White Lies: How the South Lost the Civil War, Then Rewrote the History

Gr 9 Up–An insightful and complex volume reviewing 20 foundational lies used by white supremacists to justify the enslavement and post–Civil War subjugation of African Americans. Broken down into four historical periods, from the antebellum period through current day, the work outlines five lies from each time frame, each with an in-depth chapter that discusses prominent individuals and organizations along with their actions to perpetuate these lies. She highlights how these lies are interjected into popular literature and the cinema, academia, the military, and the more well-known governmental laws and regulations of Jim Crow. Throughout, Bausum points out the careful use of vocabulary to frame society and nostalgia for the past, both used to whitewash the horrors of slavery and racism. She discusses the decades-long use of Confederate monuments to instill fear and the use of the false equivalency that their preservation is needed to teach history. Each chapter also contains profiles of Confederate monuments, noting when they were built, how they were paid for, and in some cases, when they were dismantled. While always engaging and informative, the amount of evidence presented can be overwhelming but perhaps that is to be expected given the staggering efforts behind the mirage of white supremacy and the pervasiveness of these lies throughout U.S. history. It all makes for necessary reading. Detailed research is evident with extensive back matter including a time line, source notes, and bibliography (index not seen).