Reckoning with the Devil: Nathan Bedford Forrest in Myth and Memory

by Court Carney

232 pages, Hardcover

Published September 17, 2024

Reviews

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is both an account of the life of Nathan Bedford Forrest and an analysis of the role he played both in Lost Cause iconography and thought and the place he fit in the recent Confederate statue removal controversy. The writer shows the roles Forrest played as a slave trader, general and first Grand Wizard of the KKK. He also gives details of his life I had not heard and that Shelby Foote overlooked, like his purchase of a 17 year old woman when he was 32 who bore him 2 children. The book is at its best in showing the lengths to which some Southerners went to deny/overlook racism. The writing is sometimes a bit academic but never too ponderoous.

[Maddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book review here: https://www.civilwarmonitor.com/recko...