The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War (The Politically Incorrect Guides) [Paperback]

H. W. Crocker III (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Politically Incorrect Guides | Publication Date: October 21, 2008

The author of "Robert E. Lee on Leadership" busts myths and shatters stereotypes as he profiles eminent--and colorful--military generals. Revealing little-known truths, this is the Politically Incorrect Guide that every Civil War buff must have.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Think you know the Civil War?

You don't know the full story until you read The Politically Incorrect GuideTM to the Civil War

Bestselling author and former Conservative Book Club editor H. W. Crocker III offers a quick and lively study of America's own Iliad--the Civil War--in this provocative and entertaining addition to The Politically Incorrect GuideTM series.

In The Politically Incorrect GuideTM to the Civil War Crocker profiles eminent--and colorful--military generals including the noble Lee, the controversial Sherman, the indefatigable Grant, the legendary Stonewall Jackson, and the notorious Nathan Bedford Forrest. He also includes thought-provoking chapters such as "The Civil War in Sixteen Battles You Should Know" and the most devastatingly politically incorrect chapter of all, "What If the South Had Won?" Along the way, he reveals a huge number of little-known truths, including why Robert E. Lee had a higher regard for African Americans than Lincoln did; how, if there had been no Civil War, the South would have abolished slavery peaceably (as every other country in the Western Hemisphere did in the nineteenth century); and how the Confederate States of America might have helped the Allies win World War I sooner. Bet your history professor never told you:

* Leading Northern generals--like McClellan and Sherman--hated abolitionists
* Bombing people "back to the Stone Age" got its start with the Federal siege of Vicksburg
* General Sherman professed not to know which was "the greater evil": slavery or democracy
* Stonewall Jackson founded a Sunday school for slaves where he taught them how to read
* General James Longstreet fought the Battle of Sharpsburg in his carpet slippers

This is the Politically Incorrect GuideTM that every Civil War buff and Southern partisan--and everyone who is tired of liberal self-hatred that vilifies America's greatest heroes--must have on his bookshelf.

From the Back Cover

A rousing, rollicking guide to the great war that shaped America--and to the spirit of the Old South that we need so much today.

The politically correct history that dominates our schools and universities insists that Jefferson Davis was another Hitler, Robert E. Lee was the equivalent of Rommel, and the Confederate States of America was our own little version of the Third Reich--a blot on American history. But reality, as always, was different: the Old South, as H. W. Crocker III explains in The Politically Incorrect GuideTM to the Civil War, had immense charm, grace, and merit--and a very strong Constitutional case. This book is a joyful, myth-busting, rebel yell that shatters today's Leftist and demeaning stereotypes about the South and the Civil War--and shows why, in the words of G. K. Chesterton, "America and the whole world is crying out for the spirit of the Old South."

Praise for The Politically Incorrect GuideTM to the Civil War

"You can't understand America until you understand the War of Northern Aggression, and Mr. Crocker tells the story in such a delightful, politically incorrect way that you can't wait to get to the end of his book to see whether Marse Robert actually pulls out a stunning upset. Great scholarship, great story-telling, and great fun."

--Wesley Pruden, editor emeritus of the Washington Times and political columnist

"In short order, Harry Crocker has lifted the modern veil of misinformation surrounding the major actors in the War. In the process, he has rescued the character of Robert E. Lee and shown Union heroes such as Grant, Sherman, and Lincoln to be more human, complex, and in some cases loathsome than contemporary history texts suggest. The South becomes more admirable and the North more contemptible. Here is the War, warts and all, for everyone to see."

--Brion McClanahan, Ph.D. in American History, University of South Carolina

"The only way this idiosyncratic take on the wa-wuh could be any better is if we'd won. Even Harry Crocker couldn't do that, but he has written a witty book full of history and insight. If I'd ever gotten around to joining the United Daughters of the Confederacy, I bet my chapter would thank him. Yankees will enjoy it, too."

--Charlotte Hays, Southern gossip columnist and co-author (among other books) of Being Dead Is No Excuse, The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral

"I had supposed it wasn't possible these days to talk reasonably, as well as informatively, about our great national cataclysm, the Civil War. H. W. Crocker III brings off that extraordinary feat with style, verve, and wit. Give that gentleman a medal for gallantry and public service."

