Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Still Fighting the Civil War: The American South and Southern History by David R. Goldfield ISBN: 0-8071-2758-2 Publisher: Louisiana State University Press Pub. Date: March, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Historical Understanding and the South
Comment: The American South has always been a paradox. It has been viewed, both by those within and without it, as a distinctive region of the United States with its own character and identity. This separateness is the source of much of the fascination with the South. But in addition to its distinct character, the South has also been viewed as internally monolithic. As David Goldfield, Professor of History at the Univesity of North Carolina at Charolotte, states in the introduction to this book: [Southern] culture is rich in music, food, conversation, and literature; yet, it can be a barren place, a tundra of conformity, a murderer of imagination, inquiry, and innovation." (p.1)
Professor Goldfield states that the aim of his book, "Still Fighting the Civil War", is not simply to write a history of what the South is and of how it is different. Rather the book attempts to explore why Southerners have understood their history the way they do. Thus the goal of the book is to achieve some self-understanding of the South by people who consider themselves Southerners and to achieve better understanding of what has made the South what it is by those not Southerners. Equally important, Professor Goldfield suggests approaches for a more inclusive way in which the South might use its history to emphasize the common past shared by all Southerners, white and black, and the contributions that both races have made to the development of the South. Attempts at self-understanding, of persons or regions, are notoriously difficult. Professor Goldfield commendably admits that although he has spent much more than half his life in the South, "I do not pretend to understand it yet. Perhaps I never will." (p. 1)
Professor Goldfield emphasizes the manner in which white Southerners have viewed the Civil War and Reconstuction. With the total military defeat, loss of life and property, and destruction of slavery, Southerners created a vision of the War and their society to save themselves. This vision included a romantization of the Old South, (exemplified in, "Birth of a Nation", "Gone with the Wind" and many other sources), a myth of the "Lost Cause" with glorification of leaders such as Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis, and a story of "the Redeemers" who ended the Reconstuction efforts in the South through intimidation and violence and instituted segregation and white supremacy. (For a current example of the glorification of the Southern War effort and its generals, I suggest a viewing of the newly-released movie, "Gods and Generals.")
Professor Goldfield discusses how and why the South used its myth of its past in the development of its evangelical religion and its implementation of Jim Crow. He devotes a great deal of space to the place of gender in the South. Professor Goldfield points out that white male Southerners tried to justify Jim Crow by the alleged need to protect white women from the sexuality of black men, but he goes further than that. He states that white men attempted to put white women on a pedestal following the Civil War, and he attributes a great deal of gender discrimination to this attempt. I am not convinced by all this and I am not sure that Professor Goldfield shows how women's issues differed in the South from those in the North. Certainly, the relationship between women and men has changed markedly in both regions.
Professor Goldfield talks about the changes wrought in the South by the Civil Rights movement culminating in the Civil Rights Act of 1965. He applauds the changes and the fall of segregation, but he offers strong reasons to doubt if the change is as extensive as it seems. He believes that black and white people still live essentially separate lives in the South with too little in the way of intimacy and fellowship between people of the different races. He believes that there is a great deal of racism left in the South under the veneer of desegregation.
The book is at its strongest and most eloquent when it points to the common heritage that both black and white Southerners share. Blacks in the region consider themselves as Southerners no less than do the whites, and the Region shares a common culture in music (blues, jazz, early rock, country), literature, food, religion, and in the pace of life. In addition Professor Goldifield writes that that the division of the races under Jim Crow belied the affection between individuals of different races that was a frequent pattern of life in the South.
Professor Goldfield conculdes that the South is inescapably a product of its history. He suggests a modification of this history in the minds of Southerners and others to eliminate the myths, to accept and understand the end of the Civil War and of racism, and to focus on the many valuable things that white Southerns and black Southerners, separately and in common, have done to make the South what it is and to allow it to move forward. This is a worthy goal. Professor Goldfield's book may be a small step in bringing it about.
Rating: 5
Summary: "The Real South"
Comment: David Goldfield does an excellent job at discussing how white southerners have justified the purpose of the civil war. He sites examples of politicians and how they have used racial issues in their favor. The book also discusses how southerners has "changed" the civil war and reconstruction so that it portrays its' people in the best light. I have read other race/cultural books ("End of Rasicm" by Dinesh D'Souza & "America in Black and White" by Stephan & Abigail Thernstrom) and this book is the first one that offers a good EXPLANATION of why things occurred as they did down south. It was also timely because of the recent comments of former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. In fact, Mr. Lott was discussed in the book regarding his speeches at meetings with the Council of Conservative Citizens. I recommend this book because it is well written and it tells the truth about the most intriging part of our wonderful nation, The South.
 |
Title: A Year in the South: Four Lives in 1865 by Stephen V. Ash ISBN: 031229493X Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Pub. Date: 01 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
 |
Title: Look Away! : A History of the Confederate States of America by William C. Davis ISBN: 0684865858 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 11 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
 |
Title: An American Plague : The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy ISBN: 0395776082 Publisher: Clarion Books Pub. Date: 23 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
 |
Title: The Black Hearts of Men: Radical Abolitionists and the Transformation of Race by John Stauffer ISBN: 0674006453 Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: February, 2002 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
 |
Title: Rereading Sex : Battles Over Sexual Knowledge and Suppression in Nineteenth-Century America by HELEN LEFKOWITZ HOROWITZ ISBN: 0375701869 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 14 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
