White Lies: How the South Lost the Civil War, Then Rewrote the History

by Ann Bausum

This examination of racism in America by award-winning historian Ann Bausum deconstructs the warped history of the Civil War for teen readers.

This is not your average U.S. history book.

After the Civil War, the Confederates may have laid down their arms, but they were far from accepting defeat. By warping the narrative around what really happened during and after the Civil War, they created an alternate history now known as the Lost Cause. These lies still manifest today through criticism of Critical Race Theory, book banning, unequal funding for education, and more.

This book sets the record straight and explains the true history of the Civil War, and its complex and far-reaching aftermath.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Historical, Civil War, War, Southern, American Civil War

358 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 12, 2025

About the author

Ann Bausum writes about history for readers of all ages from her home in southern Wisconsin. Her works often focus on under-told stories from the past, and she frequently explores issues of social justice.

Her newest title, The March Against Fear (National Geographic: 2017), is her third work to examine the civil rights movement in the American South. In the case of these and other books, Bausum strives to bring the nation’s social justice history to life in ways that empower and inspire readers young and old alike. Her previous title, Stonewall (Viking: 2015), is among the first nonfiction books to introduce teens to gay rights history. Previous works have explored voting rights, immigration, and free speech, among other topics.

The almost-forgotten story of Stubby lured Bausum away from social justice history temporarily. She wrote twin titles about the stray dog smuggled to Europe during World War I who returned to a hero’s welcome. Both books were published in 2014 by National Geographic: Sergeant Stubby (for adult readers) and Stubby the War Dog (for children).

In the spring of 2017, the Children’s Book Guild of Washington, D.C., will honor the body of Bausum’s work by presenting her with its venerable Nonfiction Award. This award recognizes the consistent commendation earned by her individual titles through the years. Bausum’s books have appeared consistently on lists of recommended and notable titles and have earned numerous literary awards including a Sibert Honor Award, the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, the Carter G. Woodson Award (on two occasions), and the SCBWI Golden Kite Award. In 2015, she was named the year’s Notable Wisconsin Children’s Author by the Wisconsin Library Association.

You may follow Bausum on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AnnBausum) and Twitter (@AnnBausum) or visit her online at www.AnnBausum.com

Reviews

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded up

📱Thank you NetGalley for the ARC e-book of White Lies. This book was fantastic and I couldn’t keep myself from info-dumping the facts I learned to everyone I know. This book is geared towards teenagers and young adults to absorb an accessible history of the civil war that is a strong departure from most history textbooks in school.

First of all, the author is a white woman who grew up in Virginia but has since moved up north. The most fascinating part of the book (in my opinion) is she grew up learning the white lies of the civil war in her history textbooks in the 60s and 70s. She was literally brainwashed on confederate propaganda as a child and had to unlearn the history as an adult. I find this aspect of the book so profound because it shows that people can change and unlearn white supremacy viewpoints. She wrote this book as an effort to help people like herself do the work of unlearning harmful lies.

Secondly, although I knew a correct history of the civil war (I grew up on textbooks in the 90s in the north that didn’t whitewash the civil war or the horrors of slavery), I had no idea the extent of the propaganda spread throughout the south to whitewash the war and rewrite the narrative as pro-confederate. I knew about the Daughters of the Confederacy and how they built monuments to confederate soldiers but I had no idea how deep they went. They essentially created a brainwashing children’s club to teach the white supremacist lies to young children (in a similar way to Hitler Youth) and they rewrote history textbooks and put them in southern classrooms that lasted all the way until the early 1970s. These textbooks were filled with lies and explicitly white supremacist.

Thirdly, I had no idea how many U.S. presidents decided to honor Confederate soldiers. Like what the heck? Why would a northern U.S. president decide to honor the graves of confederate soldiers? Why did we not treat the confederate soldiers like the traitors they were? It’s wild to me how many presidents succumbed to the white lies the south worked so hard to spread.

This book is easy to read and thorough. It walks through over 20 “white lies” that the south perpetuated for over a century and it tells the true history of what really happened - from before the war, to the war, to reconstruction, and beyond. I highly recommend this book to all ages. Maybe 8th grade and above? I’m not a teacher but I feel like an 8th grader should be able to understand this history and have the reading comprehension for a book of this caliber.

[Brigette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes you read a book that you wish everyone else would take the time to read as well - “White Lies” is one of those books (at least to have white people read). It is supremely researched with hundreds and hundreds of citations and references.

This is Civil War history designed for teen readers, and I appreciated the notes in the beginning about terminology and the changes in words and their meaning. The author prepares us with a general understanding and invites us to use the updated terms as well.

I grew up in the north around monuments and memorials, however the location recognized both Confederate and US soldiers. Now I realize even more deeply how flawed those commemorations were and still are. I also learned a great deal. For example, Robert E Lee received enslaved people from his father in law: Lee was supposed to free them but was given 5 years to do so. Lee worked them out to other places to earn money. Lee was not a loving caregiver to his enslaved, and tried via the courts to keep the enslaved for longer than 5 years (for which he luckily lost).

Many things today can be traced to the Civil War and the tenants of the Lost Cause. Hate and Trump and Congress and the Supreme Court and literally everything we are dealing with now is laid out in this book, this is how we are here.

[Joe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hoo boy.

This is a tough review to write.

To begin: I agree with the central argument this book presents, and I believe that the evidence used to support that argument is sound.

As a man who was born in and currently lives in Virginia (a state that is prominently featured in this book as it was once the home to the Confederate capital), I feel both shame for my native state and pride in its steadfast work to right its historical wrongs.

But...

...and this is a BIG but...

Good lord, this book is dull.

I am a nonfiction fiend. It is my genre of choice, and having served on two national children's/teen nonfiction awards committees, I feel like I can safely say I have some pretty firm beliefs in what contributes to a solidly crafted nonfiction book.

Bausum's White Lies is richly detailed, thoroughly researched, and deeply sourced, yet it took my over two weeks to finish it. That is atypical. I read the first 26 pages in 7 days. I joined Audible so that I could access the "exclusive" audiobook merely to get me to the finish line.

Even then, I didn't think I'd make it to the end.

Here's the book's lone strength: it effectively demonstrates how insidious the "lost cause" narrative is, and how it has been woven into the fabric of how the United States sees itself. It's revolting and shameful. It's every awful word I can think of, and it makes me anything but proud to be a citizen and native son of the South. Nothing - and I do mean nothing - can wash that stink off.

Some reviews here have indicated that Bausum's writing is "too forceful" or that its "bias" isn't enough to sway the opposing viewpoint. #1: FUCK the opposing viewpoint. #2. there's nothing remotely "forceful" about the writing. It is wooden, heavy-handed, and repetitive. An example of that last adjective: topics surfaced in the early chapters are revisited, almost verbatim, in the final chapters (read: Lee's former shrine in a chapel at Washington & Lee University being cordoned off from visitors). There were so many times when Bausum would revisit a topic previously surfaced, but add nothing to its inclusion - no contour, no deeper understanding.

Were it not for the afterword and the stirring author's note, I might have left this book at a single star. Both those additions, however, added a rich later of context that elevated the proceedings by another half a star. But because Goodreads refuses to add the "half" as an option, I am generously rounding the score up to two measly stars.

I can't think of many teens who would scramble to read this dry recitation, important and vital and powerful though the information therein may be.

In conclusion: Fuck the Confederacy, fuck white supremacy, fuck the media's obfuscation of history, and fuck the Republican party for feeding into imaginary fears to gain White votes.

