Confederate Statues and Memorialization

by Catherine Clinton (Editor), W. Fitzhugh Brundage, Karen L. Cox

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.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Civil War

192 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 1, 2019

About the author

Professor of history at Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Specializes in American history, African-American history, the Civil War, and women's history. Previously taught at Brandeis and Harvard universities. Born in 1952, grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. Studied sociology and history at Harvard, earned a master's degree from Sussex and a doctorate from Princeton.

Reviews

[Teri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Confederate Statues and Memorialization is the first in a series of books titled History in the Headlines. As the series title suggests, each book delves into historical topics that are in the headlines today. This book tackles the debate of what to do with confederate statues and memorials that are dotted across the US South. The first half of the book is the transcript of a panel of four noted historians who specialize in southern US history. The four historians are moderated by Dr. Catherine Clinton, one of the series' senior editors. The conversation covers the gamut of proposals that have been hotly debated in the headlines, from leaving the statues and memorials as is and contextualizing them with new plaques or adding counter memorials close by, or removing them from public spaces, especially the grounds of governmental spaces, and placing them in private places, museums, and battlefields, or completely destroying them. There is no specific conclusion on an agreed solution by the end of the conversation, but the debate does offer aspects of the conversation to further contemplate.

The second half of the book is a group of 10 op-ed-type articles and essays that have made the headlines on the subject. One particular article that stayed with me suggested demolishing the memorials and leave on the ground as a type of new memorial or shock art if you will, to show future generations that the destruction of old, racial ideologies should be destroyed.

This is a very thought-provoking book and a good conversation (or debate) starter for a very polarizing topic that continues to stay current.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good conversation, but very much within an academic history bubble (which is how the conversation and essays are presented, so can’t exactly fault that). Even so, I would have liked to see more African American voices as part of the conversation. The final two essays were without doubt the high points for me—getting straight to the point that it doesn’t matter to argue over history if living people in our present are being hurt.

[Noah Jai · Rating 2 out of 5]

had some great articles but also some pretty classic boring liberal/why don't we just b nice to the racists articles so :/
a lot of arguments I've personally heard before, was hoping for some newer content/discussion material from this

[Christopher Pokorny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book at a local country bookstore on the clearance shelf. (I am fond of perusing clearance shelves). It was an interview-style engagement, captured via manuscript, of the phenomenon of confederate statues and the revision of history. The conversation was between several historians and they discussed some of the unique challenges that confederate statues present. Namely: who determines when statues are no longer relevant to a community? Who is responsible for allowing the setup of memorials? What do we do with confederate statues that have been removed? What is the best place to store them?