The Limits of the Lost Cause - by Gaines M Foster (Hardcover)

About the Book

" 'The Limits of the Lost Cause' is a collection of essays that challenge the prevailing ways of thinking about the impact of the Civil War on the American South. Foster's introduction provides a comprehensive overview of scholarship on the Lost Cause and Civil War memory that highlights the emergence of two ways of thinking about these topics: an older one, pioneered by C. Vann Woodward, that made a case for a southern identity shaped by defeat and guilt; and a more recent one, prevalent not only in current scholarship but in the press and public discussion, that suggests the South is still fighting the Civil War."--

Book Synopsis

The Limits of the Lost Cause challenges prevailing ways of thinking about the impact of the Civil War on the American South. Above all, Gaines Foster's work encourages Americans to confront the new divisions within their society even as they wrestle with old national--not just southern--failings.

Review Quotes

"Foster debunks the myth that the Southern Confederacy was not defeated but rather overwhelmed by the North's more powerful and better-equipped army. . . . This well-written, thoroughly researched historiography will surely be debated by professional historians and graduate students. Recommended."--CHOICE

"In his typically skeptical and myth-busting takes, Foster often finds flaws in the conventional wisdom about various subjects. . . . This collection gives us another chance to benefit from Foster's lifetime of fruitful reflections on southern history."--Journal of Southern History

"Foster's Ghosts of the Confederacy is an enduring landmark in the history of the Lost Cause. Now, in The Limits of the Lost Cause, Foster revisits, with his singular insight and voice, the Confederate mythos and its enduring impact in the United States. The Limits of the Lost Cause deserves a space on every bookshelf beside Ghosts of the Confederacy."--W. Fitzhugh Brundage, author of The Southern Past: A Clash of Race and Memory

"Foster's exploration of the historical trajectory of the Lost Cause highlights the value of informed scholarship at its best. These splendid essays challenge widely held shibboleths, argue for analytical complexity, and invite readers to revise much of what they think they know about the white South's memory of the Civil War."--Gary W. Gallagher, author of Lee and His Generals in War and Memory

"Gaines Foster, a pioneer in our understanding of the legacies of the American Civil War, challenges what has become common wisdom about those legacies. He brings rare clarity and originality to a subject about which much has been written, offering new ways to think about complicated subjects."--Edward L. Ayers, author of Southern Journey: The Migrations of the American South, 1790-2020

"In The Limits of the Lost Cause, Foster provides a valuable addition to the ever-growing literature about memory and the Civil War. As one of the earliest and best scholars of this subject, Foster includes both new and previously published essays that thoughtfully and smartly tie numerous strands of a very complex literature. For those interested in the Civil War and how it is remembered, The Limits of the Lost Cause is essential reading."--William A. Link, author of The Last Fire-Eater: Roger A. Pryor and the Search for a Southern Identity

About the Author

Gaines M. Foster is the Murphy J. Foster Professor of History Emeritus at Louisiana State University and author of Ghosts of the Confederacy: Defeat, the Lost Cause, and the Emergence of the New South, 1865 to 1913.