May a better book bring this history to life for a teen reader. (All apologies to Bausum, who has, by and large, written other books that I have enjoyed.)

[Rachel Teut · Rating 5 out of 5]

“That’s a problem because when the facts get lost, history gets lost. And a nation that loses its history is a nation that has lost its ability to thrive. Its citizens lack the experience, wisdom and unity to acknowledge their country’s collective mistakes and to learn from them together. Instead of growing stronger, they remain diminished, stuck on repeat.”

This was just one of the quotes that stuck out to me when reading Basum’s book. Basum does a wonderful job of helping the reader navigate through and come to an understanding of the myths and lies that make up the Lost Cause. I was personally already familiar with the South’s attempts to rewrite history after the Civil War, but I feel it’s an area where so many people still believe the lies. Therefore I am always happy to see more resources published to help combat the narrative that has been taught and passed down for so long. For those who have been taught the Lost Cause lies as truth, it’s okay to admit it was wrong. It’s okay to say our country messed up. That’s what our country, specifically the South should have done from the get go. Instead here we are over a hundred years later with a history that’s believed by so many that is based mostly on lies. Lies that have hurt and destroyed many people in the process. We have to do better. We need to learn from our country’s past (our truthful and messy past) and ensure that it’s not repeated. As a fourth grade teacher I do my best to make sure I’m doing my part to stop this cycle.

I’ll finish with another quote from the book that stood out. “Until we break this cycle, until accuracy replaces misinformation, we will struggle. As long as people in power can use lies to sow division, we will be held back. But when we reject the lies and embrace the facts of our national story-both its moments of shame and those of majesty-we create the potential to flourish.”

[Jan Raspen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book took me a l-o-n-g time to read... I kept looking at the time left to read it on my Kindle, knowing that some of that would be the bibliography, but it still just kept going and going and going. Everything the author wrote needs to be said and needs to be read, so it's not like there was stuff in there that could've been edited out. Just wow.
As someone from the north who has lived in Virginia for the past 30 years, I was keenly interested in the parts of the book that took place my state. I've been a teacher since the early 90's, and I vividly remember taking my class on a field trip to Stone Mountain. I am cringing with disgust just thinking about it.
There is a street in my neighborhood named Jubal Early Drive, and I want to give a copy of this book to all 10 homes on that street and work together to get it renamed. UGH. And the neighborhood isn't that old--under 20 years! Why are we still honoring traitors?!
I learned a lot from reading this book, but my only worry is that high schoolers won't stick with it long enough to get the important messages they need to know.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This highly readable and relatable history book explores how the mythology of the South’s “Lost Cause,” which recasts the Confederate rebels as patriots and heroes, eclipsed the actual story of the historical events that led up to and propelled the Civil War to its conclusion and aftermath and became the dominant perspective—despite its foundations in fiction and face-saving revisionism.

Chapters in this thoroughly researched history (the notes, bibliography, timeline are exacting) are accompanied by what Bausum labels the twenty foundational lies told by white supremacists that undergird the romanticized Lost Cause, e.g., the Confederate flag is a symbol of southern honor, slavery benefited both the enslaver and those he enslaved, or the Civil War was only about states’ rights, not slavery.

Bausum dispassionately highlights how these lies wormed their way into movies and popular literature, academia and the military, and were codified in legislation (Jim Crow laws in particular, but also with regard to voting, which persists to this day) in order to whitewash the brutality and cruelty of slavery and allow Southerners who clung to this morally-suspect way of life to save face in the wake of their crushing defeat by the Army of the Potomac. And all of this twisting of the truth seemed to allow Southerners to insist that, even though may have been defeated on the battlefield, they held the moral high ground, setting the stage for the ongoing systemic oppression of Black Americans by an unapologetically racist society.

I just hope that in the current political climate this important book still gets it due attention. Should be required reading.

Thanks to NetGalley, Roaring Brook Press, and Ms. Bausum for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book.

[Read-n-Bloom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well it’s full of the truth buttttt towards the end veered off somewhat in blaming a certain president for being racially biased and I don’t believe that is true. But most of this is historically true. Most doesn’t know this truth and are still believing the lies, but This is a true account of how the lies came about and were spread.

[Sharon Borton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another important read! The author does an excellent job of placing the facts in front of you - and letting you digest and ponder. How wonderful it is to be able to consider everything I learned as a child about this period of American history with new unbiased perspectives, and begin to understand the long-term impacts of a false narrative. Highly recommend.

[CrabbyPatty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book very difficult to read. Not the book itself, but the tale it tells. Written for a middle-school audience, the author is very clear in laying out the ways an alternate history was created and propagated. Even the way we think about the Civil War is shaded by the influence of the mythical "Lost Cause." As the author notes:

Ideally, history and memories coexist harmoniously, but that wasn't the case when it came to the history of the South. There the false narrative of the Lost Cause began to overpower the facts of the historical record until it effectively replaced them. This racially narrative worked on two levels. Not only did it suggest what people should remember. It also signaled what they should forget.

Ann Bausum covers the Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws, the Daughters of the Confederacy (who spent the modern equivalent of millions of dollars on statutes of Confederate generals that dot the United States and established The Children of the Confederacy to teach the Lost Cause philosophy), the romanticized fiction of an honorable Ku Klux Klan (whose first leader was Nathan Bedford Forrest) and the concerted effort to allow Confederate dead to be buried in Arlington Cemetery.

And later on, Hollywood gets into the picture with The Birth of a Nation (1915), Gone with the Wind (1939) and Song of the South (1946). It's all a frankly terrifying tale of propaganda masquerading as history. And now in the shadows of Charlottesville and George Floyd, we still find ourselves fighting the Lost Cause yet determined not to give up. As the author ends this book:

May we grow stronger and create a better nation by exploring this ground together.

I received an ARC from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

[Alicia Guzman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did you grow up learning that the War of Rebellion, otherwise known as the Civil War, was a fought over states rights? Then I urge you to pick up this book.

White Lies: How the South Lost the Civil War, Then Rewrote the History is a history book aimed towards young adults that covers the War of Rebellion and the Reconstruction Era while exposing the lies and whitewashing that has happened.

There is so much that I learned! This should be required reading.


Thank you to Netgalley, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and Roaring Brook Press for an advanced reader's copy of White Lies: How the South Lost the Civil War, Then Rewrote the History

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This took me so long to get through, not because it is bad, but because it is depressing. It's depressing how the propaganda spread and it's depressing that it it still happening. A lot of our current history is tied up in this rewrite of history that was disseminated throughout decades. I grew up learning some of these Lost Cause myths and I'm happy to have corrected that. Knowing our history - the good and the bad - only helps. As this book quotes from Maya Angelou, "I have great respect for the past. If you don't know where you've come from, you don't know where you're going."

A very important and great addition to young adult nonfiction.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This specific phrasing first appeared in the United States in a 1891 speech by Missouri Senator George Graham Vest. While debating a revolution in Brazil, Vest argued: "In all revolutions the vanquished are the ones who are guilty of treason, even by the historians, for history is written by the victors and framed according to the prejudices and bias existing on their side". Senator Vest was a confederate and part of those who rewrote history.

But then it is clear that in all but one particular way, the Confederacy won the war that was originally named The War of the Rebellion.

In so many ways this book made clear the intentional propaganda win, primarily fought by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

This is a successful propaganda effort that needs to be taught. In schools, in books, in movies, in politics. It was and is pervasive. In what we call the war, what it was fought over (slavery - states rights were added much later), the skill of southern military officers, what blacks in the war and afterwards. We should gain the history of this intentional propaganda effort - who did it, how and when it was done, who fell for it.

