Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner’s Reckoning With the Myth of the Lost Cause by Ty Seidule
Reviewed by: Melissa Friedlund, Reference Specialist
Genre: American History (Civil War), Memoir
Suggested Age: Adult, Teen
What is the book about? The myth of the “Lost Cause” is an interpretation of the events before, during, and after the Civil War that portrays the South in the best possible light. It claims slavery was benign or beneficial to those enslaved. It glorifies Robert E. Lee to a point beyond hero-worship, almost as if he was god-like. Belief in it facilitated reconciliation between whites from the North and South during the 19th and 20th centuries, at the cost of racial equity and civil rights. The author, a career military officer in the Army as well as a historian, explains how, as an adult, he came to terms with his own indoctrination into these racist ideas by examining his upbringing in Virginia and throughout the South.
My Review: I listened to the audiobook read by the author and thought it was an impressively-researched dissection of the myth of the “Lost Cause.” Seidule is clear-eyed and forthright about the fact that his old belief system was racist and how the Southern culture that he was raised in fostered and nurtured these beliefs into his adulthood. His detailed exploration into things like the cause of the Civil War, Confederate monuments, Gone With the Wind, Confederate flags, military fort names, and beyond is a compelling demystification of the Confederacy and of Robert E. Lee.
Three Words That Describe This Book: Introspective, Compelling, Well-Researched
Give This a Try if You Like…How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History Slavery Across America by Clint Smith, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DeAngelo, How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Rating: 5/5