--William Murchison, nationally syndicated columnist

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 370 pages
• Publisher: Regnery Publishing (October 21, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596985496
• ISBN-13: 978-1596985490
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (87 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #85,916 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #68 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > United States > Civil War > Military Leaders

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

141 of 183 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars How a present day legatee of the Confederacy views its history, November 28, 2008

By 

Craig Matteson (Saline, MI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War (The Politically Incorrect Guides) (Paperback)

In 1972, I was a freshman at Michigan State University (I am an almost life long Michigander). One night, sitting in a student lounge, I struck up a conversation with a fellow student who hailed from the South. As I asked him questions about his life we drifted into a discussion of history. When I said the words "The Civil War", he ignited. He declared that there was no Civil War, that it was a war of aggression by the North. The South had a clear right to self-determination and the right to leave the Union. The war was NOT over because it had not been legally concluded. He went on like this for quite awhile and I was bewildered because I had never heard thoughts like these before. While I did not agree with him them and do not agree with him or H. W. Croker III now, I think it is healthy for everyone to learn that these ideas remain alive in our nation and in parts of our culture.

The folks who hold these ideas see many things very differently and hold that certain issues that the Civil War seemed to settle are still unsettled. While parts of their arguments may seem attractive, when I view them as a whole, I think we have to give up too much to adopt them. If the United States were to fragment and refragment into smaller "nations", it would weaken us and invite predatory behavior from other and stronger nations. Plus, their history of certain issues in the Civil War, particularly around slavery and race seem strained, contrived, and often wrong to the point of being disturbed.

However, if you have not heard the flip side of the Civil War history before, this is a good and easy place to get that through the looking glass experience I had back in 1972. As you read through it, be sure to check the facts for yourself. It isn't that Crocker is lying, but rather that his priorities in telling his history of the war require him to view things differently. Seeing things from other perspectives, especially if you don't agree with them, is usually quite healthy. So it is here.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

63 of 87 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Victors Write the History, November 23, 2008

By 

D. Aiken (New Orleans, LA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War (The Politically Incorrect Guides) (Paperback)

Americans believe in their hearts that the history they learned in school was largely objective and untainted by any prejudice, but in reality "political correctness" has become the rallying cry of a religion no less intolerant than the Medieval Church that imprisoned Galileo for his beliefs. This book unmasks the fraud of the modern historical view of the "War of Northern Aggression". That the victors have indeed written the history of the "Civil War" is no where more apparent than in the prevalent view of this conflict, and Mr. Crocker unmasks this deception with wit and charm. When I first read this book I thought perhaps Mr. Crocker had stepped a little over the line, but in reviewing this gem I must say he is actually exactly correct on every point. I would have liked to see more of an economic analysis since 30% of the U.S. population (the South) was providing at least 70% of the income to the Federal Government. This was because the only important taxes that supported the Federal Government were Tariffs and Customs Revenues, and Cotton and Timber from the South were America's only important exports. But, Government expenditure was controlled by the North who could out-vote the South, and this led to unhappiness and was certainly the basic economic cause of the war. Aside from this, Mr. Crocker has done a masterful job of shining light on many truths usually hidden in this modern "Dark Age" in which we live.

127 of 179 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Political Correctness be Damned, October 20, 2008

By 

Graymalkin "uilleann piper" (Roanoke, VA United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War (The Politically Incorrect Guides) (Paperback)

To the victor goes the spoils, and greatest of these is the right to compose the approved history.
That history has been taught to generations of schoolchildren, and embraced by biased, completely indoctrinated historians and educators.
Now, after 143 years, the facts regarding a government gone astray from the visions of the Founding Fathers, Taxation and Tariffs, Mr Lincoln's political objectives, and the South's decision to legally and constitutionally secede from unbearable tyranny finally see the light of day.
It is becoming more and more difficult for the indoctrinated to assert the simplistic explanation that "the Civil War was over slavery" as insurmountable evidence to the contrary becomes available to the public. In fact, the War for Southern Independence was not a "civil war" at all (the South sought not control of a central government, but freedom from same, and the constitutional establishment of their own government).
The dreams of the Founding Fathers ended in 1865. States Rights and individual liberty - as well as the noble democratic experiment itself - were irreparably altered by the Northern "victory."
Southerners have known for generations that the Union victory was a defeat for all Americans. The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War precisely why this is true.
This book should be used in every history class in the United States. Given time, the concept of the "civil war" being over slavery shall be as laughable as the long undisputed concept that the Earth was flat.
Deo Vindice.