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The Confederate Image: Prints of the Lost Cause
First published in 1987, The Confederate Image examines the popular lithographs and engravings cherished by Southerners during and after the Civil War. These images helped sustain and revive Southern identity following the collapse of the Confederacy. (Though, ironically, most were actually crafted by Northern artisans.) The book focuses on prints of the three most prominent Southern figures of the conflict--Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and Stonewall Jackson--but also discusses prints of other important Confederates as well as the contributions of the short-lived Southern Illustrated News .
"A well-researched and interesting sidelight into a world of illusion.-- New York Times Book Review
"More than just a picture book. . . . [It] tells a fascinating story of the creation of these images and how they added to or, at times, ran counter to the creation of the myth that is known as the Lost Cause.-- Chicago Tribune
"A well-researched and interesting sidelight into a world of illusion.-- New York Times Book Review
"More than just a picture book. . . . [It] tells a fascinating story of the creation of these images and how they added to or, at times, ran counter to the creation of the myth that is known as the Lost Cause.-- Chicago Tribune
- GenresHistory
Hardcover
First published June 1, 1987
14 people want to read
About the author
Mark E. Neely Jr.
22 books10 followersMark E. Neely, Jr. is an American historian best known as an authority on the U.S. Civil War in general and Abraham Lincoln in particular. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1991. He earned his undergraduate degree in American Studies at Yale University in 1966 and his Ph.D. in history at the same school in 1973. Yale's Graduate School would award him with a Wilbur Cross Medal in 1995.
From 1971 to 1972 Neely was a visiting instructor at Iowa State University. In the latter year, he was named director of The Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne, Indiana, a position he held for twenty years.
In 1992, Dr. Neely was named the John Francis Bannon Professor of History and American Studies at Saint Louis University. And, in 1998, he was made the McCabe Greer Professor of Civil War History at Pennsylvania State University.
Neely is best known for his 1991 book The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties, which won both the Pulitzer Prize for History and the Bell I. Wiley Prize the following year. In March 1991, he published an article in the magazine Civil War History, entitled Was the Civil War a Total War?, which is considered one of the top three most influential articles on the war written in the last half of the 20th Century.
- from Wikipedia
From 1971 to 1972 Neely was a visiting instructor at Iowa State University. In the latter year, he was named director of The Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne, Indiana, a position he held for twenty years.
In 1992, Dr. Neely was named the John Francis Bannon Professor of History and American Studies at Saint Louis University. And, in 1998, he was made the McCabe Greer Professor of Civil War History at Pennsylvania State University.
Neely is best known for his 1991 book The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties, which won both the Pulitzer Prize for History and the Bell I. Wiley Prize the following year. In March 1991, he published an article in the magazine Civil War History, entitled Was the Civil War a Total War?, which is considered one of the top three most influential articles on the war written in the last half of the 20th Century.
- from Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 3, 2017
A good survey of wartime and postbellum Southern iconography as represented in popular prints, with twenty colour plates and 120 black&white illustrations. It offers plenty of solid background information about the artists responsible, and about the subject matter of the prints, not so much in the way of in-depth analysis or interpretation of the art.
The authors dabble a little in psychohistory. They argue that the proliferation of Northern prints of the capture of Jeff Davis while disguised as a woman helped defuse hostility toward the South; in a society based on strong beliefs about the importance of manliness, feminizing an adversary gave one psychological permission to dismiss him with a jeer rather than lunge at his throat. The "myth of the Lost Cause" (as conceptualized by Charles Reagan Wilson) is offered as a catch-all explanation for most of the postwar work.
The tone of the text varies startlingly from snippy to sympathetic, presumably a result of the book's multiple authorship.
The authors dabble a little in psychohistory. They argue that the proliferation of Northern prints of the capture of Jeff Davis while disguised as a woman helped defuse hostility toward the South; in a society based on strong beliefs about the importance of manliness, feminizing an adversary gave one psychological permission to dismiss him with a jeer rather than lunge at his throat. The "myth of the Lost Cause" (as conceptualized by Charles Reagan Wilson) is offered as a catch-all explanation for most of the postwar work.
The tone of the text varies startlingly from snippy to sympathetic, presumably a result of the book's multiple authorship.
Displaying 1 of 1 review