today. It's an immensely powerful, informative volume no matter one's occupation but, for teachers, it's a hugely valuable resource.
sarahsupastar's review against another edition
Read too much like a textbook to hold my attention
danacoledares's review against another edition
4.0
“Neo-Confederates fight to maintain their ancestors’ honor, which they do by obfuscating why their ancestors fought.” It’s understandable that people want to believe that great-great-uncle Josiah was a good person who has been misrepresented and misunderstood. But as Christ told his followers, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Clinging to a lie is not healthy, no matter how comforting that lie may be.
“They also fight to save ‘our belief system and our way of life,’ in Frank Conner’s words – in short, to perpetuate the South’s racial hierarchy… No such ongoing struggle attaches to, say, World War I, which helps explain why no ‘Sons of WWI Veterans’ exists.”
So what do we DO? There’s a little about this, but not much, which is what keeps it at 4 stars rather than 5. Here’s what the editors offer:
“Justice in the present helps prompt a new willingness to write the truth about the past.” The example given is of reparations paid to survivors of the internment camps that Japanese-Americans were sent to during WWII, and to black former residents of the town of Rosewood, Florida, who were forcibly exiled in 1923. (Note: look into ‘Like Judgment Day’ by Michael D’Orso.)
However, there is no suggestion of how we can go about making reparations for generations of oppression. It’s difficult to even imagine where to begin.
“They also fight to save ‘our belief system and our way of life,’ in Frank Conner’s words – in short, to perpetuate the South’s racial hierarchy… No such ongoing struggle attaches to, say, World War I, which helps explain why no ‘Sons of WWI Veterans’ exists.”
So what do we DO? There’s a little about this, but not much, which is what keeps it at 4 stars rather than 5. Here’s what the editors offer:
“Justice in the present helps prompt a new willingness to write the truth about the past.” The example given is of reparations paid to survivors of the internment camps that Japanese-Americans were sent to during WWII, and to black former residents of the town of Rosewood, Florida, who were forcibly exiled in 1923. (Note: look into ‘Like Judgment Day’ by Michael D’Orso.)
However, there is no suggestion of how we can go about making reparations for generations of oppression. It’s difficult to even imagine where to begin.
need_to_read's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
4.0
carolynf's review against another edition
4.0
This is a really excellent collection of primary sources. The sources from about 1840 to 1880 show that if you could ask the actual people who supported secession what their reasons were for doing so, they wouldn't say states' rights or tariffs. But they would say slavery and white supremacy. They were actually AGAINST states' rights, because in the secession documents themselves they list their reasons as: other states don't allow slavery, other states refuse to return runaway slaves, territories are being allowed to prohibit slavery, other states allow their citizens to criticize the practice or slavery, etc. The Confederate government was about states rights about as much as the Puritan settlements in 1640s New England were about freedom of religion.
The next batch of sources extends all the way to the modern day, and provides examples of how the generations of historians after the Civil War began to now describe the South's motivations as being for tariffs and states' rights. In the introduction to each document, the editors take pains to point out all the inaccuracies that it contains. I actually didn't read much past 1880 just I had to get the book back to the library, but I hope to check it out again later.
The next batch of sources extends all the way to the modern day, and provides examples of how the generations of historians after the Civil War began to now describe the South's motivations as being for tariffs and states' rights. In the introduction to each document, the editors take pains to point out all the inaccuracies that it contains. I actually didn't read much past 1880 just I had to get the book back to the library, but I hope to check it out again later.
havingaball's review against another edition
5.0
This should be mandatory reading for all US History majors and teachers. Although very long, it is a thorough collection of primary sources (mainly speeches and letters) that illustrate that slavery was the primary cause of the Civil War and debunks the other causes (tariffs and states' rights) that have been spread by Neo-Confederates since then. It then traces the rhetoric used to justify slavery through Reconstruction and Jim Crow period to demonstrate how Neo-Confederates continue to argue and fight for white supremacy. At times it was hard to read how openly racist they were but it is critical for an accurate understanding of US History.
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