The statues are the least of it, but a necessary part. I kind of like the idea of collecting them, putting them outside behind a fence, where you could see some of the hundreds of them. And watch them decay without maintenance.

The books goes on a bit and is far from perfect. But it is necessary reading.

A 2026 ALA Notable Children's Book and a YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist

[libreroaming · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: I received a free ebook galley from NetGalley in return for my honest review. The review is reflected on the galley copy and some issues may be resolved with a printed version.

"White Lies" presents an historical insight to the ways in which Confederacy sympathizers lessened or outright propagandized the motives behind the Civil War, and how those falsehoods continue to reflect in our current society's view even to this day. Bausum takes on a weighty topic, one that is still controversial in many places, and presents a lot of evidence where Confederate leaders like Robert E. Lee or Alexander H. Stephens vocally say the war was fought over slavery. Then goes on to tackle how Daughters of the Confederacy and Confederate Veterans admit their goals is to present the South and enslavers as righteous or victims themselves.

As this is an uncorrected galley, I hope the majority of my criticisms will be fixed in printing. The biggest drawback being the way the information is divided. Twenty lies are presented, but some of them could honestly be seen as variations of the same thing, such as "#8: Whites are naturally superior to Blacks" and "#16 Whites are still superior to Blacks" feels redundant. I understand the aim was to differentiate between the racism of the time in the 1860s compared to the racism of the 1960s, but it could be stated in a better way. The same criticism can as "#6 The South's Defeat had been inevitable" as the main point and "#9 Lee's Loss at Gettysburg wasn't his fault" as a specific subsection of the former.

Another, yet smaller, contention I have is with the author's decision to remove the word "plantation" as a description for places where enslaved Blacks labored. Bausum contends that the word presents "a nostalgic euphemism for places of forced labor; its continued use helps to mask the horror of these worksites" but I feel that taking more effort in describing the conditions in which slaves were forced to endure in plantations would more than adequately disabuse readers of those notions. And there is a wealth of primary sources where plantation owners admit their need for slaves because Blacks were suited to such horrible conditions, which would both prove the point that slavery was in their best economic interest and they were aware these conditions were so unpalatable they tried eugenic rationalization to justify it. In a book that takes a critical eye at antebellum South propaganda, it would only strengthen the argument to use their words in conjunction with the term. Finally, many Black criticism circles have reclaimed/adopted the term "plantation politics" to explain certain mechanisms of white slavery, so it would be in line with such discussions.

Likewise, the discussion of the statues is a wonderful through line of the book, but I hope it is formatted as panels on the side of the main text and with pictures of the statues would definitely increase readability. I also hope that the formatting would put the lies in the front end of the chapters, where many cases it felt like the theme of what the chapter was about was half of what the current lie was stating and half finishing up the previous thoughts of the earlier chapter. Again, this is something easily fixed with better editing for printing.

As for the positives, the book is very well researched. I particularly found the later parts about post-Civil War groups continuing "the Lost Cause" to be the most interesting. Adult books, such as Erik Larsson's "The Demon of Unrest" go more in depth about the mindset of contemporary voices in the Civil War, but the later ones during Reconstruction through the Civil Rights movement are underrepresented, especially in Young Adult non-fiction. If anything, I hoped that Basaum would use more specific language in detailing with Jim Crow laws, because she was very thorough in mentioning how Louisana's new voting law made 80,000 Whites ineligible to vote along with the intended 129,000 Black voters, but didn't go into the specifics of how the laws were applied. Oftentimes the strongest points were made when Basaum let the words of Lost Cause zealots speak, such as Mildred Lewis Rutherford, who was a true piece of work (I say in a derogatory manner). I also think finishing on Langston Hughes's "Let America Be America Again" was the perfect ending note to the book. Although the afterword with Basaum's personal interest in the topic was also worth reading.

Overall, this is a strong book that amply presents its case well. I hope the major issues of the formatting and ways that the ideas are presented are fixed when the book is published, otherwise I do think the current method in which I read it presented a great disservice to the thoughts contained inside.

[Kate McMurray]

I picked this up at the library, and while I think there is a lot of good and interesting information in the book, I do not think I am the target audience for it.

It's basically Lost Cause 101. Bausum's bio also says she's a children's book author primarily, and you can feel that in the tone of this book. It feels targeted at an audience that doesn't have much of a background in Civil War history, so if that's you, it might be a worthwhile read.

I did learn some things I didn't know. One thing that really struck me is that, as the United Daughters of the Confederacy were starting to rewrite the history books used in schools in the South, there was also a broader movement to make American history curriculum about inspiring stories instead of just names and dates, and history was for sure still taught this way when I was growing up in the '80s and '90s. I understand the impulse, but we're teaching kids an American mythos instead of accurate history, and frankly, the real history is more interesting (and inclusive).

Thus we have the Lost Cause—a largely fabricated alternate history of the Confederacy in which slavery wasn't so bad, the war was about states rights and the economy, and Confederate veterans were not rebels or traitors but war heroes—that is so pervasive and insidious that it still pops up in classrooms (and in the Ken Burns Civil War doc).

But Bausum also quotes Tony Horwitz quite a bit, which served to remind me that a better book on the Lost Cause, especially if you already have some background in this history, is Horwitz's brilliant Confederates in the Attic.

[Danielle Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

If you want to see how calculated propaganda attempts to rewrite history, read this book. I grew up in the south and have heard, and even believed when I was younger, some of these lies surrounding The War of Rebellion (aka The Civil War). This book expertly unravels those deceptions, provides accurate history, and shows how easy it is for people to twist narratives to suit their own position. Two thumbs up - a must read.

[Allyson Koehler · Rating 4 out of 5]

like 3.75 stars but really good! a lot of great quotes and historical facts in here to completely dispel the myth of the lost cause. as we are continually lied to about american history, and as our government continues to erase the racist past of this country, this book is incredibly important. easy to absorb and understand for teens.

[Sarah Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book sets the record straight. It is accessible to middle grades, young adult, and adult readers. The facts are cited and plentiful. There is always more to learn about the history of this country, especially given the current state of things. I highly recommend this one for classroom libraries. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was curious about this work because I remember when the 2015 Charleston shooting by Dylann Roof happened, and all the discussion about Confederate memorials and statutes in 2017/2020. I appreciated how the author shared how this was her history too - how she (a White woman) was taught lies growing up in the South because of family ties, regional societal norms, and how those involved in government and school administration allowed the history texts to be published with inaccuracies and with only one viewpoint. I appreciated understanding that she unlearned that information over time and made efforts to educate herself based on a broader view of history (not just the White Southern pro-Confederacy male version). 

