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They Should Have Been Hanged: War Nerd Essays on the U.S. Civil War
They Should Have Been Hanged is a collection of essays presenting a stimulating revisionist view of the U.S. Civil War. Gary Brecher aka John Dolan rejects both the Lost Cause myth and insipid mainstream histories. Instead, he relies on the testimony of contemporary figures like Mary Chesnut, Mark Twain, John A. Logan, and Adam Gurowski to show the American Civil War had its share of treachery, criminality, and error.
Referring to primary sources (letters, diaries, speeches) and secondary texts (biographies and histories), Dolan argues that McClellan was not just incompetent but sympathetic to the Confederate cause; that Gurowski long anticipated the necessity of hard war; that Congressmen were plotting treason long before 1864; and that the Burning of Atlanta was relatively mild in the context of 19th-century warfare.
Dolan pushes back against a modern right-wing contention that the Civil War was not about race or slavery and decries monuments like the one dedicated to Henry Wirz, who ran the Andersonville camp. Finally, he suggests that the tragedy of Reconstruction could have been avoided had certain Confederate figures faced justice in a timely fashion.
Referring to primary sources (letters, diaries, speeches) and secondary texts (biographies and histories), Dolan argues that McClellan was not just incompetent but sympathetic to the Confederate cause; that Gurowski long anticipated the necessity of hard war; that Congressmen were plotting treason long before 1864; and that the Burning of Atlanta was relatively mild in the context of 19th-century warfare.
Dolan pushes back against a modern right-wing contention that the Civil War was not about race or slavery and decries monuments like the one dedicated to Henry Wirz, who ran the Andersonville camp. Finally, he suggests that the tragedy of Reconstruction could have been avoided had certain Confederate figures faced justice in a timely fashion.
277 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 3, 2025
22 people are currently reading
225 people want to read
About the author
John Dolan
12 books37 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
See also: Gary Brecher.
See also: Gary Brecher.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
December 15, 2025
The War Nerd stands tall like a jagged rock cutting into the sea of Lost Cause mythology that is Civil War discourse.
There is no apologia here. The book does what it says on the cover, which is to very accurately highlight how the Confederates were treacherous swine who started a war for the most evil of all causes, slavery, and They Should Have Been Hanged for it.
There is no apologia here. The book does what it says on the cover, which is to very accurately highlight how the Confederates were treacherous swine who started a war for the most evil of all causes, slavery, and They Should Have Been Hanged for it.
November 20, 2025
I was excited to tune in to the War Nerd podcast and find out that John Dolan had a new book of Civil War essays out. It was good timing, having just read Lincoln by Gore Vidal. And my girlfriend read Grant’s memoirs earlier this year and is currently reading Chernow’s “plinth” about him. Not that I need an excuse to read anything the War Nerd puts out.
Mr. Dolan skips around The Civil War (or USCW, as it is called in the book) — covering E.A. Poe’s time at West Point, providing an algorithm for deciding who from the CSA should be hanged, reviewing women’s USCW diaries, opining on the righteousness and necessity of Sherman’s march to the sea, and discussing the horrors of the Andersonville prison/death camp. The end result is that this slim volume covers the USCW much more thoroughly than you’d expect.
As usual there are some War Nerd bangers, so I’ll list a few here:
(About McClellan and his double-edged reputation from West Point) This all feels very familiar, far too familiar. The world of the blue-chip undergrad, the SAT hero, morphs easily into that of the far more lethal self-promoter,
Robert E. Lee knew Northern Virginia better than a 21st-century real estate agent selling McMansions to DoD lobbyists.
(Responding to an opinion piece in the NYTimes on the 150th anniversary of Sherman’s campaign) This is lost on [the author], who—for reasons that cut into the ideology of the American right wing—always takes burnt houses too seriously, and dead people far too lightly.
Lee was facing McClellan, who didn’t have enough nerve to make a left turn on a green light. (Literally lolled)
if there’s one thing the world needs, it’s Religious Studies majors from Yale
This last one is in a review of an article about Reconstruction by Helen Andrews in American Conservative magazine. I had the misfortune of buying and reading the first fifth or so of her book on Boomers, so I was very sympathetic to this chapter.
Highly recommended, along with the podcast he does with Mark Ames.
Mr. Dolan skips around The Civil War (or USCW, as it is called in the book) — covering E.A. Poe’s time at West Point, providing an algorithm for deciding who from the CSA should be hanged, reviewing women’s USCW diaries, opining on the righteousness and necessity of Sherman’s march to the sea, and discussing the horrors of the Andersonville prison/death camp. The end result is that this slim volume covers the USCW much more thoroughly than you’d expect.
