Causes Won, Lost, and Forgotten: How Hollywood & Popular Art Shape what We Know about the Civil WarMore than 60,000 books have been published on the Civil War. Most Americans, though, get their ideas about the war it was fought, what was won, what was lost from books but from movies, television, and other popular media. In an engaging and accessible survey, renowned Civil War historian Gary Gallagher guides readers through the stories told in recent film and art, showing how they have both reflected and influenced the political, social, and racial currents of their times. Too often these popular portrayals overlook many of the very ideas that motivated the generation that fought the war. The most influential perspective for the Civil War generation, says Gallagher, is almost entirely absent from the Civil War stories being told today.Gallagher argues that popular understandings of the war have been shaped by four traditions that arose in the nineteenth century and continue to the present: the Lost Cause, in which Confederates are seen as having waged an admirable struggle against hopeless odds; the Union Cause, which frames the war as an effort to maintain a viable republic in the face of secessionist actions; the Emancipation Cause, in which the war is viewed as a struggle to liberate 4 million slaves and eliminate a cancerous influence on American society; and the Reconciliation Cause, which represents attempts by northern and southern whites to extol "American" virtues and mute the role of African Americans.Gallagher traces an arc of cinematic interpretation from one once dominated by the Lost Cause to one now celebrating Emancipation and, to a lesser degree, Reconciliation. In contrast, the market for art among contemporary Civil War enthusiasts reflects an overwhelming Lost Cause bent. Neither film nor art provides sympathetic representations of the Union Cause, which, Gallagher argues, carried the most weight in the Civil War era.This lively investigation into what popular entertainment teaches us and what it reflects about us will prompt readers to consider how we form opinions on current matters of debate, such as the use of the military, the freedom of dissent, and the flying of the Confederate flag. |
Contents
Introduction I | 1 |
The Confederate War on Film | 41 |
EMANCIPATION AND RECONCILIATION BUT | 91 |
Copyright | |
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Other editions - View all
Causes Won, Lost, and Forgotten: How Hollywood & Popular Art Shape what We ... Gary W. Gallagher No preview available - 2008 |
Causes Won, Lost, and Forgotten: How Hollywood and Popular Art Shape What We ... Gary W. Gallagher No preview available - 2010 |
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Abston advertisements African American Andersonville Appomattox Armistead Army artists artworks Atlanta Author's collection battle flag battlefield Burns's Chamberlain Chapel Hill characters Civil War Art civilians Cold Mountain Colonel Confederacy Confederate flag Confederate Veteran conflict Dale Gallon Don Troiani Emancipation Cause Federals fight FIGURE film film's flyer former Confederates Forrest fought Fredericksburg Gallagher Gallon Historical Art Gary Gettysburg Glory Grant historian Hollywood Holzer honor Image Infantry Irish Brigade James Longstreet John Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain Killer Angels Lee and Jackson Lee's Longstreet Lost Cause Lost Cause writers March Maxwell's Memorial military monument Mort Künstler Neely North Carolina North Carolina Press northern painting Photofest Pickett's Charge prints Rebel reconciliation reconciliationist regiments Richmond Robert Robert E Ron Maxwell scene secession Seraphim Falls Shaw Sherman slaveholding slavery slaves Sommersby South southern Stonewall Jackson Union Cause Union soldiers University of North University Press viewers Virginia Washington William women Yankees York