Story: We see 1) how the South was in the antebellum period and into the war period; 2) how the Lost Cause continued in the post-war era/Reconstruction; 3) how different organizations, individuals, media, and monuments contributed to the continuation of the Lost Cause; 4) how educators/historians impacted how history was told to children in America in terms of education, and 5) how America to this day deals with Lost Cause ideology and racism post-2015 (2017, 2020, and onwards - Confederate monument removal). I personally feel like I learned a ton of new things! For the first time, I learned about Joel Chandler Harris/Uncle Remus (plantation fiction of White men telling Black slave stories), how monuments were planned/made/ordered/celebrated, and how presidents backed the Lost Cause's ideology whether they meant to at first or not (Taft, Wilson). I also learned how Julian Harris/Julia Harris's journalism helped discredit the KKK and they received a Pulitzer Prize in 1926, that there was a United Daughters of the Confederacy Catechism for Children/Children of the Confederacy organization, and how White history professors changed history in the stories they told (Dunning), though there were some White history professors that fought that (William E. Dodd, John Spencer Bassett, Enoch M Banks). I appreciated the in-depth exploration of how Lost Cause propaganda made it into school systems across America as teachers/school admin/publishers/parents ensured that school textbooks were pro-Confederacy and talked about slavery as though it was beneficial to the slaves. I didn't realize there were multiple copies of textbooks printed because of the South's strict standards for how history was displayed, and how some publishers just gave up and published one copy that had the South's view to satisfy the South's strict standards, allowing that text to reach children all over America. I also was surprised to learn more about Du Bois's impact and how he stood up to read his research paper on Reconstruction disputing the claims of White historians - bold moves!! I appreciated the book's discussion on how film media could be used as propaganda for the Lost Cause, especially with The Birth of a Nation, Gone with the Wind, and Song of the South. I had NO idea that Song of the South was a Disney movie (zip-a-dee-doo-dah and Splash Mountain comes from that?!?!) and of its more sinister origins. Lie #20 stood out to me ("We erase history when we remove symbols of the Confederacy") in distinguishing between history and heritage ("History is the record of actual events; heritage is the collective memory an individual or group shares with its past. The latter may or may not be factually accurate.") I loved how the author spent time briefly exploring how Germany dealt with the Holocaust - that was something I was interested in studying as a historian myself, because I think we can learn some lessons from Germany's example of how they as a nation discuss and remember the Holocaust. Will look into Hatewatch and the link between White supremacy and hate groups. 
 
Voice:  The voice is academic with clear, simple sentences. The author uses simple sentences at the end of sections to punctuate the gravity of some of the historical events or figures' thoughts. I think the length of some chapters without clear topic breaks would make it hard for a teen to keep with it if they weren't really into the subject matter. This is definitely not a book to read all in one sitting - it's best to sit with and absorb a bit over time. If I didn't do that, I would have burned out very quickly here.
 
Style: I liked how there was a note about terminology/language at the beginning of the book, where the author describes her choice in words "enslaved/the enslavers" rather than "slaves/slave owners" and such. It teaches readers to think critically about what their language promotes and how their language may affect others.
 
Setting:  America, especially in the South, from 1700s to 2025. I enjoyed reading this book so close to its publication - it hits home a lot more when you are reminded just how much America still struggles with racism and with those supporting the Lost Cause and White nationalism even at the close of 2024 into the current year.
 
Accuracy:  The amount of sources used in the source notes and bibliography is...a lot. Props. It's impressive! I was thankful to see that the author pulled for lots of sources to create this work. So well-researched. That's my main highlight and praise for this work!
 
Characters: There are a lot of different characters due to the wide timeframe this work spans (1700s to 2025, I mean, that's a lot!!), but I liked how the start of each section had some images of main players for those sections. The sheer volume of the work did have me get a bit tired at times, and I had to take breaks to refresh. I appreciated learning about some men I had never heard about who played major roles in Confederate propaganda and on the Confederate side of the rebellion, as well as learning about what men I have been taught about (US presidents, for example) decided to do - in some cases, even promoting the Lost Cause.
 
Theme: Know your nation's history and learn from it in order to grow. Use your voice to make this world better. I liked that by writing this book, this author shows youth that there is hope to educate yourself and to grow beyond what you were taught growing up. You can be steeped in one view (racism, Lost Cause), but can learn and grow. It's possible. And there's so much to uncover about your nation's history outside of your mandated school texts (which sadly may tell you lies!)! Go out and learn for yourself, and think critically about the information presented to you and the society you want to be a part of. I think the message was stated clearly at the end of the book with a precise, concise, and clear call-to-action for young people.
 
Illustrations: The cover is striking. The full-page inserts of different Confederate memorials/statues (their sponsors, subjects, artists, costs, costs-today, and status of whether it still remains up or not) was interesting.
 
Design: Appreciated the timeline but wish it was located in the front of the book, not the back. The source notes and the bibliography are CRAZY EXTENSIVE and I love how well-researched this work was! I liked the full-page inserts of the different Confederate memorials/statues but felt like it would have been better to have these at the start/end of chapters or sections because it broke up the reading flow for me. I felt the same way about the lies - they were sprinkled throughout the book as full-page short summaries, but I believe it would have kept the reading flow better in being at the start or end of chapters to help readers get a clearer summary uninterrupted. Includes quotes from historical figures and historical accounts at the start of the chapters.

Quotes

"The approval of such tributes as long as a century or more ago does not obligate today's mayors and town councils and school boards and residents to accept them now. What a society chooses to celebrate evolves over time. Statues and other forms of commemoration are symbols that convey the priorities of the times. Just because something spoke to a community (or the most influential members of that community) in the past, doesn't mean that it will continue to do so. Public officials are obligated to honor the priorities of the people they serve, not those long dead. It is reasonable for them to withdraw the use of community spaces for displays that no longer resonate with the times." (261)

"Consider the advice of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in 2023. We must, as a nation, study our past and learn from it in order to create that more perfect union for our future, she said. Each of us has the power to use our voice - and eventually our vote - to advocate for programs and policies that serve the greater good, including in our classrooms and libraries." (288)

"Not only should we train our minds to see beyond the racist visions of past generations. Not only should we fight for the collective strength of the human family...As Du Bois so clearly showed in 1935, we should reject the falsehoods embedded in our national story. When they appear in our schoolbooks or as a statuary in the public square, call out the lies. When falsehoods merge with the movies, fuel political discourse, or masquerade as patriotism, call them out. Promote the nation's undertold stories. Correct the nation's poorly told history. Acknowledge the country's mistakes, just as we accept our own. And do for the greater good the same thing that we can do for ourselves: Rather than repeat the errors of the past, learn from them. Then use that knowledge to better the world. Now is the time." (289)

[Paul Froehlich · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is said that history is written by the victors. That didn't happen for long after the Civil War, however, because the former Confederate perspective became very influential.

That perspective is erected upon lies: about what caused the Civil War, about the Confederate leaders, about slavery, about race, about Reconstruction, about segregation, and about civil rights. This book exposes the falsehoods. 

Ann Bausum, a Virginia native, grew up immersed in the culture of the "Lost Cause," which consists of the falsehoods of the defeated rebel nation. 

The first lie is that slavery was a compassionate institution. Enslavers told this whopper before the war as well as after.  Jefferson Davis insisted that "never was there happier dependence" between two groups of people than during slavery. He also took credit for introducing the enslaved to 
Christianity. Speaking of which, the CSA Constitution, unlike the COTUS, invokes God and Christianity.

Another big lie is that the war was fought over states' rights, not slavery. The right that Confederate states most wanted to protect was to own slaves. Seccessionists had argued that seccesion was necessary to preserve slavery. 

The next lie is that Reconstruction was a corrupt failure. According to the Lost Cause version, widespread corruption was due to Black elected officials and white carpetbaggers and scalawags. This narrative was used to justify disenfranchising Blacks as soon as federal troops left and Reconstruction ended.

Another lie is that Confederate soldiers were not rebels. Gen. Robert E. Lee had expected to be arrested when he surrendered. But Lincoln had insisted on leniency, and Grant permitted Lee and his men to return home. A lame-duck President Johnson pardoned all former Confederates.  

