57 pages • 1 hour read
Ty SeiduleA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The “Lost Cause” refers to the representation of the Confederacy as a noble, tragic effort to defend the Southern way of life. As depicted in texts like Gone with the Wind, the antebellum South was an agrarian paradise filled with dashing gentlemen, beautiful ladies, and contented enslaved people. In this telling, the US instigated the war to replace this system with industrial “wage slavery,” and the South fought valiantly until the overwhelming numbers and production capacity of the US steamrolled them. Their defeat marked the passing of a golden age, and therefore those who fought to preserve it are worthy of honor.
Seidule believes that certain commonly used words help to embed particular meanings of history, and therefore merit examination. A chief example is the term “plantation,” the large farms of the antebellum South. To this day, the term connotes class and elegance, a place for fabulous dinner parties and mint juleps on a wraparound patio. Seidule believes this to be an example of whitewashing the horrors of slavery to highlight the purported charm of the old Southern way of life, and to correct this he insists on calling them “enslaved labor farms” so that their primary association is with the chain and the lash.
American Civil War
View Collection
Books on U.S. History
View Collection
Common Reads: Freshman Year Reading
View Collection
Inspiring Biographies
View Collection
Memorial Day Reads
View Collection
Military Reads
View Collection
Political Science Texts
View Collection
Politics & Government
View Collection
The Best of "Best Book" Lists
View Collection