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Still Fighting the Civil War: The American South and Southern History
Newcomers to the South often remark that southerners, at least white southerners, are still fighting the Civil War -- a strange preoccupation considering that the war formally ended more than one hundred and thirty-five years ago and fewer than a third of southerners today can claim an ancestor who actually fought in the conflict. But even if the war is far removed both in time and genealogy, it survives in the hearts of many of the region's residents and often in national newspaper headlines concerning battle flags, racial justice, and religious conflicts. In this sweeping narrative of the South from the Civil War to the present, noted historian David Goldfield contemplates the roots of southern memory and explains how this memory has shaped the modern South both for good and ill.
He candidly discusses how and why white southern men fashioned the myths of the Lost Cause and the Redemption out of the Civil War and Reconstruction and how they shaped a religion to canonize the heroes and reify the events of those fated years. Goldfield also recounts how blacks and white women eventually crafted a different, more inclusive version of southern history and how that new vision has competed with more traditional perspectives.
As Goldfield shows, the battle for southern history, and for the South, continues -- in museums, public spaces, books, state legislatures, and the minds of southerners. Given the region's growing economic power and political influence, the outcome of this war is more than a historian's preoccupation; it is of national importance. Integrating history and memory, religion, race, and gender, Still Fighting the Civil War will help newcomers, longtime residents, and curious outsiders alike attain a better understanding of the South and each other.
He candidly discusses how and why white southern men fashioned the myths of the Lost Cause and the Redemption out of the Civil War and Reconstruction and how they shaped a religion to canonize the heroes and reify the events of those fated years. Goldfield also recounts how blacks and white women eventually crafted a different, more inclusive version of southern history and how that new vision has competed with more traditional perspectives.
As Goldfield shows, the battle for southern history, and for the South, continues -- in museums, public spaces, books, state legislatures, and the minds of southerners. Given the region's growing economic power and political influence, the outcome of this war is more than a historian's preoccupation; it is of national importance. Integrating history and memory, religion, race, and gender, Still Fighting the Civil War will help newcomers, longtime residents, and curious outsiders alike attain a better understanding of the South and each other.
376 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2002
3 people are currently reading
135 people want to read
About the author
David R. Goldfield
93 books19 followersDr. David Goldfield is the Robert Lee Bailey Professor of History at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte. He has written several books on American history, two of which have been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. He holds a Ph.D from the University of Maryland.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 29, 2025
Historical Understanding And The South
The American South has always been a paradox. It has been viewed, both by those within and without it, as a distinctive region of the United States with its own character and identity. This separateness is the source of much of the fascination with the South. But in addition to its distinct character, the South has also been viewed as internally monolithic. As David Goldfield, Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, states in the introduction to this book: [Southern] culture is rich in music, food, conversation, and literature; yet, it can be a barren place, a tundra of conformity, a murderer of imagination, inquiry, and innovation." (p.1)
Professor Goldfield states that the aim of his book, "Still Fighting the Civil War", is not simply to write a history of what the South is and of how it is different. Rather the book attempts to explore why Southerners have understood their history the way they do. Thus the goal of the book is to achieve some self-understanding of the South by people who consider themselves Southerners and to achieve better understanding of what has made the South what it is by those not Southerners. Equally important, Professor Goldfield suggests approaches for a more inclusive way in which the South might use its history to emphasize the common past shared by all Southerners, white and black, and the contributions that both races have made to the development of the South. Attempts at self-understanding, of persons or regions, are notoriously difficult. Professor Goldfield commendably admits that although he has spent much more than half his life in the South, "I do not pretend to understand it yet. Perhaps I never will." (p. 1)
Professor Goldfield emphasizes the manner in which white Southerners have viewed the Civil War and Reconstruction. With the total military defeat, loss of life and property, and destruction of slavery, Southerners created a vision of the War and their society to save themselves. This vision included a romanticizing of the Old South, (exemplified in, "Birth of a Nation", "Gone with the Wind" and many other sources), a myth of the "Lost Cause" with glorification of leaders such as Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis, and a story of "the Redeemers" who ended the Reconstruction efforts in the South through intimidation and violence and instituted segregation and white supremacy. (For a current example of the glorification of the Southern War effort and its generals, I suggest a viewing of the newly-released movie, "Gods and Generals.")
Professor Goldfield discusses how and why the South used its myth of its past in the development of its evangelical religion and its implementation of Jim Crow. He devotes a great deal of space to the place of gender in the South. Professor Goldfield points out that white male Southerners tried to justify Jim Crow by the alleged need to protect white women from the sexuality of black men, but he goes further than that. He states that white men attempted to put white women on a pedestal following the Civil War, and he attributes a great deal of gender discrimination to this attempt. I am not convinced by all this and I am not sure that Professor Goldfield shows how women's issues differed in the South from those in the North. Certainly, the relationship between women and men has changed markedly in both regions.
