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How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America
How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America | Heather Cox RICHARDSON
9 posts | 6 read | 17 to read
While the North prevailed in the Civil War, ending slavery and giving the country a "new birth of freedom," Heather Cox Richardson argues in this provocative work that democracy's blood-soaked victory was ephemeral. The system that had sustained the defeated South moved westward and there established a foothold. It was a natural fit. Settlers from the East had for decades been pushing into the West, where the seizure of Mexican lands at the end of the Mexican-American War and treatment of Native Americans cemented racial hierarchies. The South and West equally depended on extractive industries-cotton in the former and mining, cattle, and oil in the latter-giving rise a new birth of white male oligarchy, despite the guarantees provided by the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, and the economic opportunities afforded by expansion. To reveal why this happened, How the South Won the Civil War traces the story of the American paradox, the competing claims of equality and subordination woven into the nation's fabric and identity. At the nation's founding, it was the Eastern "yeoman farmer" who galvanized and symbolized the American Revolution. After the Civil War, that mantle was assumed by the Western cowboy, singlehandedly defending his land against barbarians and savages as well as from a rapacious government. New states entered the Union in the late nineteenth century and western and southern leaders found yet more common ground. As resources and people streamed into the West during the New Deal and World War II, the region's influence grew. "Movement Conservatives," led by westerners Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan, claimed to embody cowboy individualism and worked with Dixiecrats to embrace the ideology of the Confederacy. Richardson's searing book seizes upon the soul of the country and its ongoing struggle to provide equal opportunity to all. Debunking the myth that the Civil War released the nation from the grip of oligarchy, expunging the sins of the Founding, it reveals how and why the Old South not only survived in the West, but thrived.
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ravenlee
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The first book I‘ve finished in two weeks! I have had almost no time to read recently, and every time I try somebody needs something that only I can manage. Ugh!

This book is fantastic. If you‘ve ever looked around at the current state of US politics and wondered how the hell we ended up here, read this book. Some of it is also in Richardson‘s Letters from an American posts, but she does a great job of weaving the threads together. Just read it!

ravenlee Oh yeah, in addition to having been on various #bookspin lists for the past year and a half, this was my May #doublespin and somehow I managed to finish it the right month. 10mo
Deblovestoread Stacked! 10mo
Readergrrl I adore Heather Cox Richardson! So smart and direct in her analysis! 10mo
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ravenlee
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This really speaks to me. I never read these books as a kid, but my MIL loves them and gave me the set early in my marriage. I tried the first book and quit at the inflated pig bladder. I tried them again with kiddo and just can‘t get over how shiftless Pa is, how awful his decision-making and family management are. I‘ve never understood the appeal, other than pure nostalgia.

ravenlee For the record: I am not judging anyone who does like this series. To each his/her own. I just don‘t get it myself and have lots of reasons for doing so. And I choose not to pass it down to my kid, at least without a very healthy dose of skepticism. 10mo
Suet624 I love that Heather calls out the truth on this “fable”. I get her daily posts but you‘ve reminded me that t I want to read this book. 10mo
ravenlee @Suet624 I‘m about 3/4 through and it‘s very good. I will say that some parts seem familiar because she uses some of the same material in her posts (i.e. Teddy Roosevelt‘s reinvention as a Western individualist after he lost his wife and mother). She has another book coming out this fall, too, which you‘ve probably seen but just in case: 10mo
Suet624 Thanks! 10mo
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ravenlee
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I‘m finally carving out time to read again, after a crazy week. My mom arrived last Wednesday, then kiddo had her recital on Saturday (rehearsal on Friday), and my mom departed Tuesday. We‘re trying to press through the last couple weeks of school (local schools let out last week, and we‘d planned to end by Memorial Day before the medical emergency set us back). All told, that meant I read less than 10 pages of anything over the previous 10 days.

ravenlee I hope that once school wraps up I can get some good summer reading time. But I also need to plan next year‘s school curricula and calendar, chauffeur kiddo to summer dance programs, do the regular upkeep for the household…you know, the typical mom workload. Sigh. 10mo
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NovelNancyM
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An engaging retelling of our country's history through the lens of racism and sexism. As someone once said, “very little is new under the sun“ and this book certainly reinforces that history is repeating itself in our current times. Well worth reading!

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SailorJohn
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I wasn‘t surprised by any of the history he relates but the author does a masterful job of constructing her thesis based on facts

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Susanita

I ordered this book today.

Listen to her with Bill Moyers: https://overcast.fm/+ZSzsy4onc

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Kathrin
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This book is a lesson in history repeating itself. The above quote does not talk about Trump. Any guesses?

Chrissyreadit Who is it? 3y
Chrissyreadit That makes so much sense. Of course! Another time we still face repercussions from. 3y
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Kathrin
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Just read in this book that "under God" wasn't added to the pledge of allegiance until the 1950s .. I had to look it up on Wikipedia and sure enough.. and the addition was done out of purely political reasons ... This book is very very dense, but wow does it put American History in a more realistic context.

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ravenlee
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A brief foray to BN today got me this book and the kiddo got two more Lego sets. She‘s been on quite the binge - she got three sets for her birthday Thursday, plus a basics kit, and she spent some birthday money today on two more (thanks, 30% off sale). I picked this book because I‘ve become addicted to Richardson‘s Facebook analyses of our political world and I love her style.

Centique I‘ll be interested to hear what you think when you read it. It sounds fascinating. 4y
Amiable My youngest son was a Lego fanatic for years, too—that‘s all he ever wanted to play with. Today he‘s an aerospace engineer, so maybe your daughter is a future engineer as well! 🙂 4y
ravenlee @Amiable that‘s awesome! I wasn‘t a Lego kid so I‘m learning as we go. We‘re getting to the point where she gets frustrated over a wrong step and then gets mean, so it‘s probably time for a break in the building. Now she can just play with them for a while. 4y
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