As usual there are some War Nerd bangers, so I’ll list a few here:
(About McClellan and his double-edged reputation from West Point) This all feels very familiar, far too familiar. The world of the blue-chip undergrad, the SAT hero, morphs easily into that of the far more lethal self-promoter,
Robert E. Lee knew Northern Virginia better than a 21st-century real estate agent selling McMansions to DoD lobbyists.
(Responding to an opinion piece in the NYTimes on the 150th anniversary of Sherman’s campaign) This is lost on [the author], who—for reasons that cut into the ideology of the American right wing—always takes burnt houses too seriously, and dead people far too lightly.
Lee was facing McClellan, who didn’t have enough nerve to make a left turn on a green light. (Literally lolled)
if there’s one thing the world needs, it’s Religious Studies majors from Yale
This last one is in a review of an article about Reconstruction by Helen Andrews in American Conservative magazine. I had the misfortune of buying and reading the first fifth or so of her book on Boomers, so I was very sympathetic to this chapter.
Highly recommended, along with the podcast he does with Mark Ames.
December 17, 2025
I have been a listener to Radio War Nerd for five years, but this is my first time reading John Dolan. He is magnificent. This prose is some of the best I've read of any modern author in any genre. And this genre is particularly fascinating. It is so refreshing to hear an unapologetic and unabashed defense of the Union in the civil war. No hand wringing, no liberal both-sides-commited-attrocities bullshit, just the straight, honest truth: the Civil War was about slavery, and the confederates were the bad guys. Dolan's views are meticulously resreached and smoothly delivered, making this one of the easiest to read works on the CW I've read. More please! Until then, the back catalog will have to suffice
January 6, 2026
This collection of essays is historical revisionism of the most vital sort, the kind where you suddenly realize the Confederacy wasn’t a tragic romance but a malignant growth we inexplicably decided to keep as a family heirloom. It’s exceptionally well-written, dripping with wit, satire, and righteous indignation at a great national tumor that should’ve been carved out and incinerated, but instead got bronzed and put in front of courthouses. Anyone even remotely interested in the Civil War or American history should pick it up. It’s as entertaining as it is essential.
Like the War Nerd, I grew up fascinated by 19th-century America, especially the Civil War. I read Catton and battle maps for fun. Growing up in the South (or at least the diet-South), the “Great Tragedy” historiography was unavoidable. In class, you’d hear “Southern Gentlemen,” “States’ Rights,” “Sectionalism,” and other euphemisms invented to avoid saying “slavery” out loud. And for a long time, I didn’t question it.
Then I read the actual history: diaries, newspapers, and Congressional records. I dug into the caning of Charles Sumner, who did it and why, and realized how cancerous the Slave Power truly was. It had been gnawing at the country long before the shooting started. I couldn’t articulate the feeling I had at first, that gut-level recognition that the Confederate elite weren’t tragic heroes but traitors in fancy coats. Nor could I find many readable texts that captured that same instinct: that the people who tried to break the United States in half for the right to own humans were, in fact, the bad people.
The War Nerd argues that the real tragedy came after the war. And I agree. “Reconstruction” is an ironically perfect name for that time because we actually rebuilt the very thing we should have left in ruins. Thousands died so enslaved Americans might be free, only for the Slave Power to reinvent itself and keep festering in the national bloodstream.
Instead of putting the Confederacy in the attic of history, like the Whigs, we let them be elevated. We let them build statues and schools. We gave them military bases and the Hollywood treatment. We put them on equal footing with the people who actually fought to stop them (sometimes better!). They got the noble-savage edit. They got the sepia-toned sympathy arc. They got everything but the only ending they really earned.
Which, frankly, was a rope.
Like the War Nerd, I grew up fascinated by 19th-century America, especially the Civil War. I read Catton and battle maps for fun. Growing up in the South (or at least the diet-South), the “Great Tragedy” historiography was unavoidable. In class, you’d hear “Southern Gentlemen,” “States’ Rights,” “Sectionalism,” and other euphemisms invented to avoid saying “slavery” out loud. And for a long time, I didn’t question it.
Then I read the actual history: diaries, newspapers, and Congressional records. I dug into the caning of Charles Sumner, who did it and why, and realized how cancerous the Slave Power truly was. It had been gnawing at the country long before the shooting started. I couldn’t articulate the feeling I had at first, that gut-level recognition that the Confederate elite weren’t tragic heroes but traitors in fancy coats. Nor could I find many readable texts that captured that same instinct: that the people who tried to break the United States in half for the right to own humans were, in fact, the bad people.
The War Nerd argues that the real tragedy came after the war. And I agree. “Reconstruction” is an ironically perfect name for that time because we actually rebuilt the very thing we should have left in ruins. Thousands died so enslaved Americans might be free, only for the Slave Power to reinvent itself and keep festering in the national bloodstream.
