Americans Remember Their Civil War

Barbara A. Gannon

• Publisher: Praeger
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9780275985721
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9798216047643
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 19th Century History
• Index: History

This book provides readers with an overview of how Americans have commemorated and remembered the Civil War.

Most Americans are aware of statues or other outdoor art dedicated to the memory of the Civil War. Indeed, the erection of Civil War monuments permanently changed the landscape of U.S. public parks and cemeteries by the turn of the century. But monuments are only one way that the Civil War is memorialized.

This book describes the different ways in which Americans have publicly remembered their Civil War, from the immediate postwar era to the early 21st century. Each chapter covers a specific historical period. Within each chapter, the author highlights important individuals, groups, and social factors, helping readers to understand the process of memory. The author further notes the conflicting tensions between disparate groups as they sought to commemorate "their" war. A final chapter examines the present-day memory of the war and current debates and controversies.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Series Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter One: The Lost Cause: Remembering a Failed Nation
• Chapter Two: The Union Cause: Remembering Union and Freedom
• Chapter Three: "The Legend of the Lost Cause Has Served the Entire Country Very Well": Civil War Memory and America's Rise to World Power
• Chapter Four: Battle Cry of Freedom: Civil War History and Memory in the Civil Rights Era
• Chapter Five: Landscape Turned White: The Civil War in Public Memory
• Chapter Six: Romance or Reunion: The Civil War in Popular Memory
• Chapter Seven: The Republic of Suffering: Civil War Memory at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century
• Notes
• Bibliographic Essay
• Index