Former CSA Generals such as Jubal Early began writing books defending the Lost Cause and asserting white supremacy. Southern preachers also promoted the Lost Cause in the name of Jesus.

By the time of Robert E. Lee's death in 1870, he was a hero in the South and widely admired in the North. One of the few dissenting voices came from Frederick Douglass who said that someone who deserted his country to join a rebellion fighting to preserve slavery did not merit such accolades.

Another lie that found fertile soil was that Blacks are racially inferior to whites. Therefore slavery was a compassionate institution. 

This notion was reinforced by a series of popular books sharing slave stories told by a character named Uncle Remus. The author was a white Southerner, and the stories gave a benign depiction of slavery.

After the end of Reconstruction, white Democrats regained control of state and local government. Jim Crow laws were enacted to mandate segregation and to prevent Blacks from voting. The SCOTUS upheld such 
voting restrictions as literacy tests and poll taxes because they did not explicitly mention race, even though Blacks were disproportionately affected by them, and Black representation was elimimated. 

This is the same rationale the Roberts Court used in 2026 to permit gerrymandering so long as Southern legislators don't state they are redrawing maps to eliminate Black representation, even though that is the effect. 

The Lost Cause narrative was effectively propagated by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. By 1914, the organization had 100,000 members. The Daughters all but replaced the term "War of the Rebellion" with "War Between the States," which suggests two legitimate nations. To inculcate youth in their propaganda, they started the Children of the Confederacy.

The Daughters were responsible for the erection of hundreds of statues of their heroes. In this way, the sacrifice and bravery of Confederate soldiers was remembered.

Bausum points out, however, that no statues were erected to recognize Black suffering and sacrifice under  centuries of enslavement. Statues reinforced white superiority and gave fuel to Jim Crow discrimination and to vigilante violence. 

In 1875, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson became the first person who took up arms against the U.S. to be commemorated with a statue. The seven-foot bronze statue remains on Capitol Square in Richmond, Virginia.

A larger statue of Robert E. Lee was installed in Richmond in 1890 where 150,000 people turned out to witness the unveiling. The NY Times ran an approving editorial. In 2021, the statue was removed and cut apart. A statue of Jefferson Davis was erected in Richmond in 1907. It was removed in 2021.

Arlington National Cemetary is one indicator of their progress in promulgating the Lost Cause. For several decades after the war, CSA commemoration had been banned. That changed by the early 1900s, however, when graves of Confederate soldiers got special headstones and  maintainance by the federal government.

In addition, a Confederate memorial was added at Arlington in 1914 thanks to President Taft. It was removed in 2023 due to belated recognition that those who fought to preserve slavery and White supremacy ought not be accorded equal respect and honor with those who fought to preserve the Union and to emancipate the slaves.

The Daughters also helped to rehabilitate the reputation on the KKK by claiming the vigilantes were needed to protect white supremacy. This claim was depicted in the notorious movie "The Birth of a Nation," which portrayed Blacks (white actors in blackface) as menacing white women. This was the first blockbuster motion picture, and it was screened at the White House by President Wilson. 

That same year, the KKK was reborn with new rituals such as cross burning. The organization boasted two million members during the 1920s, who included 11 governors, 16 US senators, and one future Supreme Court Justice (Hugo Black).

Lost Cause lies are found in one of the most popular novels ever written, "Gone with the Wind." The motion picture version  reached an even wider audience with historical distortions. For example, rebel soldiers had honor, while Union troops were ruthless. Slavery was sanitized with the stereotype Mammy who remained loyal to her master. During Reconstruction, Black elected officials were depicted as incompetent at best and dangerous at worst.

Resistance to Lost Cause myths came in 1935 when W.E.B Du Bois published his landmark book, "Black Reconstruction in America." He corrected distortions and presented the Black perspective that was absent in the standard history of that era. 

The Lost Cause has enduring influence:

☆ In the 20th century, a number of military bases in the South were named after rebel generals— including Bragg, Benning, Hood, and Pickett. "The branding of U.S. military bases became yet another way to glorify the Confederacy."

☆ Each State has two statues in the U.S. Capitol. Alexander Stephens, VP of the CSA, still represents Georgia. 

☆ The Confederate battle flag remains prominent among White nationalists and supremacists. 

☆ Florida recently adopted a law to prohibit schools from teaching topics that might make White students feel uncomfortable. Consequently, teaching about slavery becomes all but impossible unless it is the Lost Cause version of benign masters and loyal, happy slaves who supposedly fought for the CSA.

This book covers familiar ground, however, it contains some interesting details. One of them is Lincoln's offer to Southerners shortly before he issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. He offered to permit slavery to endure 37 more years until 1900 and to reimburse slave owners if they agreed to end the war. (In 1861, shortly before the Civil War began, Congress approved and Lincoln endorsed the Corwin amendment, which would have shielded slavery within the states from the federal constitutional amendment process and from abolition or interference by Congress. It was never ratified.)

If the Lost Cause was the right cause, then States should be able to secede, and Blacks should be segregated and subordinate to Whites. False justifications for treason should corrected, which "White Lies" does very well. -30-

[Justin Tapp · Rating 5 out of 5]

White Lies: How the South Lost the Civil War, Then Rewrote the History by Ann Bausum

I received an uncorrected proof from Roaring Brook Press in advance via Netgalley with the expectation, but not requirement, that I write the review. The opinions are my own.

As I write this, the category for the book on Amazon is “Teen & Young Adult,” but that is definitely not the audience– it’s at least on a college reading level. As the author writes, it’s her own attempt to “lance the wounds” of her childhood. The book is meticulously researched with almost 600 footnotes/references that make up 20 percent of the text. There are many historical concepts that a 12 year old hasn’t been exposed to yet. I hope the publisher is able to get the category changed to appeal to a wider and more appropriate audience.

I grew up in Kentucky and was never required to read Uncle Tom’s Cabin, learning only later in life that the book takes place in Kentucky. My grandmother, from Texas, set aside time every year – skipping church, mind you – to watch Gone With the Wind with her friends when it was broadcast in its entirety by TNT or some other channel. I’m also a descendant of slavers and have the discomfort of reading between the lines in their property transactions in doing genealogical research. I can remember spending most of the 8th grade studying the Civil War – when the movie Gettysburg was coincidentally in theaters and we all swallowed the “We should have freed the slaves and then fired on Ft. Sumter” as historically accurate. My history teacher – who was Black – seemed likewise to have no qualms with the “it was all about states’ rights” myth. If you have similar memories, this book is for you.

This is a book we need to read, like taking medicine that is unpleasant but you know will make you healthier. Even though I grew up in the South, have loved studying history my whole life, and thought I knew more than I did. As I found it difficult, I decided that it’s essentially like reading about any cult – the deeper the lie goes, the more angry you feel. It’s also hard to read about the bipartisan support in Congress for eliminating Confederate monuments and renaming bases– overriding a presidential veto– only to recently see that reversed by executive order in 2025 without a peep from congress or much of the media. This makes the book even more important.

Bausum examines 20 different myths that still surface from time-to-time in people’s conversations, on message boards, in a speech or an article. Some of those myths were printed as fact in history books, so people vaguely remembering them from childhood shouldn’t be seen as unusual. Most myths became accepted after the generation that had witnessed slavery and the War of the Rebellion had long passed away. In most cases, they were purposefully resurrected during the 1960s and 1970s as southern states strongly objected to federal civil rights legislation and federal court orders ending segregation.

