An Antidote For Civil War Stupidity.....
of course this doesn't overcome the very basic issue of systemic ignorance in this country. Also, you would need to be both willing to read and have the comprehension and critical thinking skills necessary to understand what it is you're reading, but let's be optimistic. Living in a land where Bill O'Reilly's "Fractured Fairy Tales of History" make it to the best seller list doesn't offer much hope, but let's be positive. Ta-Nehisi Coates in The Atlantic had this interesting list of books today.
I would also recommend Shelby Foote's three volume set on the Civil War, which didn't make the list, too. However, these are great reads. I read the Frederic Douglas autobiography when I was in junior high school and it still sticks with me-even though I can't remember what I did yesterday. Battle Cry of Freedom is just a great book, and if you read just one, start with this one. Out of the House of Bondage was a book I didn't want to read- until I started reading it. Thank you to the professor who assigned it. The books on Grant and Lee are really clear-eyed evaluations of these men and go way beyond the cartoon versions we generally learn in high school history class or modern popular culture. If we bothered to really learn our history and understand it (flaws and all-or especially the flaws) we would be less inclined to re-live it.
On Monday, the retired four-star general and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly asserted that “the lack of an ability to compromise lead to the Civil War.” This was an incredibly stupid thing to say. Worse, it built on a long tradition of endorsing stupidity in hopes of making Americans stupid about their own history. Stupid enjoys an unfortunate place in the highest ranks of American government these days. And while one cannot immediately affect this fact, one can choose to not hear stupid things and quietly nod along.
For the past 50 years, some of this country’s most celebrated historians have taken up the task of making Americans less stupid about the Civil War. These historians have been more effective than generally realized. It’s worth remembering that General Kelly’s remarks, which were greeted with mass howls of protests, reflected the way much of this country’s stupid-ass intellectual class once understood the Civil War. I do not contend that this improved history has solved everything. But it is a ray of light cutting through the gloom of stupid. You should run to that light. Embrace it. Bathe in it. Become it.
Okay, maybe that’s too far. Let’s start with just being less stupid.
https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2017/11/five-books-to-make-you-less-stupid-about-the-civil-war/544628/