Customer Reviews

Ghosts of the Confederacy: Defeat, the Lost Cause and the Emergence of the New South, 1865-1913

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I can only restate what the previous reviewer has already stated--Gaines Foster should be lauded for the work presented here. Ghosts of the Confederacy is an excellent, absorbing look at the reaction to the Confederate defeat, the emergence of the Lost Cause in the post-war years, and the role of all of this as the New South emerged. The book looks at the years 1865-1913 and you get a real, full, detailed picture of the South and its reaction to the Civil War during that time. One of the most amazing things about this book is that the reactions of the originators of the Lost Cause are still heard today by so called neo-Confederates. The book is definitely academic, but I found it to be still very readable and engaging. If you have any interest in the post-war South or the Lost Cause, then pick this book up. You will not regret it.

Dr. Foster provides an intriguing account of how the "Lost Cause" mutated to fit people's perceptions and needs. Confederate sentiments started and were celebrated as a form of nationalism, and idea that pulled the South together after the War. As time wore on, the "Cause" became more commercial as people come from all over to attend veterans celebrations and to see the monuments that seemed to spring up in every Southern town and city. Veteran and other organizations used reunions as a means to raise money. After the turn of the century Southerners used the "Lost Cause" to set themselves apart from the rest of the country. The emergence of the New South grew out of this newfound sense of being special and different. Although Foster's writing can be dry, he provides a cogent argument that would benefit anyone interested in the South after the Civil War.