I could complain about the density of the book, the author overly-explores the details of a few characters and many statues and monuments where perhaps only a few pages would have sufficed to make room for content she did not include, but I will definitely keep it as a reference. I’ll be reading some of the books she references, such as W.E.B Dubois’ work on Reconstruction and the introspection of Katherine Du Pre Lumpkin.

There are many things I wish she’d included. Joseph J. Ellis’ recent book The Cause reminded me that none of the Founding Fathers from the South ever argued that slavery was compatible with the Declaration of Independence, thus undermining the Lost Cause claim that they were on the side of the Founders. She doesn’t mention much about the counties in the South – even as far as Alabama – that sent volunteers to the Union cause, and how the commonality in all those places was the lack of slaves. That also helps undermine the “it was all about states’ rights” myth.

Reading Bausum's work, I also wanted to hear the anecdotes and perspective of the historians from the “Dunning School” of thought she was critiquing and other perspectives, particularly on the Reconstruction– which I don’t think was covered well in my history courses. I happened to be reading a history of a North Carolina county from the 1970s written by the late William S. Powell, a professor at UNC Chapel Hill. This was a county that was left with a larger free Black population than White after the Civil War. While Powell states outright that the secession was about slavery, his Black History chapter contains specific anecdotes the author holds up as an example of the “filiality” of the relationship between slaves and owners without mentioning the absolute forced and unequal nature of the relationship. He recounts an 1861 local newspaper story about “a free man of color” who donated to the Confederate cause immediately after hearing North Carolina had seceded, with the article suggesting they could easily raise eager Black troops from the county’s slaves as an example of the spirit of the times. Powell’s Reconstruction portions talk of how Black Republican delegates elected to the NC General Assembly spent time giving speeches with vulgar language and apparently bringing shame to the offices they held, for which the white population was apparently justified in using Jim Crow methods to keep them out of office henceforth. I think Bausum could have spent more time pushing back on any number of specific anecdotal stories which you can find all over the South.

I recently visited the land in which my ancestors lived with their farms, a still very rural area in North Carolina. As I drove the backroads, I saw from the many flags and banners that there was clearly still an active Klan presence, which prompted me to want to study deeper why people still proudly cling to the “Lost Cause,” not knowing that the term itself was invented and intentionally perpetuated after the war as part of the propaganda. I started reading Bausum’s book immediately after the trip. The author doesn’t delve into the psychology of the why, but she covers the how very well. The magnitude of Daughters of the Confederacy as an eager propaganda arm – with their own catechism(!) – and the volume of people who consumed Birth of a Nation and Gone with the Wind whole cloth, how even U.S. presidents sanctioned monuments in hallowed federal land not even 50 years after the Civil War.

Based on my reading of her book, I reached my own conclusion that the people of the South felt a deep need to feel secure in their status as Whites and their own historical identities. (Indeed a couple people in the book fall into this category explicitly, without the author making it plain.) Many of the people living in my county of origin with my last name now are Black, living on land once owned by slaveholders by the same name, and their histories are sadly largely unrecorded– genealogy is largely a White record. But in their wildly popular effort to make themselves feel better, they succeeded wildly in indoctrinating generations and convincing the North that the South wasn’t so bad after all. I’m thankful for Bausum’s work to help inoculate us from the lies we learned as children, and to help us think critically and seek what we can find from the perspectives of those who lived through it– especially the largely ignored or unwritten histories of African Americans. Five stars.

[Richie Partington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richie’s Picks: WHITE LIES: HOW THE SOUTH LOST THE CIVIL WAR, THEN REWROTE THE HISTORY by Ann Bausum, Macmillan/Roaring Brook, August 2025, 368p., ISBN: 978-1-250-81657-3

“White ones and red ones
And some you can't disguise
Twisted truth and half the news
Can't hide it in your eyes
Lies lies lies yeah”
– Thompson Twins (1983)

“LIE #3: The Civil War wasn’t fought over slavery; it was all about states’ rights.”

“Lies have multiple purposes, and one of them is to create power. The people who have benefited from past lies will be the first to criticize efforts that undercut them. Not surprisingly, they will lie to do it. That’s the problem with lies. Once you start telling them, it’s hard to stop. Threaten liars with the facts, and they’ll reflexively double down with more falsehoods. It’s not surprising today during an era where issues of race, class, and privilege are such a focus of national debate that the matter of truth is too. Lies swirl around us, corrupting our understanding of current events in the same ways that they have distorted our appreciation of the past.
Until we break this cycle, until accuracy replaces misinformation, we will struggle.”
– from the Introduction: The Lost History

Employing dozens of these lies as propaganda, and armed with four potent weapons: voter suppression, Jim Crow segregation, lynchings, and the erection of Confederate-related statues in public places, yesteryear’s enslavers and subsequent generations of their White supremist supporters–both in the South and North–have been responsible for 160 years of countless Black Americans being cheated, mistereated, maimed, killed, and/or otherwise discriminated against because of their skin color. The biggest pile of propaganda bs, known as the Lost Cause, developed as a fantasy alternative to the real history of what slavery actually involved, and the real truth about the Southern states rebelling from the United States.

“[T]he Lost Cause was so captivating, so enticing, so flattering, so face-saving, in short, so convenient. The lies were easier to swallow than the facts.
For example, it was far easier to whitewash the nature of slavery than it was to admit that southern Whites had benefited for generations by exploiting Blacks in an immoral and violent act of enslavement. It was far easier for southern Whites to suggest that Confederate soldiers had been heroes defending the U.S. Constitution instead of rebels supporting the financial interests of enslavers. And it was far easier for southern Whites to blame the federal government for the defeat of the Confederacy than it was to hold the South’s generals accountable.”

“LIE #8: White people are naturally superior to Black people.”

Unbelievably, the legions of lies exposed in this incredible expose were still being formally fed to impressionable young students when we Boomers were kids–and even beyond then!

“What had started as misleading statements intended to spare the South’s ruling class from blame for the region’s demise had accomplished far more than originally expected. The lies of the Lost Cause had been absorbed so thoroughly that they had not only taken hold with White southerners but were influencing Americans as a whole. These falsehoods had helped fuel vigilante violence, derail Reconstruction, and strengthen White supremacy to the South. The Lost Cause had infused public art, inspired works of literature, and perpetuated the celebration of the Confederacy. Furthermore, historians were accepting its lies at face value and beginning to present falsehoods as historical facts.”

As we see from the extensive backmatter, nonfiction author Ann Bausum did a wealth of research in order to expose the lies and (still) ongoing campaign of White supremacy in America. The story details so many vivid examples of the related statues, literature, the demonization of Reconstruction, and all of the lies-lies-lies, yeah! The informational literacy lessons inherent in this nonfiction tale make it a volume that should unquestionably find its way into middle- and high school collections.

“[The] word–truth–would become inseparably linked to the Lost Cause effort. It appears over and over in the historical record, and for a good reason. As historian David W. Blight observed in his study of the postwar period, Race and Reunion, ‘in the sheer repetition of the word “truth” they claimed credibility and sought justification.’ Lies could replace the facts, these southern Whites reasoned, if they insisted loudly enough and long enough that they were the truth.
And, over time, that’s exactly what happened.”

And because that’s exactly what happened, countless millions of Black Americans have been screwed out of their rightful enjoyment of the American Dream…and far worse.

After WWII, Germany quickly ridded itself of tributes to Hitler and Nazi-ism. But 160+ years after the traitorous Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox Court House; there are still lots of statues and plaques in public places that celebrate the joys of slavery and the Confederacy. This makes this extraordinary expose of the White Supremacists’ perverted rewriting of U.S. history the most consequential piece of nonfiction for young people I’ve read so far this year.

