| Contents |
Context . . . by way of introduction -- Woodward and southern identity -- Guilt over slavery -- Coming to terms with defeat: post-Vietnam America and the post-Civil War South -- What's not in a name? The naming of the American Civil War -- The fiery cross and the Confederate flag: Dixon, Griffith, and the birth (and rebirth) of racist symbolism -- The Marble Man, Robert E. Lee: the contexts of historical memory -- The solid South and the nation state -- The Confederate flag, the Lost Cause, and a continuing Civil War? |
| Abstract |
" 'The Limits of the Lost Cause' is a collection of essays that challenge the prevailing ways of thinking about the impact of the Civil War on the American South. Foster's introduction provides a comprehensive overview of scholarship on the Lost Cause and Civil War memory that highlights the emergence of two ways of thinking about these topics: an older one, pioneered by C. Vann Woodward, that made a case for a southern identity shaped by defeat and guilt; and a more recent one, prevalent not only in current scholarship but in the press and public discussion, that suggests the South is still fighting the Civil War. Foster challenges Woodward's definition of southern identity in his first three essays, one of which also compares the South's response to defeat to America's response after the Vietnam War. His next four essays address diverse topics: how Civil War became the war's name and what that reveals; the promotion of racist symbolism and also a renewed nationalism in Thomas Dixon's The Clansman and D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation; an exploration of the memory of Robert E. Lee that evaluates his suitability to be a hero for today; and the white South's role in the expansion of federal power in the first half of the twentieth century. Together those essays make a case for reunion and sectional reconciliation by the early twentieth century, which undermines the idea that the South was still fighting the Civil War. They also point to other lines of division within the United States, particularly between the nation's core and its periphery, in addition to the one between the North and South. Foster's final essay explores the complex divisions that have marked the fight over the public use of the Confederate battle flag over the last thirty years, making the case that the Lost Cause has had limited impact on support for the flag. Instead, Foster suggests, debates over the Confederate flag are rooted in differences in wealth and education, as well as urban-rural and deep partisan divides. Throughout these essays, and more explicitly in his conclusion, Foster argues that whenever one sees a Confederate flag or listens to an argument about Confederate symbolism, the temptation to talk about a continuing Civil War obscures more than it illuminates. Far more important, he suggests, is the extent of reunion and reconciliation between North and South, as well as the limits of the Lost Cause. Foster believes Americans need to acknowledge not only the failings of the white South but also the racial failings of the nation as a whole. 'The Limits of the Lost Cause' addresses issues of significant importance to historians of the United States, especially since Civil War memory is currently a trendy topic. Foster's work provides an overview of its historiography and offers a distinctive understanding of the Lost Cause that shows how reunion and sectional reconciliation were both important to understanding Civil War memory. Since the Lost Cause and the idea of a continuing Civil War are part of an essential contemporary public debate, this collection will appeal to a broad audience. Above all, Foster's work encourages Americans to confront the new divisions within their society even as they wrestle with old national - not just southern - failings"-- Provided by publisher. |
