Tyrants rewrite history. They do so to strengthen their claim to political power. The insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 was based on the lie that the 2020 election was stolen. Trump’s telling of what happened on […]
Lost Cause
The Author’s Corner with Anthony J. Stanonis
Anthony J. Stanonis is an independent historian of the American South. This interview is based on his new book, New Orleans Pralines: Plantation Sugar, Louisiana Pecans, and the Marketing of Southern Nostalgia (LSU Press, 2024). JF: What led you to […]
The Author’s Corner with Andrew Sillen
Andrew Sillen is a visiting research scholar in the Department of Anthropology at Rutgers University and a former Professor of Paleoanthropology and the Founding Director of Development at the University of Cape Town as well as the Vice President of […]
The Author’s Corner with Gaines M. Foster
Gaines M. Foster is Murphy J. Foster Professor of History Emeritus at Louisiana State University. This interview is based on his new book, The Limits of the Lost Cause: Essays on Civil War Memory (LSU Press, 2024). JF: What led […]
The Author’s Corner with Michael J. Megelsh
Michael J. Megelsh is Assistant Professor of History at Blue Mountain Christian University. This interview is based on his new book, Adelbert Ames, the Civil War, and the Creation of Modern America (The Kent State University Press, 2024). JF: What […]
The Author’s Corner with Fergus Bordewich
Fergus Bordewich is an independent historian and writer. This interview is based on his new book, Klan War: Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction (Knopf, 2023). JF: What led you to write Klan War? FB: Many of my […]
The Author’s Corner with Stephen Longenecker
Stephen Longenecker is Professor of History, Emeritus at Bridgewater College. This interview is based on his new book, Pulpits of the Lost Cause: The Faith and Politics of Former Confederate Chaplains during Reconstruction (University of Alabama Press, 2023). JF: What […]
The A.P. Hill statue near Richmond comes down
The statue of the Confederate general was Richmond’s last city-owned Confederate statue. Here is a taste of Paul Waldman’s piece at The Washington Post: The Lost Cause is dying with a whimper. For that, thank the committed activists who made […]
The Author’s Corner with Brad R. Clampitt
Brad R. Clampitt is Professor of History at East Central University. This interview is based on his new book, Lost Causes: Confederate Demobilization and the Making of Veteran Identity (LSU Press, 2022). JF: What led you to write Lost Causes? […]
Who was Jim Limber and what was his connection to the Confederate Lost Cause?
Here is Sydney Trent at The Washington Post: The little Black boy in the Civil War-era photograph stands atop a gilded chair, grasping its tall back with his small fist. His clothing is quotidian — striped pants and a matching […]
Episode 94: “Gettysburg, 1963”
Our guest in this episode is Gettysburg College historian Jill Ogline Titus. Her new book, Gettysburg 1963, tells the story of the centennial celebration of the Civil War in the Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg. Through an examination of the experiences of political […]
David Blight on fighting the Trumpian Lost Cause
The Yale historian wants us to keep battling for democracy. Here is a taste of his piece at The Guardian: On 6 January 2021, an American mob, orchestrated by the most powerful man in the land, along with many congressional […]
More on the new Lost Cause
Are we seeing a new Lost Cause? David Graham of The Atlantic thinks so. So do these scholars and writers: The Evangelical Lost Cause comes to Orlando Are conservatives advancing a new Lost Cause? The Evangelical Lost Cause is alive […]
Episode 85: Reckoning with Confederate Monuments
Historian Karen L. Cox argues that “when it comes to Confederate monuments, there is no common ground.” In this episode, we talk with Cox about the history of Confederate monuments and how the recent racial unrest in the United States […]
Are American conservatives advancing a new “Lost Cause?”
Paul Waldman writes: “Everywhere conservatives look, their view of America’s racial story is being challenged.” Most of our culture war debate right now seem to focus on school curriculum and race. Here is Waldman at The Washington Post: As conservatives […]
Allen Guelzo defines the “Lost Cause” of the Confederacy
The noted Civil War historian Allen Guelzo offers a nice working definition of the “Lost Cause” in a piece at The Gospel Coalition. He writes: “In its fullest flower, from 1865 to 1915, the Lost Cause emerged—from a legion of […]