And God bless the teacher-librarian who scores a class set of this one, and helps incorporate it into the curriculum.

Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com

[Leonard Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate to give this one star, because that might make it seem I disagree with the author. I agree with the author, but being right requires greater care and responsibility, especially with such an important historiographical matter. This seems an example of the kind of thing that has, in some current progressive soul-searching, been identified, correctly in my opinion, as driving people to re-elect Trump.

[Bargain Sleuth Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Childrens Publishing for the digital copy of this book; I am leaving this review voluntarily.

How many people love the movie Gone with the Wind? I didn’t see it until I was in college, but even back then I was wondering how a story about the glorification of the rebels could be so popular. Then I found out that the novel won the Pulitzer Prize for literature. What?! As I began to explore movie history, there was a silent film called Birth of a Nation that was a HUGE film when it was released in 1915. It got a screening in Woodrow Wilson’s White House (he was born in the Confederate south and segregated the federal government following decades of progress, leaving thousands of upwardly mobile Blacks without jobs.)

Ann Bausum, a Wisconsin author who grew up in Virginia, has taken to task the idea of The Lost Cause that has been so pervasive in parts of our country. And whoa, just whoa! This young adult history book should be required reading for young and old alike. Bausum systematically breaks down how millions of Americans have learned a whitewashed version of events surrounding the War of Rebellion, known to many as the Civil War. How confederate soldiers have received more than 2,000 memorials across the south, and how a few southern groups have reframed the Rebellion as The Lost Cause and romanticized their secession from the United States.

Both the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Sons of Confederate Veterans raised tons of money for confederate monuments and to infiltrate everything from newspapers to school textbooks. As late as the 1980s, Virginia textbooks were repeating the lies the Daughters of the Confederacy had crafted. There are literally several generations of southerners who are still alive that were fed the propaganda of The Lost Cause and have to unlearn it.

The mythology that the War of Rebellion was about states’ rights was complete and utter bull shit. It was always about the “peculiar institution” of slavery. It was ALWAYS about keeping the Blacks in bondage. It was always about “plantation politics” (control in Congress), where Blacks were counted as 3/5 of a person and therefore gave the southern elected officials more power in the legislature. It was always about white supremacy.

Also deconstructed in this book is the Confederate Battle Flag, which is not the official flag of the confederate states, but rather a battle flag for a specific group of soldiers. Those who still wave the flag, which includes several southern state capitals, claim that this flag simply is for “southern honor.” I call bull shit again. It’s always about white supremacy.

The book also covers the efforts of the Daughters and Sons of the Confederacy during Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the Civil Rights movement, leading up to today, when the Felon of the United States actually said that “there’s good people on both sides” following a 2015 massacre in a Charlottesville, S.C. church that was done by a white supremacist. His social media profile showed him posing with the Confederate Battle Flag and his guns.

I highlighted so much in this book because there was so much unbelievable content! Like the fact that General Nathan Bedford Forest has several monuments and memorials to him across the south. The dude was the founding father of the KKK! Yet modern southerners don’t understand why society as a whole wants these confederate monuments taken down. Simply having statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson still divides this country. These men and many more weren’t heroes; they were traitors and there should be no veneration of them in the 21st century.

One of my many highlighted sections was the year 2008, when the U.S. Census Bureau stated that by the year 2050, the white population in the United States would be less than 50%, with the rest of the population combined would make up more than half the country. That was the year that saw the rise of the Tea Party, a more radically conservative part of the Republican Party that eventually took over. That was also the year that we as a national electorate picked a Black man as President. Things have been slowly getting worse in our country ever since.

[Beth Given · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Historians draw a clear distinction between history and memory. History is the record of events. It survives in the primary source documents of the day, including photos, letters, diary entries, eyewitness reports, official records, news accounts, and other verifiable evidence. Researchers study the facts and perspectives from these records and synthesize their findings into coherent narratives of the history. Memory is different. Memories originate individually, so they are inevitably limited by the scope of one person’s knowledge of events. Some memories are incredibly accurate, but memories also can be flawed, whether by design or by the passing of time. Memories may be formed collectively, too, by groups who shared common experiences. These collective memories may likewise vary in viewpoint and accuracy."

Like many in her generation, Ann Bausum grew up learning our country's history from textbooks that were sympathetic to the South: though the Civil War had ended a century earlier, and though the southern states had been defeated, the Lost Cause narrative elevated these rebels to heroic status, subtly changing the historical narrative and further entrenching racism up until the present day. As the author untangles twenty related lies that the Lost Cause promotes, we can see how history -- and the present -- has been shaped by those who control the narrative.

I was lucky enough to hear the author speak on this book in person, and as a history lover and a reader whose worldview has been changed by books, Ann Bausum spoke straight to my heart. The nuances of the historian's craft -- and an awareness of how historical "facts" can be skewed to one's agenda -- is so important to recognize. As we approach the country's 250th anniversary celebration, I am so wary of heritage being sold as historical fact. History is so complex, and yet it gets simplified for the general population who are operating on the version events taught to them in school and through pop culture.

I especially appreciated the author's research on the Confederate memorials. This has been a hot topic the past few years, with some arguing for the removal of the statues while a vocal opposing group arguing that these memorials are important for "historical" reasons. Bausum has taken the time to share information about many of these statues -- including when they were installed (usually decades after the Civil War had ended) and the cost. For those arguing that the statues should be kept for history's sake, Bausum counters that the statues tell a false history and have become rallying points for hate groups.

Really important book. Really glad I read it.

"For more than a century and a half, a tsunami of Confederate commemoration has washed over the United States of America. So have its associated lies. These misrepresentations of the past have been implanted in the South and beyond through public art, Hollywood movies, literature, history textbooks, politics, and more. Taken together, they have robbed generations of Black Americans of their freedom, their sense of self, and their personal security. They’ve also diminished the understanding all Americans have of their place in a country of vast contradictions. Correcting the record remains a daunting task, but name by name, flag by flag, and monument by monument the creep of the Confederate tide will yet recede."

[YSBR · Rating 5 out of 5]

With the recent and ongoing re-evaluation of Civil War-era statues, museum displays, and military base names, young adult readers have questions and Ann Bausum, with her Virginian upbringing and her well-regarded back catalogue, is the perfect writer for this moment. Although her book encompasses a fair amount of history (which will provide young readers with useful context), I would actually describe White Lies as historiography, an unusual subject for this age group. Bausum opens with a list of 20 lies perpetuated by Lost Cause supporters and then proceeds to walk readers through the events of the war and its aftermath, looking at each lie in greater detail. Although readers may find it hard to believe that some of these lies still find a ready audience (“Slavery was a compassionate institution” or “White people are naturally superior to black people”), others will make readers pause and dig into their own miseducation and the insidious nature of the Lost Cause mythology (“The South’s defeat had been inevitable” and “Reconstruction was a failure”). Bausum zooms in on the architecture of propaganda and how all avenues of persuasion can be marshalled to support racism: popular culture, family loyalties, language and semantics, textbooks and curriculum, and, of course, public art. 