Professor Goldfield talks about the changes wrought in the South by the Civil Rights movement culminating in the Civil Rights Act of 1965. He applauds the changes and the fall of segregation, but he offers strong reasons to doubt if the change is as extensive as it seems. He believes that black and white people still live essentially separate lives in the South with too little in the way of intimacy and fellowship between people of the different races. He believes that there is a great deal of racism left in the South under the veneer of desegregation.
The book is at its strongest and most eloquent when it points to the common heritage that both black and white Southerners share. Blacks in the region consider themselves as Southerners no less than do the whites, and the Region shares a common culture in music (blues, jazz, early rock, country), literature, food, religion, and in the pace of life. In addition Professor Goldfield writes that that the division of the races under Jim Crow belied the affection between individuals of different races that was a frequent pattern of life in the South.
Professor Goldfield concludes that the South is inescapably a product of its history. He suggests a modification of this history in the minds of Southerners and others to eliminate the myths, to accept and understand the end of the Civil War and of racism, and to focus on the many valuable things that white Southerners and black Southerners, separately and in common, have done to make the South what it is and to allow it to move forward. This is a worthy goal. Professor Goldfield's book may be a small step in bringing it about.
Robin Friedman
The American South has always been a paradox. It has been viewed, both by those within and without it, as a distinctive region of the United States with its own character and identity. This separateness is the source of much of the fascination with the South. But in addition to its distinct character, the South has also been viewed as internally monolithic. As David Goldfield, Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, states in the introduction to this book: [Southern] culture is rich in music, food, conversation, and literature; yet, it can be a barren place, a tundra of conformity, a murderer of imagination, inquiry, and innovation." (p.1)
Professor Goldfield states that the aim of his book, "Still Fighting the Civil War", is not simply to write a history of what the South is and of how it is different. Rather the book attempts to explore why Southerners have understood their history the way they do. Thus the goal of the book is to achieve some self-understanding of the South by people who consider themselves Southerners and to achieve better understanding of what has made the South what it is by those not Southerners. Equally important, Professor Goldfield suggests approaches for a more inclusive way in which the South might use its history to emphasize the common past shared by all Southerners, white and black, and the contributions that both races have made to the development of the South. Attempts at self-understanding, of persons or regions, are notoriously difficult. Professor Goldfield commendably admits that although he has spent much more than half his life in the South, "I do not pretend to understand it yet. Perhaps I never will." (p. 1)
Professor Goldfield emphasizes the manner in which white Southerners have viewed the Civil War and Reconstruction. With the total military defeat, loss of life and property, and destruction of slavery, Southerners created a vision of the War and their society to save themselves. This vision included a romanticizing of the Old South, (exemplified in, "Birth of a Nation", "Gone with the Wind" and many other sources), a myth of the "Lost Cause" with glorification of leaders such as Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis, and a story of "the Redeemers" who ended the Reconstruction efforts in the South through intimidation and violence and instituted segregation and white supremacy. (For a current example of the glorification of the Southern War effort and its generals, I suggest a viewing of the newly-released movie, "Gods and Generals.")
Professor Goldfield discusses how and why the South used its myth of its past in the development of its evangelical religion and its implementation of Jim Crow. He devotes a great deal of space to the place of gender in the South. Professor Goldfield points out that white male Southerners tried to justify Jim Crow by the alleged need to protect white women from the sexuality of black men, but he goes further than that. He states that white men attempted to put white women on a pedestal following the Civil War, and he attributes a great deal of gender discrimination to this attempt. I am not convinced by all this and I am not sure that Professor Goldfield shows how women's issues differed in the South from those in the North. Certainly, the relationship between women and men has changed markedly in both regions.
Professor Goldfield talks about the changes wrought in the South by the Civil Rights movement culminating in the Civil Rights Act of 1965. He applauds the changes and the fall of segregation, but he offers strong reasons to doubt if the change is as extensive as it seems. He believes that black and white people still live essentially separate lives in the South with too little in the way of intimacy and fellowship between people of the different races. He believes that there is a great deal of racism left in the South under the veneer of desegregation.
The book is at its strongest and most eloquent when it points to the common heritage that both black and white Southerners share. Blacks in the region consider themselves as Southerners no less than do the whites, and the Region shares a common culture in music (blues, jazz, early rock, country), literature, food, religion, and in the pace of life. In addition Professor Goldfield writes that that the division of the races under Jim Crow belied the affection between individuals of different races that was a frequent pattern of life in the South.
