The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader: The “Great Truth” about the “Lost Cause.”
This book is guaranteed to upset those who cling to “The Myth of the Lost Cause.” One of the tenets of that myth, created by ineffective Rebel generals Jubal Early and William Nelson Pendleton, was that the Civil War had little to do with slavery. James Loewen and Edward Sebesta produced this document-rich book to dispute that contention. Their introduction complains that contemporary public opinion incorrectly assumes that secession was driven by states’ rights rather than slavery. They proceed to describe the documents in which several Southern states declared their secession from the union. Not only are slave-related issues (fugitive slaves, abolitionism, black enfranchisement, etc.) given as causes of secession, but some of the documents actually oppose states’ rights by criticizing specific Northern states for taking actions inconsistent with the national pro-slavery policies the South had compelled and relied upon until Abraham Lincoln was elected president. The authors contend that Americans continue to be misinformed about the slavery-based causation of the Civil War because of waffling textbooks that tend to support a states’-rights interpretation. They blame the poor texts on failure to quote actual documents, fear of offending, non-involvement of scholars listed as co-authors, and a tradition of downplaying slavery that stems from the “Nadir of race relations” in America (1890-1940). Race-based slavery and white supremacy, they contend, were fundamental to the Confederacy. They quote Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens’ disagreement with Thomas Jefferson’s belief that all men are created equal: “Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea. Its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro [sic] is not equal to the white man; that slavery — subordination to the superior race — is his natural and moral condition.” In the same vein, this book contains documents and arguments reflecting a “neo-Confederate” ideology of racism that emerged during Reconstruction, came to the fore during the “Nadir,” and continued to affect Americans’ thinking at least through the civil rights movement and the civil rights legislation of the 1960s. This thought-provoking tome should be required reading for all teachers of American and Civil War history. Its contents reflect a long and shameful history of racism in America — a major reason for continuing controversies about the causes, nature and impacts of the Civil War. Reviewer: Edward H. Bonekemper III Book Review Editor Ed Bonekemper, adjunct military history lecturer at Muhlenberg College, is the author of four Civil War books.
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Illustrated, documents, notes, index, 437 pp., 2010, University Press of Mississippi, www.upress.state.ms.us, $25, softcover, $50 hardcover.