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239 reviews for:
Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause
Ty Seidule
4.4 AVERAGE
239 reviews for:
Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause
Ty Seidule
4.4 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Fascinating read about the American civil war and reconstruction. I learnt a lot. Not being American, this helped me understand so much of what I have seen in movies and in today’s media. The chapter about lynching made me very sad.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, Slavery, Xenophobia, War
Every white, southern-raised American needs to read this book... Seidule writes an honest, reflective introspection of growing up experiencing and coming to terms with the myths of the Southern experience.
Lee was a traitor. End of story.
So many similarities to trumpism and the Jan 6 insurrection.
The author’s history and narrative was powerful.
Only downside was the author narrated his own audiobook. He wasn’t very good, but I was so focused on his content, I got over it.
So many similarities to trumpism and the Jan 6 insurrection.
The author’s history and narrative was powerful.
Only downside was the author narrated his own audiobook. He wasn’t very good, but I was so focused on his content, I got over it.
This was a very well researched book, the notes were so comprehensive as were his acknowledgements. Excellent history and excellent storytelling.
*Thank you to Libro.fm for this copy of the audiobook.*
As someone who grew up in the south and remembers being taught the bullshit line that the american civil war was fought over states' constitutional rights more so than it was over slavery, and that this was really an economic matter, I felt I had a responsibility to read this book when I saw it in Libro's ALC selections one month. I admit it took me many months to pick it up, and I credit the Buzzword Reading Challenge from booksandlala for finally pushing this to the front of my reading list. It fits February's challenge for a title with a pronoun, if you care to know.
And I'm so glad I finally got to it because as expected, the lost cause myth is pervasive, and this book really communicates just how many examples of reverence for the Confederacy are still present around the south and even the whole country today. Ty Seidule writes from the perspective of someone who had for most of his life deeply identified with the genteel southern fairytale of the noble Confederacy, only to realize as an adult how deeply wrong he had been. He paints a firsthand picture of the deification of Lee in the south, from how he was indoctrinated as a child to how he literally worshipped Lee with his classmates in college. While I find it heartening that someone so deep in the southern cult of Confederate worship could come out on the other side as a vocal advocate for the civil rights of Black Americans and more honest education of our collective history, it was still disheartening to hear all the ways in which white supremacists have violently clung to their racial hierarchy and continue to do so today.
Seidule also brings a historian's perspective, sharing extensive research and knowledge that I found to be enlightening and valuable. One thing I appreciate that he addresses is the euphemistic language we use to refer to the civil war—"the war between the states"—that we should replace with "the war of the rebellion" to more accurately describe the betrayal of the nation for the express purpose of maintaining and furthering chattel slavery. He says the same of the euphemistic "plantations," which he would have us refer to as "enslaved labor farms." This is subtle, but language frames the way we think about things, and I agree with its importance. We should not gloss over this history in any way, even in so few words.
The only discomfort I had with this book was that while Seidule does several times acknowledge that the american military "represents america at its best and america at its worst," and acknowledges at least once that this includes the forced removal and genocide of Indigenous peoples, invasions and occupations of Korea and the Philippines, it still bugs me a bit how brief these acknowledgements are and how effusively he still loves the military. But I admit this was not the point of the book and he has done so much growing and advocacy that I won't hold this against him. All in all, a very educational read.
As someone who grew up in the south and remembers being taught the bullshit line that the american civil war was fought over states' constitutional rights more so than it was over slavery, and that this was really an economic matter, I felt I had a responsibility to read this book when I saw it in Libro's ALC selections one month. I admit it took me many months to pick it up, and I credit the Buzzword Reading Challenge from booksandlala for finally pushing this to the front of my reading list. It fits February's challenge for a title with a pronoun, if you care to know.
And I'm so glad I finally got to it because as expected, the lost cause myth is pervasive, and this book really communicates just how many examples of reverence for the Confederacy are still present around the south and even the whole country today. Ty Seidule writes from the perspective of someone who had for most of his life deeply identified with the genteel southern fairytale of the noble Confederacy, only to realize as an adult how deeply wrong he had been. He paints a firsthand picture of the deification of Lee in the south, from how he was indoctrinated as a child to how he literally worshipped Lee with his classmates in college. While I find it heartening that someone so deep in the southern cult of Confederate worship could come out on the other side as a vocal advocate for the civil rights of Black Americans and more honest education of our collective history, it was still disheartening to hear all the ways in which white supremacists have violently clung to their racial hierarchy and continue to do so today.
Seidule also brings a historian's perspective, sharing extensive research and knowledge that I found to be enlightening and valuable. One thing I appreciate that he addresses is the euphemistic language we use to refer to the civil war—"the war between the states"—that we should replace with "the war of the rebellion" to more accurately describe the betrayal of the nation for the express purpose of maintaining and furthering chattel slavery. He says the same of the euphemistic "plantations," which he would have us refer to as "enslaved labor farms." This is subtle, but language frames the way we think about things, and I agree with its importance. We should not gloss over this history in any way, even in so few words.
The only discomfort I had with this book was that while Seidule does several times acknowledge that the american military "represents america at its best and america at its worst," and acknowledges at least once that this includes the forced removal and genocide of Indigenous peoples, invasions and occupations of Korea and the Philippines, it still bugs me a bit how brief these acknowledgements are and how effusively he still loves the military. But I admit this was not the point of the book and he has done so much growing and advocacy that I won't hold this against him. All in all, a very educational read.
An incredibly honest appraisal of the author's confronting the myth of the Lost Cause. A quick and engaging read, with extensive footnotes if you want to dive in to the topic further.
A telling deconstruction of someone who was raised in Southern “heritage.” Peeling back the layers of the onion can be painful but is necessary for progress. The ways even the US army has kept the southern “cause” alive blew my mind. The cult aspects of those who fight to preserve the stars & bars is baffling.
informative
reflective
medium-paced