num_pages: 291
description: In a forceful but humane narrative former soldier and head of the West Point history department Ty Seidule's Robert E. Lee and Me challenges the myths and lies of the Confederate legacyand explores why some of this countrys oldest wounds have never healed.Ty Seidule grew up revering Robert E. Lee. From his southern childhood to his service in the U.S. Army every part of his life reinforced the Lost Cause myth: that Lee was the greatest man who ever lived and that the Confederates were underdogs who lost the Civil War with honor. Now as a retired brigadier general and Professor Emeritus of History at West Point his view has radically changed. From a soldier a scholar and a southerner Ty Seidule believes that American history demands a reckoning.In a unique blend of history and reflection Seidule deconstructs the truth about the Confederacythat its undisputed primary goal was the subjugation and enslavement of Black Americansand directly challenges the idea of honoring those who labored to preserve that system and committed treason in their failed attempt to achieve it. Through the arc of Seidules own life as well as the culture that formed him he seeks a path to understanding why the facts of the Civil War have remained buried beneath layers of myth and even outright liesand how they embody a cultural gulf that separates millions of Americans to this day.Part history lecture part meditation on the Civil War and its fallout and part memoir Robert E. Lee and Me challenges the deeply-held legends and myths of the Confederacyand provides a surprising interpretation of essential truths that our country still has a difficult time articulating and accepting.
language: English
title: Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause
publisher: St. Martin's Press