Why read The Myth of the Lost Cause?

Book cover of The Myth of the Lost Cause: Why the South Fought the Civil War and Why the North Won

Book description

History isn't always written by the winners...

Twenty-first-century controversies over Confederate monuments attest to the enduring significance of our nineteenth-century Civil War. As Lincoln knew, the meaning of America itself depends on how we understand that fratricidal struggle.

As soon as the Army of Northern Virginia laid down its…

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American history

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Myth of the Lost Cause as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

James D. Best

Author

This is a great companion book for DiLorenzo’s The Real Lincoln. The argument about the cause of the Civil War has raged for over one hundred and fifty years, and these two books will provide the information you need to make up your own mind.

Bonekemper dismisses the idea that the Civil War was victimized innocence. While DiLorenzo argues that antebellum life in the South was prosperous, dignified, and just, Bonekemper claims it was none of these things.

The Myth of the Lost Cause is indeed history, as seen by the victors.

From James' 3 favorite reads in 2023.