Overview

A fascinating, original, and highly readable book that makes a meaningful contribution to understanding the Lost Cause and Civil War memory The Lost Cause ideology that emerged after the Civil War and flourished in the early twentieth century in essence sought to recast a struggle to perpetuate slavery as a heroic defense of the South. As Adam Domby reveals here, this was not only an insidious goal but it was founded on falsehoods. The False Cause focuses on North Carolina to examine the role of lies and exaggeration in the creation of the Lost Cause narrative. In the process the book shows how these lies have long obscured the past and have been used to buttress white supremacy in ways that resonate to this day. Domby explores how fabricated narratives about the war's cause, Reconstruction, and slavery―as expounded at monument dedications and political rallies―were crucial to Jim Crow. He questions the persistent myth of the Confederate army as one of history's greatest, revealing a convenient disregard of deserters, dissent, and Unionism and exposes how pension fraud facilitated a myth of unwavering support of the Confederacy among nearly all white Southerners. Domby shows how the dubious concept of Black Confederates was spun from a small number of elderly and indigent African American North Carolinians who got pensions by presenting themselves as loyal slaves. The book concludes with a penetrating examination of how the Lost Cause narrative and the lies on which it is based continue to haunt the country today and still work to maintain racial inequality.

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9798200977949

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Reviews

A primer to think about the crafting of the Lost Cause narrative and to spark deeper discussions about how communities shape--and reshape--public memory for political, social, and cultural causes. -- Society for US Intellectual History Devastatingly powerful...Domby never directly advocates the wholesale removal of Confederate statues, but few...can look at them in the same way again. -- Journal of American History Domby not only debunks the lies at the heart of the Lost Cause, but also exposes their intent...A thoroughly engaging read. -- Civil War Monitor From street names to local politics to tourist attractions...Domby examines the fallacies of the Confederate narrative which still define how many people see our diverse, growing state. -- Charleston City Paper The most extensive discussion of the role of white supremacy in the Lost Cause...Makes an important contribution to current public debates over that history and the continued use of Confederate symbols. -- Civil War Book Review This book...intensified the need for a comprehensive look at the legacy of lies ennobling the Civil War. Truth, it has been said, is the first casualty in war. It is time for historians to tend to the still-walking wounded. -- North Carolina Historical Review

Author Information

Adam H. Domby is Associate Professor of History at Auburn University. Jack de Golia has narrated over seventy-five audiobooks in a wide range of genres. His narrations include the Project series by Alex Lukeman and Remembering the Battle of the Crater by Kevin Levin.

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