Professor Goldfield concludes that the South is inescapably a product of its history. He suggests a modification of this history in the minds of Southerners and others to eliminate the myths, to accept and understand the end of the Civil War and of racism, and to focus on the many valuable things that white Southerners and black Southerners, separately and in common, have done to make the South what it is and to allow it to move forward. This is a worthy goal. Professor Goldfield's book may be a small step in bringing it about.
Robin Friedman
January 5, 2017
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes."
Goldfield uses this quote from Santayana to highlight what has been the existential dilemma of the South for over 150 years.
This book chronicles a region where criticism of its past is tantamount to modern day treason (I was unaware of the ostracism of writers like Faulkner who was critical of the South in his novels or the tragic end of the historian W.J. Cash who unable to bear the strain of hate directed toward him eventually took his own life).
The book looks at Southern revisionism primarily from the point of women of women and people of color, although these two groups often overlap.
Losing the war meant not only the loss of a nation for many Southern men but losing the ability to protect Southern women from black men. The collapse of reconstruction was as much about putting people of color in their place as it was reclaiming their dominion over women as well. If Southern men couldn't protect their women from the perceived lust of black men, their entire image of themselves fell apart. Whether women wanted this protection however doesn't seem to have been part of Southern men's thinking. Many Southern women found dependence on their husbands and the need to project the image of Southern purity as stifling and restrictive as slavery.
Likewise, people of color may have gained their nominal freedom after the Civil War but in the face of social and economic restrictions designed to keep them in their place, any real freedom was minimal and painfully slow.
Universal suffrage may have become law. Civil rights legislation may have been passed. But as the author points out, the attitudes of 150 years ago are alive and well today.
Goldfield uses this quote from Santayana to highlight what has been the existential dilemma of the South for over 150 years.
This book chronicles a region where criticism of its past is tantamount to modern day treason (I was unaware of the ostracism of writers like Faulkner who was critical of the South in his novels or the tragic end of the historian W.J. Cash who unable to bear the strain of hate directed toward him eventually took his own life).
The book looks at Southern revisionism primarily from the point of women of women and people of color, although these two groups often overlap.
Losing the war meant not only the loss of a nation for many Southern men but losing the ability to protect Southern women from black men. The collapse of reconstruction was as much about putting people of color in their place as it was reclaiming their dominion over women as well. If Southern men couldn't protect their women from the perceived lust of black men, their entire image of themselves fell apart. Whether women wanted this protection however doesn't seem to have been part of Southern men's thinking. Many Southern women found dependence on their husbands and the need to project the image of Southern purity as stifling and restrictive as slavery.
Likewise, people of color may have gained their nominal freedom after the Civil War but in the face of social and economic restrictions designed to keep them in their place, any real freedom was minimal and painfully slow.
Universal suffrage may have become law. Civil rights legislation may have been passed. But as the author points out, the attitudes of 150 years ago are alive and well today.
March 18, 2018
Shortly after moving from the American West to the Ambiguous Commonwealth of Kentucky, I acquired David Goldfield's Still Fighting the Civil War, a curious defense/condemnation of the culture to which I hoped to become accustomed. At intervals, I picked up my copy, read a few pages, became discouraged, and put it aside, thinking I'd get back to it when the time was right. The right time never came; there are only so many ways one can consider the issue of deeply ingrained, normalized white supremacy before being overcome with the desire to disengage with both the culture and the text that describes it. Rather than finish the reading, I only decided not to. Not now, when I'm dangling a notch above the depths of despair already. Maybe another time I'll pick it up again, but I rather doubt it. I get the point, and it's ugly.
July 23, 2016
A UNC Charlotte history professor, born in Memphis and raised in Brooklyn, draws on an impressive variety of sources to examine the impact of the ways in which Southerners have remembered the Civil War (as “the Lost Cause”) and Reconstruction on the South since that conflict. In some ways (its cataloging of Southern shortcomings, its insistence on the South’s “divergence” from the rest of the country, the sometimes overly simplistic explanations for this complex history), the book is infuriating. In other ways, it is enlightening and hopeful. In particular, the second half of the book — in which Goldfield explores interracial relationships, the role of women in Southern history, and the possibility of using a redefined Southern history “to reconcile the disparate perspectives on the bloodiest war in American history” — is quite good.
June 16, 2014
The South is not all magnolias and sweet tea in this troubling explanation of how and why (white) Southerners are still trying to preserve the pre-Civil War South that lives in their psyche but never actually existed. White men had their pride demolished as their slavery-based economy abruptly crumbled. Blacks were/are stymied for exhibiting business savvy or any other power. Women, black and white, are shown to be the realists and the persistent change agents who are inching the South away from a dangerous illusion. It hurt to read this disheartening description of the place I love. (Tallahassee is 30 or so miles from South Georgia.)
July 10, 2013
This book challenged me in many ways. I hated that it was true. I feel better having read it.
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