The revelation for most readers will be how deeply ingrained the Lost Cause narrative has become in our national discourse. How did our terminology for the conflict’s original name – “the War of Rebellion” – shift to the more neutral “Civil War” or even to its Lost Cause moniker – “the War Between the States”? Why does supporting enslavement jostle with states’ rights as the stated cause of succession? And most pressing for this book, when and why did the installation of Confederate monuments, plaques, and place names take place? As part of this strand in the book, Bausum periodically includes striking black pages called “Gallery of the Lost Cause”, each focused on one particular monument. These pages include photos along with dates and location, notable inscriptions, important details, and their current status. Despite the press coverage of recent removals, most of the examined items are still in place, as are thousands of other Lost Cause artifacts. 

Back matter for this meticulously researched volume includes a personal note from Bausum about her childhood, an extensive timeline of the war and the Lost Cause narrative, exhaustive and precise source notes, a bibliography, and a very detailed index. Throughout the book, Bausum has assembled interesting visuals; each section opens with a double-page collage of clearly labeled period photographs and ephemera that help set the stage. Bold headings and generously spaced lines of text provide structural guidance for readers. Link to complete review: https://ysbookreviews.wordpress.com/2...

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a while to get through this book, but it was definitely a worthwhile read in the end. The author goes over the history of the Civil War and then focuses on the South's quest to reframe the war in the minds of the U.S. population, changing the narrative from one in which Southern states rebelled against the nation and fought for their right to continue to enslave Black Americans to a narrative in which Confederates were gentlemen, fighting for the rights of their states and treating Blacks with compassion and giving them skills to better themselves.

The content in this book is for sure 5-star worthy. The only reason I gave it four stars overall is because parts of this were a little dull and difficult to get through. That said, I'm glad I persevered in the end and thought it ended with one of the most solid chapters of the whole book. This book covered so much in its efforts to refute the lies of the "Lost Cause," going over the twenty "white lies" that the South has pumped out in its misinformation campaign and providing factual evidence to prove each of these false. It amazed me to learn about all the efforts to rewrite history and indoctrinate new generations with what led to the Civil War and the decency (and heroic lives) of those who fought for it. The author included quotes from history textbooks used in Virginia for decades in the 20th century, trying to instill pride in their history instead of shame or the ability to learn from it. I had also never realized that recasting the Civil War as the "War Between the States," it paints both sides as equals instead of one side as rebels. There were some absolutely fascinating parts in here about how important words and characterizations are.

This is one of those books that should absolutely be read by anyone raised on Lost Cause mythology, but of course it likely won't be. The author notes how some of the same strategies used to create this mythology continue to be used today, including in school textbooks trying to only make students proud of their history instead of shamed or uncomfortable.

[Dylan Teut · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book took me a long time to work through, but it was because each successive chapter caused me to pause and consider what I've been taught about history, what the present messages are trying to teach me about history, and what the reality is from a very well-researched and logical stance here from Ann Bausum. I read the book to educate myself and to grow in my understanding of how flawed human beings and flawed systems have been at work for decades, and the fight to perpetuate systems and ideologies is still very much alive in our country today. Bausum presents her facts in a straightforward way, grounded in research of a wide body of resources from a wide body of sources. It is easy to follow her logic throughout the book. While the material is heavy and takes time to digest, it is necessary. In the years following the Civil War, there has been an odd fixation from people to control the narrative and to re-phrase and re-write events in order to preserve some sort of feeling of Southern honor or pride. I truly believe it is a matter of pride and racism which corrupts many intentions. The oddity of constructing statue after statue, naming buildings and days after individuals is really a lost cause. In the end, it will all be washed away and the truth will prevail for as long as there are people ready to stand up for it. The book also examines how the perverse obsession with statues and Southern legacy also seeps into our norms and realities today- North and South.
Give it a read and give your mind material to critically examine narratives, objectives, opinions, and motives. This was extremely helpful and I hope it hits the right audiences so we can do better in critically examining what we know, what we think we know, and that which is an objective truth. The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil.

[Anthony Conty · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a country where we tear down Confederate statues and also whitewash any history that reflects poorly on the United States of America, politics confuse me. Ann Bausum has no such problem. “White Lies: How the South Lost the Civil War, Then Rewrote the History” will tick people off who have learned to believe a certain version of historic events.

They say that you are doomed to repeat mistakes if you do not study them, and this theory that a repeated lie becomes a truth really hit home with me. Generations of people looked upon Confederates as heroes, which makes the re-teaching of the past more problematic, as films like “A Birth of a Nation” and monuments to Southern heroes prove.

Bausum has some tricks up her sleeve to make her novel different, following the lies of the Confederacy to the days of World War I and movies like “Birth of a Nation.” Since the beloved “Gone with the Wind” has endured cancellation on all sides, I enjoyed the author’s perspective on how that great work remains problematic.

The book examines history vs. propaganda, and many have chosen the version of the story that suits their political needs. Even those who supported the North had to rely on their own prejudices. The heritage vs. history debate drives the narrative, and most will not agree with all of the author’s assertions. The past is messy, complicated, and full of grey areas.

I always recommend books with caveats, and if you are firm in your opinion that we should celebrate Confederate heritage in public forums, you probably will disagree with this motif; that said, the anti-cancel culture crowd tends to deny that a large chunk of people feel this way and only notice the naysayers that support their stance. Bausum doesn’t care.

[Ccaywood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bausum has written excellent accounts of social justice movements for teen readers. This time she has tackled the opposite, a movement to restore as far as possible an oppressive social system through propaganda. Moreover, as she says, this book is personal because she was mis-educated by that propaganda and is taking us through her own confrontation of the myths that passed for history education in Virginia and the South.

Twenty lies are enumerated, framing the evolution of the false narrative as the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) adapted to other social trends. White Lies is illustrated with photos of the bronze and marble statuary the UDC and others erected to give permanence to the Lost Cause mythology.

White Lies clarifies the difference between history and propaganda. This clarity justifies the removal of these Lost Cause statues from prominent public sites. Bausum discusses their appropriate fate. The bronze statue in Charlottesville that was the excuse for riot and murder is now ingots awaiting a new artistic vision. Most of the generic soldier-on-a-pedestal monuments were mass produced, but some of the marble statues are authentically works of art, albeit in the service of lies.

In 1995, James Loewen’s Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong began to raise awareness that our national history had been distorted, Lies Across America, published in 1999, explored the specific involvement of the UDC. White Lies builds on that foundation and makes it accessible to students.

[Jaime K · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an accessible (for lack of a better word) and "easy" to read book with stories aligning to the chapter themes. Only about a quarter of the book is about the "War of Rebellion" while the rest focuses on post-war issues from Reconstruction to Jim Crow to multiple Civil Rights movements around segregation to the modern addressing of Confederate monuments.

Each chapter is preceded by a lie (maybe it's because I'm from the north, but some of these lies are ridiculous). The black text on gray background though makes it a bit tough to read.

Quotes act as epigraphs to each chapter.

Each chapter includes at least one Gallery of the Lost Cause (usually towards the end of the chapter) regarding monuments and ships dedicated to Confederate peoples, and their status at the time of print. The location of these Galleries is often disruptive to the text. They're also white text on black background, making it difficult to read.

There is a timeline at the end of the book which summarizes quite a bit through 2023.

In Chapter 9, Bausum explained that the field of political science was developed in the 1870s when academics posited that the scientific method could be used to examine the past (hence the science in poly sci. I don't know if I knew that, but as a STEM person who cares less about STEM and more about interdisciplinarity, I LOVED [re?] learning that.
- I didn't realize the KKK was almost an obscure group until Birth of a Nation--nor that the revival was more selective in its members
- Women are an extremely important part of history. Bausum shows this well by describing how the Daughters completely altered education reform (particularly in the South)