"The cause was lost but the Lost Cause shouldn't be"

Tony Horwitz grew up in New Haven, Connecticut listening to stories read to him by his grandfather about the Civil War. When his grandfather died, his father continued to read to him and the seeds of the Civil War grew inside him. Twenty-five years later, after traveling and meeting his Australian born wife, Tony moved to Virginia near the Blue Ridge Mountains and his dormant interest in the Civil War began to resurface. Thus begins his Odyssey to visit the sites of the Civil War battles, the towns and hamlets surrounding the areas, and the monuments erected to honor the lost.

On his travels he records meetings with locals, including members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Horwitz describes these people in great detail, warts and all, and yet despite conversations that might lead a great many people to point out the flaws in their arguments or simply up and leave, Horwitz lets them have their say. In some cases, what they have to say is not pretty but I think Horwitz allows their personalities to shine through and gives the reader a wider sense of why those opinions are held.

In many rural areas of the south, especially those with battlefields in their backyards, the war from 1861-1865 is a lot closer and more present than even World War II. The soldiers who fought were family and those family histories have been painstakingly researched. Many still describe the war as the 'War of Northern Aggression', or the War of Secession.' Manning Williams, from Charleston, described the North and South as 'two irreconcilable cultures'; the idealized agrarian South and the industrialists of the North. Viewed through an ethnographic lens, "Southerners lost the war because they were too Celtic and their opponents were too English." [p.69]

This same belief that the war was a fight between the states leads many Southern communities to bridle at the mention of slavery. Furthermore, to suggest that the battle flag of the Confederate soldiers should be retired elicits strong emotional reactions from many people. As one man cried, "We may have lost the War, but at least we should have this to look back on."

It's difficult to read some of the angry rhetoric that a few community members unleash. On the one hand we have several genteel ladies and gentlemen whose interest and passion for the war can at least be understood in terms of family history and who shy deftly away from the question of slavery. On the other hand we have 'Walt' who believes African Americans are barely human and shouldn't mix with whites at all. Clearly there are some ugly beliefs still hiding amongst polite society. Horwitz says, “I had to explore two pasts and two presents; one white, one black, separate and unreconcilable. The past has poisoned the present and the present, in turn, now poisoned remembrance of things past.” [p.208] I wonder, is it possible for southern blacks and southern whites to ever reconcile?