Instead of putting the Confederacy in the attic of history, like the Whigs, we let them be elevated. We let them build statues and schools. We gave them military bases and the Hollywood treatment. We put them on equal footing with the people who actually fought to stop them (sometimes better!). They got the noble-savage edit. They got the sepia-toned sympathy arc. They got everything but the only ending they really earned.
Which, frankly, was a rope.
December 23, 2025
A wonderful set of essays. The first chapter made me feel deeply spiritual for one of the few times in my life;I’ve found my tribe.
January 6, 2026
Very fun, refreshingly catty series of Civil War essays. Could have used some more editing (I was promised a review of six diaries from women in the civil war and only received four!) but definitely worth a read for those with a working knowledge of the subject and a hankering for some Confederacy-bashing from an expert.
December 29, 2025
If this is your subject then this is your book. I don't think there is any authority alive who loves writing, discussing and analysing this war more than John Dolan a.k.a Gary Brecher.
There were many times stuck in an office on the border of Yemen where the author tried to rev up my interest in the American Civil War but to not much avail. I was schooled in the UK and history lessons were mainly based around the Industrial Revolution and how roads were built (snore!) than anything interesting based around the tome Dolan has written.
In fact, if this book had been presented to me during GCSE History back in 1988. I would have passed the aforementioned subject rather than getting expelled. History buff or not. Dolan's entertaining and engaging writing style makes for a usual invigorating read. Five stars from me!
There were many times stuck in an office on the border of Yemen where the author tried to rev up my interest in the American Civil War but to not much avail. I was schooled in the UK and history lessons were mainly based around the Industrial Revolution and how roads were built (snore!) than anything interesting based around the tome Dolan has written.
In fact, if this book had been presented to me during GCSE History back in 1988. I would have passed the aforementioned subject rather than getting expelled. History buff or not. Dolan's entertaining and engaging writing style makes for a usual invigorating read. Five stars from me!
January 28, 2026
I don't have much of an interest in the US Civil War but I still enjoyed these essays by the War Nerd. He does a great job of outlining the personalities and the context for that war, and can compare it to conflicts that happened to Europe around the same time.
I learned that there's apparently a thriving industry of books casting the slavers of the South in a nostalgic and romantic light. John Dolan is right and a lot of the US problems today could've been avoided if the Southern elites had all been hanged.
I learned that there's apparently a thriving industry of books casting the slavers of the South in a nostalgic and romantic light. John Dolan is right and a lot of the US problems today could've been avoided if the Southern elites had all been hanged.
December 22, 2025
A bracing antidote for Lost Cause mendacity
Dolan has no truck with Lost Cause nonsense and comes with receipts. Certainly all the folks who want to whitewash the Confederate cause will be upset with the title but he reminds up the states rights argument is mostly ex post facto and that the question of slavery and black place in the South was central in the politics and policy of the secessionists.
Dolan has no truck with Lost Cause nonsense and comes with receipts. Certainly all the folks who want to whitewash the Confederate cause will be upset with the title but he reminds up the states rights argument is mostly ex post facto and that the question of slavery and black place in the South was central in the politics and policy of the secessionists.
December 18, 2025
I love John Dolan's writing style and would read his writing on any topic. Luckily he exclusively writes about topics I find interesting, and is insightful, funny, and great at getting past the bullshit.
Great collection of essays covering many aspects of the Civil War, and a great deconstruction of Lost Cause myth making and Southern apologia.
Great collection of essays covering many aspects of the Civil War, and a great deconstruction of Lost Cause myth making and Southern apologia.
January 19, 2026
An enjoyable read for anyone who thinks the Union was on the right side of the Civil War and a bracing corrective to all the Confederate revisionism of the last 120 years.
Author Dolan had me when he quoted lines from both ‘Board of the Rings’ and ALIENS. Now that’s the kind of historian and history I like.
Author Dolan had me when he quoted lines from both ‘Board of the Rings’ and ALIENS. Now that’s the kind of historian and history I like.
November 28, 2025
collection of essays around the Civil War. Entertaining, vigorous and stated with absolute confidence and certainly. I think its the internet that rewards these kinds of no hold barred screeds. I enjoyed it anyway.
December 14, 2025
This book is heavy in opinion, which is 100% ok by me since I share a lot of the same beliefs. However, it can become repetitive and over the top at times.
But yes, They should have been hanged.
But yes, They should have been hanged.
December 27, 2025
The penalty of treason is death. No north, no south. The Union forever.
January 12, 2026
An excellent collection of essays on the civil war.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews