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Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader: The Great Truth about the Lost Cause
Contributor(s): Loewen, James W. (Editor), Sebesta, Edward H. (Editor)
ISBN: 1604732199     ISBN-13: 9781604732191
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
OUR PRICE:   $29.70  
Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats
Published: July 2010
Qty:
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- History | United States - Civil War Period (1850-1877)
- History | United States - 20th Century
Dewey: 973.713
LCCN: 2010008340
Physical Information: 1.31" H x 6.08" W x 9.08" (1.46 lbs) 448 pages
Themes:
- Chronological Period - 1851-1899
- Topical - Civil War
- Chronological Period - 20th Century
- Chronological Period - 19th Century
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
Most Americans hold basic misconceptions about the Confederacy, the Civil War, and the actions of subsequent neo-Confederates. For example, two thirds of Americans--including most history teachers--think the Confederate States seceded for "states' rights." This error persists because most have never read the key documents about the Confederacy.

These documents have always been there. When South Carolina seceded, it published "Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union." The document actually opposes states' rights. Its authors argue that Northern states were ignoring the rights of slave owners as identified by Congress and in the Constitution. Similarly, Mississippi's "Declaration of the Immediate Causes. . ." says, "Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery--the greatest material interest of the world."

Later documents in this collection show how neo-Confederates obfuscated this truth, starting around 1890. The evidence also points to the centrality of race in neo-Confederate thought even today and to the continuing importance of neo-Confederate ideas in American political life. The 150th anniversary of secession and civil war provides a moment for all Americans to read these documents, properly set in context by award-winning sociologist and historian James W. Loewen and coeditor, Edward H. Sebesta, to put in perspective the mythology of the Old South.


Contributor Bio(s): Sebesta, Edward H.: - Edward H. Sebesta, Dallas, Texas, is a coeditor of Neo-Confederacy: A Critical Introduction. He was awarded the "Spirit of Freedom" Medal of Honor by the African American Civil War Museum Freedom Foundation for outstanding service to educate and facilitate awareness of the African American Civil War experience.Loewen, James W.: - Sociologist James W. Loewen, Washington, D.C., is the best-selling author of Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong and Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong. He is also the author of Teaching What Really Happened: How to Avoid the Tyranny of Textbooks; Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism; Social Science in the Classroom; and Mississippi: Conflict and Change. He is professor emeritus at the University of Vermont.