Description:
Nine killed in Charleston church shooting. White supremacists demonstrate in Charlottesville. Monuments decommissioned in New Orleans and Chapel Hill. The headlines keep coming, and the debate rolls on. How should we contend with our troubled history as a nation? What is the best way forward?
This first book in UGA Press's History in the Headlines series offers a rich discussion between four leading scholars who have studied the history of Confederate memory and memorialization. Through this dialogue, we see how historians explore contentious topics and provide historical context for students and the broader public. Confederate Statues and Memorialization artfully engages the past and its influence on present racial and social tensions in an accessible format for students and interested general readers. Following the conversation, the book includes a "Top Ten" set of essays and articles that everyone should read to flesh out their understanding of this contentious, sometimes violent topic. The book closes with an extended list of recommended reading, offering readers specific suggestions for pursuing other voices and points of view.Brief description: W. FITZHUGH BRUNDAGE is the William B. Umstead Distinguished Professor of History at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His books include Beyond Blackface: African Americans and the Creation of American Popular Culture, 1890-1930 and The Southern Past: A Clash of Race and Memory.
Review Quotes: With its focus on timely controversies and their historical roots, Confederate Statues and Memorialization will occupy a unique niche in the academic publishing world.--Anne Marshall "author of Creating a Confederate Kentucky: The Lost Cause and Civil War Memory in a Border State"